Audition process pet peeve

[Aussie Player]

If I don't know it, I won't play it.
The point of an audition is to showcase your ability and that can never occur if you are fumbling around trying to find notes for a song you don't know, or even worse, if you have never heard the song before.
It shows up the band as amateurs anyway, so no loss.
I always provide a many page song list in advance. It is usual that they don't even look at it, so fail the audition.

 

[Bass Viking]

I said "no and won't" in the context of general "Dad cover bands" where there's a good chance they are setting a higher standard for who they are auditioning than they set for themselves.

It would just seem like a bandleader ego thing to me.Can they wing it on a song they don't know?

In a different context where it's a jazz band, or even a tribute to a rock band that is known to wing it on occasion, then fine. In that case though, you could kind of expect ahead of time that those types of bands will throw those curves (and many bands I know would simply state the need to improvise before the audition. If they don't, they are simply poor at planning).

Context is everything

Well said. I have to wonder if some of the existing band members could survive the audition process. And, as I expected, there have been anecdotes about auditioning for Zappa and Miles Davis that don't really equate to auditioning for local cover bands.

 

[Bass Viking]

The point of an audition is to showcase your ability and that can never occur if you are fumbling around trying to find notes for a song you don't know, or even worse, if you have never heard the song before.

What's worse is when you're trying to follow the guitarist and they don't know it either!

 

[Pacman]

I want to add a story to this conversation.

When I auditioned for the US Air Force band program, they knew ahead of time I didn't play upright (even though it's a doubling position). At my audition, everything went really well on the electric portion. At the end, one of the panel asked me to play a song on upright with a small combo. I said "I thought you guys knew I don't play upright." The guy said "yeah, but can you give it a shot?" I did, and slopped my way through a few choruses of Blue Bossa, and was pretty embarrassed.

I ended up getting the gig, and a year or so later found out that it had come down to me and another who didn't play upright, but refused to try at the audition. My willingness to say "yes" to a request was the determining difference for several of the panel members. So not only did I get the gig, but that gig gave me the Post 9/11 GI Bill, which sent my kid to college for free. I look back at that if I ever need a reason to say "yes" to something that might be hard or unpleasant. You never know what your actions can set in motion.

 

[Plain Old Barry]

In many circles, that is the part where they want to "see if you can play."

Refuse to play, and you are out the door immediately. If you are not confident enough to play unfamiliar material, you are probably not much of a player. If you are dictating what you will and won't do in an audition, you are clearly a diva or head case or poser or otherwise inadequate.

Right...

If you make an attempt, and it's "ok", it might even be good enough. Even if you stick to roots and maybe fifths, but add some cool rhythms or dynamic details, you'll be fine. Drummers tend to really bite on cool rhytmic stuff, even if you don't nail anything beyond root movement.

 

[Lex P.]

I always expect a few thrown in after going through the ones agreed to ahead of time. I’m always surprised how close I play some of the original bass lines on songs thrown at me that I’ve never played before. Granted I’ve heard them a gazillion times being mostly classic rock or blues.

 

[buldog5151bass]

If you ever want to see a great blues show, go see Lucky Peterson. His band generally never rehearses, nor do they have a set list. He calls a tune and plays it. He plays with musicians good enough to keep up with him.

 

[glocke1]

Now here is my pet peeve. Without fail, most auditions I've had and ones I've participated in when auditioning other musicians, inevitably leads to this scenario: we play the tunes, and it goes smoothly. After covering all the audition songs, the bandleader suggests "hey, let's do these tunes." Or, "hey, do you know these other tunes? No? Okay, well let's jam through them. You'll pick them up." Okay, guy. So, you asked me to learn songs for the audition, and now you just expect me to fumble my way through some tunes I don't know? Oh yeah, this is a great use of everyone's time.

Agree but disagree. Running through tunes you don't know is a good way of seeing how good you or someone else can pick up on stuff or at least improvise on things. I think something like that is a good thing to do at an audition, but agree at a regular rehearsal it is a complete waste of time.

 

[mcnach]

I want to add a story to this conversation.

When I auditioned for the US Air Force band program, they knew ahead of time I didn't play upright (even though it's a doubling position). At my audition, everything went really well on the electric portion. At the end, one of the panel asked me to play a song on upright with a small combo. I said "I thought you guys knew I don't play upright." The guy said "yeah, but can you give it a shot?" I did, and slopped my way through a few choruses of Blue Bossa, and was pretty embarrassed.

