Ensemble Audition

Fall 2020 Auditions for Orchestra, Wind Ensemble and Symphonic Band

( Percussion and Jazz Ensemble participants will audition separately.

To be held during the first week of classes (September 14-18)

Current as of 7/23/2020. Subject to change as new information becomes available regarding COVID-19

Auditions will be 5-6 minutes in length. Teachers have selected audition materials and you will find them below. If you have any questions regarding excerpts, please contact your studio teacher. This year’s auditions will also consist of sight-reading. Returning students should also be prepared to audition behind a screen.

Upon your arrival at school, please sign up for an audition time. Audition signups will be online and more information about this will be available soon. Time slots will be available on a first come/first serve basis. Please sign up in order and do not leave any time slots empty.

We encourage all non-music majors to audition for any ensemble. (Students who are NOT music majors and would like to audition for Symphonic Band ONLY may prepare an etude or solo of their choice rather than the excerpts on the  printed audition list.)

Note from the Ensemble Directors

Plans for Fall 2020:
Plans for instrumental large ensembles
(Symphonic Band, Wind Ensemble and LSO)
for fall term 2020.
Draft Thursday, July 23, 2020

While probably obvious, all plans for the fall term are to be considered contingent and flexible based on changing circumstances at the local, state and national levels.

One significant variable is the number of students returning to campus for in-person instruction, which in turn will determine available instrumentation. Ensemble composition and repertoire choices will therefore need to be somewhat fluid until after classes begin when there will be more certainty about available personnel.

With that disclaimer, what follows are latest thoughts on how SB, WE and LSO will function:

• Large ensembles will be offered for any and all students who feel safe with in-person instruction.
• Auditions will be held during the first week of classes (schedule TBA) instead of the weekend before. Students will perform materials selected by studio faculty and sight-reading. - Seem below for the excerpts.
• While the basic rehearsal structure and names of the three large instrumental ensembles will remain the same for practical and administrative reasons, their functions will be slightly different. LSO will be strictly, or at least primarily, strings. Wind, brass and percussion students will be assigned to Wind Ensemble and Symphonic Band but all three ensembles will really function as umbrella organizations for a number of smaller ensembles contained within them (i.e. we will not be performing or rehearsing with 60+ musicians at a time)
• Expanding on the previous point, each ensemble will be broken up into several groups, each of which will consist of around fifteen people or so. The number of these ensembles is obviously contingent on the number of students on campus. In many ways each of the three ensembles will function somewhat like Wind Ensemble has, but with a cap on the number of people involved at any given time.
• One option, depending on numbers of returning students in a given studio, may be like-instrument ensembles. For example, one possibility being considered is for a saxophone ensemble that would rehearse during the Symphonic Band rehearsal time.
• Each individual student’s commitment to large ensemble rehearsals will be less than in a traditional term.
• Each group will give one concert this term, though the nature of that concert will be different as well. Instead of live performances in the Chapel, there will be either webcast-only live performances or pre-recorded performances that will be edited together for broadcast beginning on a particular night (similar to the commencement concert last spring.)
• For students who do not choose to be in an in-person ensemble, we will be working to create an online experience that, while not truly replicating the large ensemble experience, will address the issues and concerns of an ensemble musician. Topics may include but not be limited to audition preparation, sight-reading, non-verbal communication, error recovery, non-musical keys to success, etc.

As we move through the weeks ahead we will adjust plans to changing circumstances and communicate to students and faculty in a timely fashion.

Matthew Arau
Mark Dupere
Andrew Mast

PLEASE EMAIL QUESTIONS TO: conservatory@lawrence.edu

EXCERPTS

If there is more than one link for an instrument, you may need all of them.