ABSTRACT
Focusing on string players, this chapter examines how the individuals train and then cope with the auditioning process. Popular belief among orchestral musicians is that problems of integration and adaptation, and indeed greater individualism, occur more evidently and frequently among violinists than among other string players. The test of individualism and collectivism of orchestral musicians (TICOM) study investigated 121 music students from 12 German music academies during 1998–99. This study examines personality traits, focusing on those closely connected to individualism and collectivism. The TICOM study established that the 'best' violin students exhibited differences from 'good' violin students in personality traits which are closely connected to greater degrees of individualism. Musical training offers the opportunity to study orchestral playing, chamber music and training of orchestral excerpts as subsidiary subjects. Music academies certainly have the potential and the duty to arouse and channel students' interest in orchestral works.
