I've heard it's a faux pas for temporary musicians to list themselves as a member of an orchestra in social media bios without specificying "acting" or "one-year" etc, but what about musicians who have recently joined an orchestra and are awaiting tenure? Could listing yourself as a musician in x orchestra come across negatively to a tenure review committee? Interested to hear everyone's thoughts on this.
Something that I've thought about recently, and in my opinion would be a very good resource to have, would be some sort of living database/spreadsheet of per-service rates for orchestras (I guess mostly in the US, where this model is most active, but could include international examples as well).
A basic idea of what information it would contain:
Name of orchestra
Year contracted (so the database could be updated over time, or even backdated)
Position (section, principal, assistant/associate principal, concertmaster, etc.)
Substitute or Permanent musician
The AFM already keeps track of most of this through ROPA! Assuming you're a union member in the US, you can go to the AFM site, log in, and search Wage Charts to get pertinent info on all ROPA and ICSOM orchestras
So what goes on in librarian auditions? How do they work? I always wonder, but it seems like a secret only librarians get to know 😂
Hi all-
I've been seeing people post how (insert name) WON the spot for (instrument) at New World. I personally have a problem calling this "winning an audition." They were chosen, yes. There is not a union. Screens, which are of great importance, are not used. I have heard it to be very beneficial to get your face in front of the folks at NWS many times over the years so they get familiar with you and see your growth.
Do we want to use the lingo of "winning" when someone gets accepted at a school? How about when someone gets into a chamber ensemble? Did they "win?"
I've never been a fan of calling it winning. I tend to ask when an audition happens, "did they choose anyone?" Chosen is a more comfortable word to me than winning. We aren't "beating" people. We're offering a way of performing music…
Plenty of professional orchestras are non-union, or don't use a screen for some or all of their audition process. Sure, many of us wish that all orchestras were unionized and that all auditions were screened, but that's not the case. Are we improving anything by scrutinizing the use of the word "win" in these cases?
That's to say nothing of the fact that neither a union/CBA nor a screened audition process completely prevents auditions from being influenced by outside forces.
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I think the best rule of thumb is to list your position exactly as it’s spelled out in your contract. If you signed a 1-year contract, you probably signed something that said “Acting ____” or “Temporary ______” and that’s what you should write on your resume.
I do not think any distinction needs to be made regarding your tenure status when it comes to your resume. If you won a tenure track job and you are on probation, you are still considered a full/permanent member of the orchestra, not a temporary contracted player.