I Took Two Flute & Piccolo Orchestral Auditions in 13 Days: Here's What I Learned

I recently took my first two major flute and piccolo orchestral auditions - less than two weeks apart. Here's what I considered before taking the auditions, what I learned about auditioning on piccolo, and how I balanced two separate repertoire lists.

Cost vs. Opportunity

Taking an orchestral audition is never free - there is always a cost in the form of both time and money. When I decided to take these auditions, I had to weigh those costs against the potential gains.

Fortunately, both auditions were within driving distance. For one, I didn't have to pay for a place to stay. For the other, I was able to share a hotel room and split gas costs. Compared to other recent audition postings, both were relatively affordable and well worth the experience.

Time was another big factor. If these auditions had been a month earlier, I would have had to juggle audition preparation with my recital, a competition, and my usual teaching assistant duties. Since these auditions happened after the end of the semester, I had sufficient time and energy to prepare.

I didn't go into either audition expecting to win a job. Of course, I still worked hard while preparing, but I viewed both as growth and learning opportunities.

Here are my takeaways:

• More confidence performing under pressure

• Greater familiarity with piccolo excerpts

• Firsthand audition experience to share with students

Audition No. 1

My first audition was scheduled for 10:00am. Conveniently, our hotel was less than a block away from the entrance and I arrived at the hall by 8:45am for our 9:00am call time. I was the first from my group to check in, meaning I would be the first to audition. There were only four other people in my group, meaning it would be a quicker process.

I was walked to an individual warm-up room backstage, a dressing room with a music stand, binder of excerpts, and the preliminary round list. I was surprised to see only four excerpts listed, however they were all ones that I would expect to see on the first round, no surprises.

Although the audition packet had a few second flute excerpts, the first round was entirely piccolo. I had a full hour to warm up, splitting my time between tone/intonation/flexibility exercises and the listed excerpts, playing each one slowly with a tuner. The personnel manager knocked on my door promptly at 10:00am and took me to the backstage area.

The audition proctor walked me onto the stage and took a seat behind me before announcing to the panel "this is candidate number seven". I played a few warm-up notes and proceeded through the list. One of my goals was to take more time before starting each excerpt. Although it felt like the silence was too long, I felt like I succeed and was able to focus better. I noticed I didn't have the same level of muscle memory on piccolo in high-pressure situations as I normally do with flute, leading to a few minor cracks.

After I played the final excerpt, I was led to a waiting room for my group. One by one, the other flutists came in to await results. Because it was a smaller group, we didn't have to wait long. By 10:40am, I left the hall knowing that I did not make the semifinal round. While that isn't a result that anyone wants to hear, I was still thankful to be in a beautiful city and have time to explore.

Audition No. 2

Thirteen days later, I was back at it for the second audition. This time, the audition was for a Second Flute/Piccolo position, and about half of the excerpts were for flute. Thankfully, only three of the piccolo excerpts were different from the first audition, so there was a lot of overlap in my preparation. I was also excited to spend more time with the flute excerpts.

Originally, I was assigned to the 8:00pm block, which I was not thrilled about. Given the option, I would choose an 8:00am audition instead any day. About a week before, I received an email moving me up to the 4:00pm group.

I arrived at the hall at 2:45pm, and was moved to the end of the 3:00pm group due to scheduling delays, The preliminary list was probably my personal worst-case scenario, a combination of the piccolo and flute excerpts that I felt the least confident about. There were also twice as many excerpts as the last audition. I waited for about 10 minutes before I was taken to an individual warm-up room.

Balancing flute and piccolo in my warm-up was challenging. Since I had to start with a piccolo solo, I started with piccolo but in hindsight maybe I should have started with flute.

After feeling a bit discouraged by the list, I was ready to just get the audition over with. Once I got a ten-minute warning from one of the staff members, I decided to take a break from playing until I got into the hall.

When I finally stepped on stage and playing a few warm-up notes, I was surprised to feel better about my sound than I expected. Although I had some unexpected note errors on the second half of the piccolo solo, I was happy with the overall audition. I played a few flute excerpts before hearing "thank you" from behind the screen. After only about ten minutes, I got my result and I did not advance.

Reflection

Even with the challenges of taking two flute and piccolo orchestral auditions just two weeks apart, the experience gave me valuable lessons that I'll carry throughout my performance and teaching career. Each audition helped me refine not only my playing, but also my mindset - an equally important part of the process. These experiences will help me better guide my students through their own auditions, especially as they navigate the logistical and mental challenges of preparation. Although I didn't advance in either audition, I walked away with firsthand experience, clearer expectations, and greater confidence for the next opportunity.

Until the next audition!