Bob Ward, principal horn of San Francisco Symphony, answers a question about auditions at the symphony’s social network site.
Find more videos like this on San Francisco Symphony Social Network
I think it would have been more fun to hear about his very long audition process.
Ah, auditions. I am quite behind in keeping those up to date here. This week I’m hoping to be able to catch up on the list. In the following weeks I definitely need to go through all my lists of oboe and bassoon players and make all the necessary changes. I have considered retiring those pages, as the work is awfully time consuming, but I’ll see if I can deal with it soon and if it’s not as difficult as I fear I’ll go ahead and keep ’em up; I think some people enjoy those lists. In case you haven’t viewed them, here they are:
- Double Reed Instructors in the US (This list is small, as I only add folks in if they contact me.)
- Double Reed Musicians’ Personal Pages
- Instructors: North American Universities, Colleges & Conservatories
- Instructors: USA Boarding Schools
So check ’em out if you haven’t already; and feel free to update me with any information you have. 🙂
Posting these videos on the SFS site is a great idea.
However, I wish that this particular presentation with Bob Ward were a bit more prepared. He says “uh…” and “ummm…” a lot and often ends his sentences with that California inflection turning everything into a question? You know?
It must be very challenging to be on camera. I wouldn’t want to be the one on the spot, so I suppose that I should not quibble. I think the presentation could have been more concise, and therefore more information could have been shared.
Oh I think they want it to be more natural and spontaneous. I have a feeling that the social network site is supposed to be a barrier remover. So I’m not sure they really care to have the video look professional.
I’m really not bothered by that aspect.
I did think, though, that that particular question was a bit funny considering Bob’s history with the whole audition thing. I think he could have talked about all those auditions!