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Hi Liesbeth, indeed, luck unfortunately does play a role in these things (though honestly it can go both ways – we can sometimes be the beneficiary of good luck which is helpful to remember too!). I have a student who was in the finals of the same top orchestra 3 or 4 times, and each time it was a no hire result, and then the final time, the panel had a few different people on it, and they got the job.
And just to clarify, because playing the average of 20 different recordings does indeed sound kind of dull, the idea is to identify the middle ground as a starting point, and then figure out what the extremes are, so you can figure out how to play within the space between the extremes. Kind of like in tennis, there are definite lines that you have to keep the ball within, but there’s a ton of room inside the court to play with. And you see so many different styles of players who find creative ways to use that space differently. And of course there are those who aren’t very creative with the space and just try to hit hard/accurately. =) Hope that makes a little more sense!
As far as making a tape for pre-screening goes, I wonder if you have any specific questions about the preparation process? Like, how are you inclined to prepare? That might give me a way to suggestions some little tweaks to your existing process, instead of making too many changes that might not be necessary!
Noa
