During the last season of compititions I started to notice that many people did not seem to dress up for auditions or contests. I always thought you were supposed to dress like it was an interview. I understand that everyone's perception of dressing up is different, but I don't really think many people would consider sweatpants and a ragged rock band t-shirt dressing up. There is definatly a time in place for this kind of comfy wear (trusty me I fully enjoy sweatpants and my favorite ACDC t-shirt).

My question is am I thinking to old fashion. Do people not feel the need to dress up for auditions. To all people that have judged a compitition, does the dress of a musician affect they way you think of them. I know that is not what they are getting judged on, but I think it kind of goes under your first impresson of the particular musician and may leave a bad taste in your mouth if you don't dress well. I also understand some auditions are more low key and don't need clothing that is used for larger compititions.

Of course, I have not been to as many compititions as most people because I am only in high school, but I would like to know everyone's opinion on this topic. I almost hope I am wrong so I can pull out my normal jeans and hoodie for my next solo contest.

Sabrina

I am in highschool to, but IMO you should dress up for any auditions/recitals. Dressing up shows you are being as professional as possible and that you are taking it seriously, and that you want to do well. If it were me judging, I would think the person performing didn't care all that much if all they were wearing were a jeans and hoodie..

Bravo Newbie!!

I have many students doing state music festival here in New York this month and I have a steadfast rule for any concert or competition/audition;
no jeans, sneakers or tee-shirts..

I am appalled at how people dress for such events now days, and you are correct, it is a job interview..

I mark people down for inappropriate dress. I also mark people down for the condition of their instrument. I do not mark down for old instruments, just instruments that are not cared for. I do not expect everyone to wear a fine suit, but you should wear something nice.

I also find that poeple who dress appropriately tend to play better than those who dress in rags.

I have no doubt the care and attention devoted to dressing is directly proportionate to the care and attention devoted to practicing and really trying to understand the music you are playing.

If you are auditioning for a college, or a symphony gig for that matter, dress well. You are a performer -wear your costume/uniform.

I really like the feed back and thanks for making me not feel like the only one who still dresses better for auditions.

Thanks again

i got marked down once at solo ensemble for wearing sneakers- which really annoyed me, only because i wasn't wearing sneakers. they didn't even look like sneakers... but yeah.

i always dress up for auditions/performances, with the exception of district band/senior regional orchestra auditions, because they're blind. so the only person who would know what i was wearing is the room assistant :P

^^i think the care of instrument thing is interesting... it seems reasonable, except that as someone who plays a school horn, and recognizing that a lot of kids who play larger instruments use ones owned by the school, a lot of these instruments are in poor condition before we get them. alot of our school horns have issues that interfere with some notes sounding, and the county-mandated repair people don't really fix them right. i take as good care of my bass clarinet as i can, but it's clearly been mistreated in the past...