A study of orchestral audition repertoire for violin

Abstract

Very few colleges have a career-intensive program of orchestral audition preparation in their applied violin curriculum. This dissertation attempts to satisfy the need for a curriculum of audition repertoire study in the applied lesson. To reach this goal, the author surveyed 373 excerpts from the violin audition repertoire lists of eighteen professional orchestras to determine their most common excerpts. The focus of this document is on performance problems encountered in these excerpts with recommended solutions, such as bowings, fingerings, and metronomic markings added. Each marked excerpt is shown in a full score context in order to demonstrate how it relates to the other instruments melodically, harmonically, rhythmically, and texturally. Problems and recommended solutions to non-traditional techniques such as glissando, col legno, and pizzicato are also examined. The dissertation concludes with interviews of concertmasters and other orchestral musicians discussing their views on audition preparation and the audition process. Research methods consisted of: (1) selecting and writing to forty-five professional orchestras from a list of 856 American orchestras for the excerpt survey; (2) examining through personal performance, consulting numerous editions, and analyzing several recordings of the twenty-six most-often-used excerpts for bowings, fingerings, metronomic markings, and problems such as spiccato, shifting, and irregular bowing patterns; (3) consulting books and periodical articles about auditions; and (4) conducting interviews regarding the audition process with current and former concertmasters of the Baltimore Symphony, Cleveland Orchestra, Philharmonia of Kansas City, Pittsburgh Symphony, and Saint Louis Symphony.