The scenario is...

One of the high schools I taught last fall is starting an indoor percussion line this year that is not a true competing line on any circuit, and this is primarily for a band music trip that is in April. We'll call it a WGI-Superlite show. We'll be judged in April but not by WGI standards or sheets. We do not have the show purchased yet, but we should have it by the second audition date and we know which one we are going to buy.

We are having two auditions - one on Monday and another two weeks from Monday to set the pit and batterie and we are buying a show that involves ten batterie and from 8-12 pit. After these two audition dates we will set the batterie and pit and generally will rehearse once a week through April with a few more added as we get close to the band trip.

I have thoughts on this obviously, but I wanted to get the wonderful and diverse opinions of players, instructors and anyone else on dl.org to make adjustments before Monday I haven't considered.

Based on information sheets I had all candidates fill out before hand I am expecting 30-40 people to audition for 10 batterie and between 8-12 pit spots.

Here's where I'm looking for advice -

About 20 of the 30-40 students auditioning did not march in the fall and have limited or no percussion experience so I am not familiar where they are or what they can do. Most of these kids that qualify will be in the pit I anticipate, and most all play piano, brass, woodwinds, guitar and have some musical ability / experience.

I want to be sure in these two brief auditions of about two hours each that:

1 - I give them all a fair look to make a good determination who is best qualified.

2 - Ideally give them something to do besides waiting for an individual audition on the two dates - I have not sent out a "packet" or anything like that for them to study to try and do ensemble stuff on these dates. I think it may send the wrong vibe to have them all standing around waiting for a five minute individual audition in the course of a few two and a half hour segments.

3 - Keeping it fun.

Should I find ensemble stuff and try to see what they can do on Monday and how it improves by the final audition? Should I just have all perform individually a tympani, mallet and concert snare piece, or is this too much to ask given the lack of experience, and will suck the fun out of it the first two audition dates? Is that just the price to pay to set the pit, and if they are dedicated they will deal with it and stick it out?

Any thoughts, comments or suggestions would be MOST appreciated. Thanks in advance, flickityschmock

I'd say if you have enough experienced players who marched in the fall, just try to do an ensemble piece in the audition room. Those who dont have an instrument to play can just hang out and look at their music. After about 10 minutes of instructing and such, you should get an idea on who can learn stuff fairly well and adjust to your instruction. After that 10 minutes or so move people around. Take some people off the instruments and put some new people on. If you see someone is going to have what it takes really early (maybe they were in the fall program, or just have good sightreading skills), take them out so other kids can play. You will probably want to keep some good players in though, so the ensemble can still play as a unit.

When I was looking for pit players, I made sure that they had some piano experience. Of course, that translates really well into the pit. As for drumline spots, in the past, a brass guy on bottom bass and sometimes clarinets on the other basses has worked out for me.

Its tough to manage so much in 4 hours, but it can be done. I hope you have a few techs or friends that can come in and help you out, as that would be the best way to give everyone equal instruction.

Good luck.

One thing that could help you in getting an accurate estimate in what you have to work with, is making out an information sheet, well, that is if you haven't done this already. If you have, then disregard this portion, but if you haven't, a simple information sheet detailing a little about each induvidual will help you figure out who would be great where.

A thing that will help you out in making the kids comfortable, is to be light heated when you teach and speak to them. For example, just crack a joke or a light hearted metaphor or simile when you're telling em what you want. The kids will find this more comforting and will be more open to your instruction. Just be careful not to overdo it, but a little joke here or there will help lighten the situation.

With myself, whenever I go to talk to kids and such anywhere, I try and give a simple, brief introduction. You would probably do the same as well to make sure that the kids there that don't know you get to know a little of your background and where you're from and all. Just make sure this is brief however, because time is always limited when giving instruction.

Well I hope this helps in anyway. And good luck with the tryouts.

You indicated that you already had an idea of where certain people would be placed. First thing to do is to throw those thoughts out. That makes your observation of everyone biased from the start, and puts the new kids (unknowns) at an immediate disadvantage. You never know, there might be an up-and-coming player in-the-rough in that crowd that might be better suited to a place you have slotted for a vet. Definitely enlist the help of some of your percussionists friends come to help you evaluate the kids. The more eyes the better.

