Orchestra Expectations

Essentials

• All students interested in the pit orchestra should prepare 3-4 minutes of music that showcases lyrical and technical playing. This can be a solo that they are comfortable playing or even a piece that they are working on in band or orchestra.

• Percussionists should prepare two excerpts: one showcasing their rudimentary skills on snare and one showing their mallet skills. The total time of these excerpts should be 3-4 minutes.

• If one is having trouble finding a piece to prepare, they can use the ILMEA audition music.

• In addition to preparing musical excerpts, students should be prepared to give a brief introduction about themselves including which school they attend and their performance experience.

• The audition as a whole should be no more than 5 minutes. Students should dress for their audition in a professional manner as they would for any performance

• This year students will be offered to audition in two different ways: digital video recording or in person. Auditions will be unaccompanied. All students must complete the Audition Registration Form where they will select which option they prefer.

ORCHESTRA DIGITAL RECORDING AUDITION

• If a student chooses to audition by submitting a digital video recording, they will upload their video when submitting the Pit Orchestra Audition Registration form.

• Students should start their video by introducing themselves and sharing the following:

  1. Name

  2. The school that they attend

  3. What types of groups have they performed with before.

  4. Next, students should state the title of the piece they are playing and its composer before playing their piece.

• Each piece should be around 3 to 4 minutes. The entire video should not exceed 5 minutes. If available, students will be prompted to upload a pdf of their piece on the form.

• The student should be able to be seen playing their instrument in the frame of the video the entire time.

•  Students should also be sure that the camera is setup at an appropriate distance where the microphone will not distort the player's sound. For example, brass players might have to more space between them and the camera than string or woodwind players do.

IN PERSON ORCHESTRA AUDITION

• If choosing to audition in person, students have three locations to choose from:

  1. Normal West High School - Saturday, June 3th at from 9am-5pm

  2. Bolingbrook High School - Saturday, June 10th from 9 am-5pm

  3. Lindblom Math & Science Academy - Sunday, June 11th from 9am-5pm

• Students will select their location and audition time on the Audition Registration Form.

• Students should plan on arriving 20-30min prior to their audition time to allow them plenty of time to warm-up prior to their audition.

• Students should arrive at the audition room on time to help auditions stay on schedule.

• Once a student is in the audition room they will be asked to briefly introduce themselves with the following information:

• Name

• The school they attend

• What types of groups they have performed with before

• Next, students will introduce the piece they will be playing then perform their piece. 

• The entire audition should not last more than 5 minutes.

• Once students have completed their audition, they will be free to go.

How will auditions be rated?

• Each audition will be rated on the following categories: Tone Quality, Intonation, Rhythm, Technique, Musicianship or Interpretation, and Articulation or Bowing. Each category will be scored on a scale of 1-5 with 1 being the lowest and 5 being the highest. This is very similar to our state solo and ensemble contest guidelines. Students with the highest average score on each instrument will be selected to join our Pit Orchestra.

You must be available for all rehearsals and all performances.  This point  is non-negotiable.  If you are not able to meet this commitment, please do not audition.  Note: Orchestra members may rehearse on a slightly different schedule from the actors.