I ended up getting the gig, and a year or so later found out that it had come down to me and another who didn't play upright, but refused to try at the audition. My willingness to say "yes" to a request was the determining difference for several of the panel members. So not only did I get the gig, but that gig gave me the Post 9/11 GI Bill, which sent my kid to college for free. I look back at that if I ever need a reason to say "yes" to something that might be hard or unpleasant. You never know what your actions can set in motion.

Great story, and a perfect example of why not being uptight pays off.

 

[turf3]

...I pride myself on being prepared for auditions, and I generally learn everything by ear and notate it out, note for note....

.... I really try to avoid the "jam" crowd of players that don't prepare for gigs and just show up thinking they can "play by ear" and just embrace mediocrity....

So not having note-by-note bass lines prepared in advance is mediocrity?

I'm sure Oscar Pettiford, Ray Brown, Charles Mingus, Bob Moore, Carol Kaye, and a few others would be interested to know that.

 

[LBS-bass]

So not having note-by-note bass lines prepared in advance is mediocrity?

I'm sure Oscar Pettiford, Ray Brown, Charles Mingus, Bob Moore, Carol Kaye, and a few others would be interested to know that.

There are plenty of mediocre jams, and there are improvisational greats, and all sorts of stuff in-between. I think you two are describing different things.

 

[LBS-bass]

I think something like that is a good thing to do at an audition, but agree at a regular rehearsal it is a complete waste of time.

Not always. I had some players over last night for a first rehearsal. We went through all the songs I'd worked on, and they wanted to do some of the others. I told them I hadn't listened to those yet and they said, "they're easy." They played a few sections and, yes, they were easy, so we fell in and it was fine. I'll listen to them this week and refine them, but the situation didn't suck and the other new player, a guitarist, got the chance to go over his parts with the other guitarist, which was an important component to the get-together.

 

[turf3]

Well, to me, rock and roll is just another form of African-American improvised music. Note the "improvised" part.

I guess as a listener I'd rather hear something different than just another note for note reproduction of "the" record (and I've written here before about how "the" record isn't really "The One True Way" anyway but just a snapshot of how that band played that song in that studio session). And as a musician I'd rather play something personal and individual. Even if it's not as polished. Rock and roll isn't about polish.

 

[Bass Viking]

Great story, and a perfect example of why not being uptight pays off.

He wasn’t uptight about the upright.

 

[fishdude101101]

Not always. I had some players over last night for a first rehearsal. We went through all the songs I'd worked on, and they wanted to do some of the others. I told them I hadn't listened to those yet and they said, "they're easy." They played a few sections and, yes, they were easy, so we fell in and it was fine. I'll listen to them this week and refine them, but the situation didn't suck and the other new player, a guitarist, got the chance to go over his parts with the other guitarist, which was an important component to the get-together.

This is how it's always worked for me too. It's ok to get through a song imperfectly.

 

[Nashrakh]

Agree but disagree. Running through tunes you don't know is a good way of seeing how good you or someone else can pick up on stuff or at least improvise on things. I think something like that is a good thing to do at an audition, but agree at a regular rehearsal it is a complete waste of time.

The big band I play in has a sight-reading portion as part of its audition. The point of it not being that the musician be able to play as written flawlessly; for our conductor it's more important to observe how one handles situations of uncertainty, how quick you can rebound from making mistakes, etc.

However, this is communicated beforehand. I can handle that, but doing a part of an audition as if it were some kind of live ear training exercise? I'd be sweating bullets if I didn't know beforehand.

 

[mcnach]

He wasn’t uptight about the upright.

That was my point!

By the way, I couldn't read your post without putting a beat to it, now it's an earworm I can't shake off

 

[Bass Viking]

That was my point!

By the way, I couldn't read your post without putting a beat to it, now it's an earworm I can't shake off

Beat poetry set to a backing track of a hi hat and a walking bassline.

 

[Aussie Player]

What's worse is when you're trying to follow the guitarist and they don't know it either!

BINGO!

 

[Bass Viking]

Our current bandleader pulls this kinda stuff all the time. He just randomly throws a song out & says "Let's try it". Now, I might ask to give it a listen first, but I truly love seat-of-the-pants stuff. It does nothing but help me up my game. Playing on a worship team helps a lot in that regard, too. I'm playing 5-7 new songs every week, with just one run thru beforehand.

He can dish it out but can he take it? Just curious, how does he react when asked to play something unfamiliar?