What matters more – talent or hard work?

All three teachers admitted that they can’t always predict who is going to be successful, and are often surprised by who wins and who doesn’t. Perantoni noted that it’s usually the student with both remarkable talent and tons of determination who does well, but that even then, there’s no guarantee.

Deck also acknowledges that a fundamental base of technical mastery must exist, to serve the artistic vision of the student. He breaks this down further in suggesting that good technique and execution will get you into advanced rounds, but what wins you the job is your ability to make music.

Roylance also suggests that you need solid technical execution to pass the early rounds, but that it’s the artists, not technicians, who make finals and win jobs. As such, he focuses first on fundamentals, and then progresses to musicianship and music-making as the audition approaches.

So the consensus seems to be that musicians need both solid technique and musicianship if they want to win an audition. If the goal is simply to advance, then clean playing alone may be enough. But if the goal is to win, the musician must also have something compelling to say.

(via)