"In life," goes the saying, "there are no dress rehearsals." It used to be that the same could be said about orchestra auditions. The only way to get audition experience was by auditioning, and you only had one chance to get it right. But that was before Yamaha percussion artists Tim Genis and Ted Atkatz decided to shake things up.

Neither musician is immune to the often harrowing experience of an orchestra audition, but both are obviously very good at it: Atkatz is principal percussionist and assistant timpanist with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, while Genis holds the post of assistant timpanist/percussionist in the Boston Symphony. Both are leading orchestral percussionists knowledgeable in what it takes to build a career in orchestral performance, and both are eager to share their understanding of the audition process with percussion students across the country.

To that end, they have planned the Yamaha Orchestral Percussion Seminar, the first of what they hope will become a regular series of mock auditions for prospective orchestral percussionists.

"I certainly worked my way up to the BSO," says Genis. "Both Ted and I played in smaller orchestras before we got our present jobs, and we had to take auditions every step of the way. We know that when you take an audition, things happen-unexpected things-and we thought it would be useful for students to be put through their paces to learn how to cope with the unexpected."

"And we wanted to give them the experience of doing it before there was a job on the line," adds Atkatz.

Genis got his start by winning an audition with the Rochester Philharmonic while he was still an undergraduate student at the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, New York. He then left school after his sophomore year to work in the Hong Kong Philharmonic, and performed with the Honolulu Symphony from 1991 to 1993. He says working in a major orchestra like the Boston Symphony has special perks-and responsibilities.

"The BSO and the Boston Pops are both really fun gigs because there is a good deal of touring and exposure involved," Genis explains. "With this job obviously comes a lot of attention, since you're in the public eye, both in concert and on television. But there's a lot of accountability, as well. Compared with the smaller orchestras, the expectations are a good deal higher." He says those expectations go beyond what most students may think. "You have to concentrate more on getting a particular sound and putting an individual personality into your playing while still remaining in touch with what's happening in the ensemble," says Genis.

Atkatz also worked his way up the job ladder, joining the Chicago Symphony as a section player in 1997. Like Genis, he was a Tanglewood Fellow, though several years later. "Tim is a bit older than me, and already had his job in the BSO when I was at Tanglewood. He was the big pro while I was still a lowly student, and I held him in high esteem-not that I don't anymore," he laughs.

Following Tanglewood, Atkatz joined the New World Symphony, in Miami, Florida, going on to complete a professional studies degree at Temple University in Philadelphia. He feels his educational background helped prepare him not only to play for a high-caliber orchestra, but to pass that knowledge on to his students. One way to do this was through the mock audition.

"The mock audition was a way for Tim and I to give students real-life training, in terms of what's happening out there," says Atkatz. "It's a learning experience, a way to go through the process, and we tried to make it as real as possible for them by simulating every nuance of a live audition and incorporating what we went through in our own orchestral auditions."

The mock audition-originally Ted's idea- involved 10 of Atkatz' and Genis' students, brought to Boston University from DePaul University in Chicago, New England Conservatory, Boston University, and Boston Conservatory. Candidates were given a repertoire list, and had a year of lessons to prepare the music. The audition itself was held behind a screen for several rounds, with professional players and teachers as panelists. Afterward, the students were given an opportunity to speak to the panelists and get useful feedback on their own playing. Thus, they learned not only about what they did right, but learned from their mistakes, as well.

"Auditioning is a skill you have to practice and learn, just like any other aspect of playing an instrument," says Genis. "One of the most important things a percussion student learns by taking part in the process is that you have to play things differently in an audition than you would in the actual job. You have to use different mallets, for instance, and play with different dynamics than you would in the orchestra. This comes as a huge surprise to many percussionists, and they're often unprepared when it comes to audition time."

Speaking of surprises, the results of the audition produced a big one for Genis. "The winner was one of my Boston University students," he explains. "Since these were all our students, we had an idea of who was who, despite the screen. But this guy surprised me because he had never played as well as he did at the audition. I was actually convinced he was one of Ted's students, until the audition was over!" Genis says it was a perfect example of what can be achieved by absolute familiarity with the audition repertoire. "Total understanding of the music helped him overcome his nervousness in the audition. And that, in a nutshell, is how to win an orchestra job."

