‘You Only Have 5 Minutes to Prove Yourself. . . . ‘ : 200 Show Up to Try Out for 13 Positions in Pacific Symphony’s First Blind Audition

Jennifer Johnson was describing what it’s like for a musician to audition.

“Horrible. One of the worst experiences ever.”

“It’s extremely stressful,” the 24-year-old violinist continued. “You only have five minutes to prove yourself. . . . (It’s) one of the worst things that most musicians will ever have to endure.”

Nevertheless, given the number of jobs open to a professional musician, Johnson was one of more than 500 who answered an ad to audition last week for 13 positions open at the Pacific Symphony.

Every day for weeks, she practiced 11 orchestral excerpts chosen by the symphony’s music adviser Kazimierz Kord and an orchestra committee. “You have to know the pieces so well that no matter what happens, you can still play them,” she said. “The main thing is just to try and stay calm and think clearly.”

Which isn’t easy. The auditioning process is a real pressure-cooker.

Only 200 musicians, ranging from 18-year-olds to people with 30 years of orchestral experience, decided to actually go through it. They arrived last week at the Orange County Performing Arts Center in Costa Mesa at scheduled times, drew numbers to determine who would go when, and then got 10 minutes each to warm up.

To avoid charges of favoritism, sexism or racism, they were separated by a huge black screen from the five-member audition committee (actually one of three committees, one each for string, brass and percussion, all including first-chair musicians from those sections). Candidates had the option of taking off their shoes, so their footsteps wouldn’t reveal their sex.

The entire proceedings were closed to the public and the press, and even the committee members knew the candidates only by numbers.

“This is a need for complete fairness for everybody,” said Robert W. Stava, secretary-treasurer of the Orange County Musicians Assn., the union that represents the orchestra’s members. “So it’s the bare essentials: the musician’s sound . . . That’s what it’s all about. They don’t care what you look like or how old you are, but how well you can play.”

How well you can play--in five minutes.

“When you play a concert, if you screw up at the beginning, you have the rest of the concert to make it up,” said Stephen Erdody, the orchestra’s principal cellist and a member of the string committee. “An audition is much harder. You have to play your best right away. . . . Hearts will be pacing. Adrenaline will be flowing.

“That’s fine, though, “ he added. “If you don’t have any nerves, I don’t know if we’d want you.”

In any case, “I think this is the best we can do,” said personnel manager Paul Zibits. “There is no other way you can go through the volume of players we’re seeing. . . . The best thing would be to have the luxury to have them play with the orchestra for several weeks. But you can’t do that when you have several hundred people who want that position.”

One bad note won’t necessarily spell the end. “If someone obviously has character of sound and approach,” said principal trombonist William Booth, a member of the brass committee, “and yet has some problems with something--a baubled note--you’re probably not going to rule him out just because of that in a preliminary round.”

But that’s just in a preliminary round. Those who made it through the preliminaries had to repeat the whole process again, this time with Kord joining the committee. His vote is equal to the total of the other votes, so he needs at least one committee member to agree with him. If there is a split down the middle, the person is not hired.

After all that.

And even if someone is hired after all that, he or she faces probation.

The orchestra is also in the process of hiring a new music director, and “the new hire has to be in the orchestra one season with the new director, whoever that may be, at which time the person will be evaluated,” Zibits said. “The new music director could say, ‘No, I don’t want this person.’

“But generally, unless a wrong person got the job, I’ve almost never seen that happen.”

Still, with all of next season already booked with visiting conductors, even if a new music director was hired tomorrow, a final decision to hire or not hire a musician would be two years away.

Although such auditions are commonplace around the country, these were the first to be held in the Pacific Symphony’s 10-year history.

Before the orchestra signed a new contract with the Musicians Union last year, hiring decisions were made by then-music director Keith Clark and personnel manager Robert Peterson, with recommendations from key players.

“That process worked all right for a while,” Zibits said. “It got the orchestra off the ground. This is fairer. It’s a really professional approach to the whole process. It’s good for the orchestra . . . from the standpoint of our reputation: People are going to know that we do fair auditions, not with any kind of political matter (but) just on the basis of how someone plays.”

Those attracted by the ad that the orchestra placed in the May issue of the International Musician newsletter ranged from recent graduates of such schools as Juilliard or the Eastman, to seasoned professionals with experience in such major orchestras as the Chicago Symphony, Zibits said. The appeal of membership in the Pacific goes beyond the salary offered, as residency in Southern California provides potential access to high-paying studio work. About half the inquiries were from outside the Southland, Zibits said.

The 200 who ended up confirming audition dates had to pay for their own transportation to Orange County, and for their own hotel accommodations.

The 13 openings are for assistant concertmaster, six first violins, three violas, a double bass, a second trombonist and one percussionist. As of press time, Zibits said probationary contracts had been offered to three violinists, two violists and one bass. Trombone finals were still to come. Kord and the committees decided to award no contracts for assistant concertmaster or percussionist. Additional auditions for the unfilled positions will be scheduled.

“The winners were primarily young people, under 30,” Zibits said. No names would be released until agreements were signed.

Committee members looked for overall musicianship, style, interpretation, accuracy in rhythm and intonation, and tone quality. Cellist Erdody said he also was “looking for something a little more special--temperament, fire, some real personality, warmth or character in the sound.”

Erdody remembers auditioning a number of times for the National Orchestral Assn. Orchestra when he was a student at Juilliard. Each time he failed to get in.

“I was crushed. You feel like you can’t play anymore. You think, ‘Why didn’t I get a teaching credential--or become a doctor?’ I know a lot of people will be feeling like that, a lot who are young and right out of college or music school.”

“I have a great deal of sympathy for them,” trombonist Booth added, “because what it amounts to--for any of the even decent jobs, and certainly any of the good jobs--is that there are more people who are actually qualified to do that job than one.

“When you get down to selecting the one, it’s a matter of such fine degree. Hopefully, there will be someone who just stands out and is a far superior choice. Frankly, that’s not terribly likely. We haven’t completed the process yet, so we don’t know.”

Zibits remembers being asked at an audition to play the same passage six times in a row.

“They wanted it louder, faster each time,” he said. “They just wanted to see how far you can be pressed, how far your limits go, and also your flexibility. I was asked to change a trill from starting on the upper note to starting on the lower. That happens. . . .

“You just have to learn how to walk in there and do a performance. The tough thing is that you have five minutes to state your case. That’s all the committee has to go on. You give your best shot.”