General Discussions

It probably doesn’t go against any written rule. In my experience, the practice of number drawing is facilitated by whoever is proctoring the audition, and it’s down to that person to do it in an unbiased way, or not. I would say having candidates maintain the same order from round to round, and then plugging in a preadvanced candidate as number 1 in the finals is decidedly NOT the fairest way to do it.

I would recommend that any round that includes preadvanced candidates in it should have a completely new numbers drawn. I’ve taken some auditions that use numbers for prelims and then letters for semis, so as not to confuse the committee and inadvertently favor a player because they are the same number as a candidate who advanced from prelims. All final rounds I’ve ever played, screened or unscreened, have began with all the candidates drawing numbers out of a hat or a bag. This is the most transparent way - having proctors predetermine the numbers is just an invitation for doubts about fairness and favoritism. I would also recommend that phones be taken, either from the candidates or the committee members (or both), before the numbers are drawn for a screened round.

I do think it’s acceptable for the proctor to determine numbers for prelims, based on the order that candidates arrive. Most ensembles assign you to a certain hour, and when you check in they tell you which number you are. I don’t think it’s a good idea to assign prelim numbers before check in, because of A) possible discrepancies in warmup time and more importantly B) it’s just too easy for candidates to share their numbers with members of the committee in advance, if they have a relationship.

Sounds like a poorly run audition, if there was that much discrepancy between warmup time from one candidate to another. Also, if they had their librarians proctoring the audition, that tells me it was probably a regional or part-time orchestra (no offense to librarians, but most top orchestras have their personnel staff proctor auditions, not their library).

Anyway, it’s very unlikely any of this violates the union CBA (if there is one) or any labor laws, so there’s nothing to report. If you had proof that they deliberately manipulated the conditions (such as warmup time) in order to favor one candidate over others, then maybe you have a case. I suppose you could write the union and/or the personnel manager of the orchestra and express your disappointment with how poorly the process was run and encourage them to take steps to do better next time, but not everyone appreciates hearing that and they might not call you anymore, if it’s a place you already work sometimes.

Alternatively, you could tell the forum which orchestra it was and then they get publicly shamed on this website and that might encourage them to do better! Your decision.

But as a candidate, you always have to be prepared to play under any circumstances and accept that there will be things that aren’t ideal. I took some auditions where I was left in a warmup room for ages while the committee deliberated or voted over a previous group, and that was actually worse than not having enough time. But I learned to play mock auditions on only a short 5 minute warm up, and also at the end of a long day of practicing where I’m physically and mentally worn out. It’s just part of it and you might have to come to terms with the idea that you weren’t fully prepared because the lack of warmup time threw you off your game. Someone once told me, “it’s only a failure if you don’t learn anything from it.”

Is this different from the standard disclaimer included on most lists that reserves the right to ask for music not included on the list?