Both Genis and Atkatz feel the lessons they learned were just as important as the teaching their students received, and they look forward to using the results when organizing next year's mock audition. "I think we succeeded in our first attempt, and we want to increase the number of candidates and level of competition for the next one," says Atkatz. "We're looking at opening it up nationally and doubling the number of candidates, shooting for 20."

"Yamaha, Zildjian, and GroverPro Percussion were sponsors of the first mock auditions," Genis adds. "If we get enough sponsorship for next year's auditions, we'll set them up so that schools participate, and each school would bring three or four students. They'd register as a school, rather than as individuals."

Both say they also learned valuable things applicable to their own day-to-day teaching. "Ted and I have done a fair number of orchestra auditions, but being on the other side of the screen and knowing what to listen for is quite a different test," says Genis. "Through this, I think we've both learned how to teach a bit more effectively, and it will definitely make a difference in how we prepare our students this coming year."

Atkatz says that the educational experience he gained was absolutely vital, because his own teachers were such an influence as musicians. "While I was in Boston, I studied with two colleagues of Tim's in the BSO. I have them to thank for getting me into the Chicago Symphony and into a professional career," he says. "I want to give my students the same opportunities and pass on the lineage of training I received. In a very real sense, I feel like I'm carrying on a tradition."

He adds that much of what he's learned can be applied to percussionists of all ages, not just university students. "My educational background was extremely varied," he says. "I did sports, psychology, and law, among other things. I also tried to expose myself to a lot of different types of music. I grew up playing rock, jazz, and drum set, and at the same time I was playing in youth orchestras and listening as much as I could to live performance and as many different recordings as I could get my hands on. From my own experience, one of the most valuable things I can tell a percussionist of any age is to keep exploring."

He feels this variety is crucial. "It's the best way to get a real sense of musicality, and an understanding of what makes great music great. It also helps you to determine where your tastes lie, and what really turns you on as a musician."

Needless to say, it also helps one prepare for life as a modern orchestral musician, where the variety of music encountered today is much wider than that of a generation ago. Orchestral percussionists these days need to be prepared to play anything from the standard classical repertoire to challenging 21st century music, Broadway show tunes, even rock and pop-and the job is constantly evolving. "Percussionists today need to find how to create a niche for themselves in re-creating good music while at the same time breaking out on their own as musicians," says Atkatz. That comes, he says, when you give yourself as many different experiences as you can, in life as well as in music.

When they're not putting their students through the rigors of a mock audition, Genis and Atkatz follow up this philosophy by leading varied lives outside of the job.

Genis likes to take advantage of New England's frigid weather to hit the ski slopes. He also consults with Yamaha's design staff, and thinks the variety and creativity outside of the teaching studio and away from the orchestra helps keep him fresh and enthusiastic when he gets back to the job. He is currently helping to develop a high-end timpani, which he says will be a valuable addition to Yamaha's percussion equipment lineup. "At the moment Yamaha mostly focuses on school and freelance percussion, but they don't really make a set of timpani that would be useful in an environment like the BSO," he says. "It's coming together within the coming year." It will be debuted at the PASIC 2002 in Columbus, Ohio.

He says he spends pretty much every other waking moment practicing the timpani since an audition (real, not mock) for the permanent post of principal timpanist with the BSO looms largely on his horizon.

And then there's Atkatz, on the opposite side of the galaxy, musically speaking. He can frequently be spotted leaving a CSO concert for his next performance-singing original tunes and cover songs, as well as playing keyboard and guitar, with the fellow members of his band, Hoochie Suit.

"I can't tell you where the name comes from, so don't ask," he says, forestalling the question. "It would give away one of the group's biggest secrets."

Actually, an even bigger secret is how a classical musician can change gears so quickly, from concert tails and restraint to jeans and full-throated delivery of rock standards, in the short time it takes to grab a cab to the gig.

"That's not such a mystery," he counters. "The huge contrast is exactly what keeps me motivated. It goes back to what I said earlier, about exposing yourself to as many different types of music as possible. The sheer difference between styles of music keeps me inspired. It's what makes me tick, as a musician."

Variety, indeed, is the spice of life-and music-for both of these performers.

The impressive careers of percussionsts
Ted Atkatz and Tim Genis put an about-face
on the old adage: youth and experience can't
go together.