<p>Does an orchestra usually require you to have a Music Degree for them to even consider your auditions?</p>
<p>I’m assuming you are talking about paid professional orchestras, not community or semi-pro orchestras that may pay certain instruments or chairs.</p>
<p>Depends on the orchestra, the level, and in some cases the instrument. A coveted spot may yield a large number of apps. In some cases, think 100’s. Logistically, there is a need to weed the field to manage the process, typically no longer than a 2-3 day process to arrive at a list of finalists. Many require a resume and CV, possibly a recorded sample in addition as a precursor to accepting an application or scheduling an audition spot. A refundable deposit is a common practice. A degree or the institutional name on the sheepskin may or may not be a requirement. </p>
<p>These are generalities. It can be contractually dictated (either through the musicians or the music director’s contract), it can be first come, first heard. There are no standard rules. Audition requirements are typically detailed when a posting is made public. And not all of them are.</p>
<p>Competition is tough. There are far more highly qualified candidates than there are spots to fill.</p>
<p>As violadad says - it varies. The principle oboe of the Atlanta Symphony dropped out of college when she won her job. Of course, her college was Curtis. On the other hand, my S had a friend - graduate of Juilliard - who wanted to apply to St Louis, and submitted her ap, and wasn’t even invited to the audition. They said they were looking for someone with more experience.</p>
<p>I believe a generation or two ago, it was much more common for orchestras to hire non-degreed musicians. I just think the calibre of musicians has gone up so much, that it just doesn’t happen much anymore. Applicants are coming in with much more refined abilities. I remember one older orchestra member telling us that the quality of musicianship has skyrocketed to the point that, if he had to audition to keep his own job, he wasn’t sure he could win it. (I thought he was exaggerating to make a point, but still…)</p>
<p>You need a strong resume. I do not believe a degree in music is required, if you have other experience and qualifications.</p>
<p>The October International Musician came in the mail today. There are about 20 classified job listings, a couple being university teaching jobs, several military band openings and the rest orchestra positions.</p>
<p>None of the orchestra or military band openings mention requiring any degree. I’ve never heard of a degree being required for any orchestra audition.</p>
<p>As mentioned above, a young, conservatory-level graduate may be initially denied an audition. Often, an appeal can secure an audition, especially if a well-known player puts in a word for you.</p>
<p>Good luck.</p>
<p>Most of those orchestra classified listings LetsGoMets refers to (San Diego, Boston, New Mexico, Dallas, Milwaukee, others) ask for a one page resume. That resume should include your education. As others have indicated, you can expect that the resume will be reviewed before candidates are offered an audition time. Your school, teachers, degree as indicated on your resume will all be considered along with any professional playing experience, competition awards, etc. </p>
<p>The other consideration on your general concern is: What is your instrument??</p>
<p>Depending on instrument, there can be months and even years that go by without any openings in an orchestra providing anything close to a “living wage”.</p>
<p>could you list the instruments in the order of your job chances in orchestra?</p>
<p>In general, the openings are a function of the relative number of typical instruments comprising the standard modern orchestra. The number of positions will vary depending on the size of the organization. A range of 65-110 might be considered normal, and this will contract or expand depending upon the music programmed. Additional spots may be filled with subs, contract musicians, or on a “who you know” basis, and once again may be contractually dictated.</p>
<p>Openings will occur as musicians change orchestras, retire, or are dismissed, and in some cases as an organization’s budget expands or contracts due to financial reasons, change of executive board, or through contractual changes and renegotiations.</p>
<p>The ratios will change drastically in period groups,chamber orchestras, and specific purpose ensembles. </p>
<p>The sheer number of violins in a typical orchestra would lead one to believe that this is most often the numerically largest quantity of openings that are advertised. Chaired harpists and pianists are probably the least represented in terms of advertised openings.</p>
<p>You cannot assign “chances” based on an instrument. The success of being offered a paid professional chair is contingent upon the organization’s needs and wants, the talent of those competing for a particular open position, the whim of the selection committee, the role of the music director, the tenure procedure, and any other number of myriad factors.</p>
