Dispatched from the Audition Room (mit Bolzano auch dabei) After the third day of piano auditions at New England Conservatory, I attended an evening recital given at the school by one of my piano faculty colleagues. Backstage, he said that while he was playing he imagined my stern voice from the audition room. Making a fairly unpleasant face, he told me, "You know when you say, 'Mmmmm, not really good...'" The cold fact is that from about … [Read more...]
“Poet, be seated at the piano”
To some of the pianists auditioning, our choices may seem arbitrary, or random. I believe they're not. From the jury's side of the table, it's frequently very clear -- who we should accept into the school and to whom we should say, "No." The members of the committee (all of us are pianists) do not always agree. But, it's often surprising to me -- even concerning -- how closely matched are our estimates of a talent, of the potential of an … [Read more...]
Scripture reading
In the evaluations I've been writing during the spring auditions, there are notations like this: B: 31-2 (I, II) Br: 5 (I) C: 10-8 I take down which pieces are performed by prospective students, referring, with this shorthand, to the classified canon of piano music, so compact and so sorted that in some cases, even more cryptic scribbling suffices: 111 (1) 959 (I, II) L'i j Maybe I've grown to enjoy this abbreviating too much? 111 would … [Read more...]
Kindest Cuts
In big conservatories, there are competitions to select student soloists for particular piano concertos each concert season. The music is chosen far in advance by the piano faculty. Our normal procedure at New England Conservatory -- and we did the same at Juilliard -- is to hold a first round in which a jury hears each of the competitors play a 15-minute-long selection of designated excerpts from the chosen concerto. A day or two in advance of … [Read more...]
Screening
In a large suitcase, I'm carrying most of the 400 prescreening CDs submitted by prospective students to New England Conservatory's piano department this year. These recordings come from applicants to the school's bachelor's, master's, and doctoral degree programs, and from applicants to the joint degree program the conservatory has with Harvard University. When I started teaching at NEC five years ago there was no "prescreening" in advance of … [Read more...]
Global Warming
American conservatories have been redesigned from without -- through an increasingly high level of applicants. In the United States, we have no national network of government-sanctioned schools of music. No national conservatory. Our high-level schools are schools to the world. And the students get better every year. Now, people play the piano so well, it can be hard to look for more. To some extent, almost every excellent college looks at … [Read more...]
Across a crowded room
The first of seven days of piano auditions began well enough. The first half dozen prospects were accomplished players. Things to quibble with, of course -- but jobs well done. After each student finishes playing and leaves the room, the jury has brief discussion, then each of us assigns a rating for the auditioner just heard. After six auditions, something else happened. A diminutive youngster was seated at the clavier -- and I heard the … [Read more...]