Nathan Cole, the Boston Symphony Orchestra's concertmaster, shares his two-decade journey through concertmaster auditions. He discusses how to cultivate confidence despite setbacks and the balance between planned and instinctive musical expression. Nathan emphasizes the importance of emotional feedback management and intentional performance techniques, using Brahms’s 4th Symphony as a case study. He also highlights the need for a solid preparation foundation and the challenges in maintaining a personal connection to the music while auditioning.
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question_answer ANECDOTE
20-Year Journey
Nathan Cole's concertmaster audition journey began 20 years prior to the Boston Symphony Orchestra.
Early feedback revealed the importance of visual leadership, impacting his approach.
insights INSIGHT
Beyond Technical Skills
Orchestras seek trust and musicality in a concertmaster beyond technical skills.
This trust allows for on-stage decision-making and direction, essential for leadership.
question_answer ANECDOTE
Balancing Assertiveness and Respect
Noah Kageyama draws parallels to the Olympic basketball team's dynamic.
He highlights the balance between assertion and respect within an existing orchestra culture.
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Have you ever wondered...how to develop true confidence in yourself and your abilities amidst setbacks? What the right mindset is for auditions? How much of your expressive playing should be planned out, and how much is instinct? How to recover from very direct, critical audition feedback? And how do you stay in the present moment, instead of stressing out about nerves and all the bad things that could happen when you’re on stage?
If you’ve ever struggled with questions like this, I think you’ll find helpful answers in today’s episode with violinist Nathan Cole - who was recently appointed concertmaster of the Boston Symphony Orchestra.
Nathan shares insights, details, and lessons learned from his 20-year concertmaster audition journey, and also demonstrates an exercise (using an excerpt from Brahms’s 4th Symphony) that will help you form clearer musical intentions and play more expressively no matter what music you’re working on - especially in passages where you’re not quite sure what to do.
Nathan will also be teaching a live, 4-day, guided (and free) practice workshop on the Scheherazade solos from September 19-22, 2024 (at 4pm Eastern). Whether you’re aspiring to take concertmaster auditions yourself, or simply want to learn some of Nathan practice techniques and strategies for better intonation, sound, and expressive clarity that you can apply to other music that you’re working on, this will be a great way to jumpstart your fall practice with some new tools.
You can also study with Nathan through his online group learning program - Daily Virtuoso - where each quarter, he leads an in-depth study of a new set of masterworks from the repertoire. You’ll learn how to approach both the technical and musical challenges in each piece through live calls, practice assignments, and video lessons, alongside a supportive community of fellow learners.
The Bulletproof Musician