<p>Your questions again lead me to believe that you are completely uninformed about the profession, searching for straws, or compiling research for some purpose other than to assess your potential as a career as a musician within a professional orchestra.</p>
<p>But that’s just my take.</p>
<p>Tentai, </p>
<p>That question is impossible to answer. I would think that for the top orchestras, it would be very competitive for any instrument. I don’t think there is any instrument known to be easiest for getting a chair in a symphony orchestra. Also I think that people who are talented enough to get an orchestral position must have studied and loved their instrument for many many years. I don’t think the relative difficulty of getting a chair in an orchestra figures into the choice of what instrument to study. I could be wrong, probably others here know better. But I think that would be a poor reason for learning an instrument, especially since the odds of any student ending up in an orchestral career or getting any particular job are low. I think successful music students’ motivation to play an instrument has to be based heavily on enjoyment/love of whatever instrument they play. </p>
<p>I see fiddlestix already asked this, but I will ask again, what instrument(s) do you play?</p>
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<p>The above is from a current ad for a 1st violin sectional audition posted by the SF Symphony.</p>
<p>It is typical “boilerplate” on most audition postings.</p>
<p>From what I know (which is not as a professional musician, simply from observation and talking to professional musicians) there is no magic formula to getting a position in an orchestra, there is no instrument “easier” to get in on, because what is hard or easier varies with the time you are in, how many players retire/die/move on to other orchestras and the like. For example, right now you might consider it, if your heart is set on getting into the NY Philharmonic, ‘easier’ if you are playing the Clarinet, since Stanley Drucker retired end of last season as principal, and the position as far as I know is still open…the kicker being, of course, that unless someone is a complete clarinet maven, they stand little chance of even getting to the audition process…and even talent alone may not be the total picture, in orchestras where the members decide, a candidates personality, ability to work with others, can mean as much as talent alone (since generally, as others have pointed out, you can get 100’s of people auditioning for the position, many with talent at an equal level). </p>
<p>My take on the degree question, based on my very limited knowledge, is that it depends on the orchestra, though I am not aware of any that has specific degree requirements (and that is really limited knowledge, YMMV). Some may take a candidates degree into consideration in screening, going to a particular program may help a bit in the audition process in terms of actually getting an audition (take a look sometime at the Philadelphia Orchestra, where a lot of the musicians came out of Curtis; there are close ties between the orchestra and the school, not just alumni in the orchestra but mentoring the Curtis kids and so forth, so it at least looks like an edge to have gone there, if applying to the Philadelphia Orchestra, though obviously it won’t substitute for playing ability and fit). It also might help in an orchestra where the music director has a lot of power in getting people in hypothetically, if the music director has personal favor towards students from some programs,but it all depends.</p>
<p>I think the real answer about degrees was hit upon in another post, when the poster said they were told by an orchestra member that the skill level is so high by people auditioning, that they felt like they wouldn’t make it if they tried out for their seats today.I think the real key is that the competition is so fierce, and the skill level so damn high among competitors, that to even get your foot in the door you need that time in a university program enhancing your skills even further, and maybe into several years of graduate study as well to gain the minimum experience needed to even get into an audition. </p>
<p>To give you an idea of the kind of levels we are talking about, the major pre college prep programs on instruments llike violin, piano and cello (I mention them because I am more sure about that then on other instruments,the same could be true for winds and brass and percussion and such as well) often say that the kids who get into those programs are already on a college level of proficiency, which gives you an idea of what is out there. I suspect it is the training and the experience and the skill level that a college level program gives, rather then the specific piece of paper, that makes it valuable…and again, just my viewpoint/opinion, based on a limited view as noted above.</p>
<p>And, if one is so lucky as to actually win a spot,</p>
<p>it is very common for orchestras to have a probationary year or two after which the new player can be dismissed.</p>