Like Kevin said, rotate the auditionees in and out so that each gets approximately equal time on the instruments. Also be sure to rotate them through the different instruments. You should also rotate vets to other instruments so that the newbies aren't put into a mindset where they will think they will be relegated to a "lesser" instrument and that the other instruments are off limits to them. Without this mindset, they will be more willing to "put it out there" during the audition and you will be able to get a more accurate read on their abilities.

That stuff aside, I would not hand anything out until they show up at first audition date. By doing this, you are guaranteed to have all of the auditionees on equal footing, and you will be able to judge their sightreading abilities on that night. Have them work on the material that whole first night, rotating people in and out the entire time. At the end of the rehearsal, the goal should be to play through the entire piece, no matter what condition it is in. Take notes during the whole thing on each person's capabilities in the following areas:

Attitude

Technique

Adaptability

Sight-reading ability

Retention

Ability level

Improvement over time

At the end of the night, you will be able to score everyone and rank them in some semblence of an order based on their capabilities. Let them go home and work on the piece for a week, then repeat the above for the first half of the second audition night. By doing this, you will give those who are not good sight-readers a chance to show what they can when they know the material and also give a chance to those who had an off-night the prior week to redeem themselves. Score them using the same scoring system as above.

Midway through the rehearsal, have the kids take a break and compare notes with the rest of the people you have evaluating the auditionees. Compare the scores from the first half of the night with those from the week before and take note of the ones who improved the most and really went home and worked on making it. By then you should be able to come to a general consensus of who would work better on certain instruments and can concentrate the rest of the night with them on those instruments.

With that candidate list in mind, try to find the best mix of people so that the section blends and interacts well with each other. Some bumping of people back and forth between sections may occur, however there shouldn't be too many surprises at this point, and keep scoring.

At the end of the night, compile the final scores and compare all three sets. See if there are any people who might be on the bubble who have shown marked changes or above average improvement during the whole process. Chances are they might pass up those who are just above the bubble with just a little more time. You could give the kids the results before they leave, but I would probably give the techs an additional hour to deliberate if there are some too-close-to-call decisions and then contact the kids with the results the next day.

You indicated that the parts call for 10 battery and 8-12 pit, but since this is not a major circuit competition, you could always add people so that more get the opportunity to play, and it really wouldn't hurt anything.

Just some ideas.

Also, I have my kids fill out a little information paper that includes their name, experience, desired instrument, as well as logistics like phone number, email, and such.

When having them fill this in you should ask all of them if they are involved in any winter activities that fall inbetween the current date and the very last rehearsal. If they have...indoor track...they might have a tight schedule and have competitions every now and then which may conflict. Just be aware and try to catch these things from the start as they'll only cause headaches later in the season.

Thanks for all of your suggestions MAM, Kevin_fu and Coos Coos - Much appreciated!

Giving them all a fair chance is a great thing like people have said. You do not want the new kids to come in there and say that they already know who is going to be on the line. In our softball team the coach used to say just because you are a veteran does not mean that you have a starting spot. That happened to a lot of people in our team. They lost their spot because they thought they could just slack off in the tryouts. You may want to have different kids of exercises or music in the mix. Different levels of stuff should also tell you who will be able to play certain things by just sightreading. If you do send a packet out then send some of that stuff too so they will have time to work on it. Play that stuff during the audition as well. If the person worked hard then they should be able to at least stick with the vets a little bit, there you find their ability to do a lot of work in a good amount of time. The questionaire is a great idea, some kids will have sports and such in the spring that can cause some scheduling conflicts, also ask about their grades, some parents love to take kids out of the line because they are not doing homework, and the work that is needed in the classroom. If you cannot get some friends or techs in the audition then I would suggest to get a great veteran that you can trust to see the people in the pit or battery at some points in time. You can probably have the pit in one room and the battery in a room close to the pit. That makes it better because you can check what is going on within the auditions at certain times.

Hey! Kevin_Fu

I never really thought about what you bought up. Having the prospected and current pit memebrs fill out a Membership Info Form. I think that is a great ideal to do.