January 20, 2023

Bass player Dylan Holly (MM ’22) graduated from MSM with a master’s degree and recently won a section bass position with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra. We talked with him about the achievement, the audition process, his next steps, and advice for others.

Dylan Holly began playing music in high school with the Tucson Jazz Institute before beginning his classical studies at Northern Arizona University, where he received his bachelor’s degree. In Arizona, he studied jazz and classical side-by-side and freelanced in a number of styles before going to Manhattan School of Music in 2020 to receive a master’s degree in Classical Double Bass.

He has played with the Tucson Symphony and San Diego Symphony before winning the Tutti Double Bass position with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra. Dylan still actively plays jazz, most recently performing at the 2023 JEN Conference with the MSM Hugh Masekela Scholars band, and is an active singer, songwriter, and harmonicist.

Congratulations on your new position! How do you feel about this achievement?

Dylan: I feel as though I should say that I feel proud of this achievement, but to be honest, it feels very much the same as anything else I am doing; I am excited to go and fascinated by the unknown possibilities that it will lead to, and I count myself very fortunate to have this opportunity.

What can you share with us about the audition process?

Dylan: This audition process was a little different than most as international applicants were able to do the primary audition via recording. Essentially, candidates had to record a preliminary, semifinal, and final round each in one continuous, first-attempt take, and then the panel judged them side-by-side with the respective rounds in the live audition for domestic applicants. After winning that, I was invited to a trial for a few weeks in Sydney, playing as a section member, and finally had one last live audition round where I played through a large percentage of the audition repertoire in front of the entire panel.

How did you prepare for the audition?

Dylan: I feel the preparation for this audition was not too different from the general audition preparation that is generally ongoing when someone is on the audition circuit. Learn the music, figure out what you would like to say through it, and then figure out how to say it. Then all that’s left is practicing saying it over and over again! Ahead of the trial/final audition, my main priority was learning the repertoire I would be playing with the orchestra, and actively taking somewhat of a break from the audition excerpts; I was playing on a borrowed bass for my trial/live audition, and so I felt that hammering in muscle memory would actually go worse for me once I got to an unfamiliar instrument.

What piece or excerpt were you most excited to perform at the audition?

Dylan: I am always excited to play Bach, and so my Cello Suite movement was what I was looking forward to the most. I also got to play my concerto with a pianist in the live round, which was wonderful!

Do you have any practice tips?

Dylan: I think it’s crucial – particularly if you are going the orchestral audition route – to maintain some amount of humanity in your practice routine and not sit in the mind-numb state we all get to at some point or another. I started classical music when I got to my undergrad, so I had a lot of make-up work to do, which meant that I had to find a way to get in many, many hours of practice while also keeping them productive. The single best thing for me has been learning other styles of music and incorporating them into my practice routine alongside classical music. It’s easy to view classical music as something removed from the simpler idea of “music,” so juxtaposing it with styles where I think about other things helped me re-center myself when I got too far down the neurotic rabbit hole of technique, intonation, “correctness,” etc.

What is your schedule like working with the orchestra?

Dylan: The general schedule is five rehearsals a week, each two and a half hours, and three to four concerts per week, where the days and times vary depending on the week. The Sydney Symphony has a 46-week season, of which I am obligated to do 40.

Tell us about the strings program at MSM; how did your studies help you get to this point?

Dylan: The thing that benefited me the most – but that could also be a downfall, if you aren’t conscious of it – is that my program offered a lot of freedom to work on what you want/need to without having too many other things getting in the way. I felt I had a good balance of time with faculty members and time to make my own schedule. The bass faculty I worked closest with were tremendous, and a few professors I grew closer to helped round me out on a broader artistic level that, in my opinion, helped me navigate the audition circuit very smoothly. But you have to actively seek out those things! If you do, the resources are bountiful.

What is your advice to someone taking orchestra auditions?

Dylan: If you’re taking orchestra auditions, the first thing you have to do is drop any notion that they are completely objective, or that your validity as an artist rests on what one panel thinks of five minutes of nervous playing. It’s easier said than done, but orchestras are looking for contributors, and so you have to be ready to fully offer the way you think this music should be, and then it is just a matter of waiting until a panel comes along who agrees with what you have to say through the music. Of course, that is constantly being refined and developed, and that is why the practice routines are so crucial.

I think it is easy to see winning the audition as the main goal, but if you do that, the pressure only grows and you start to see the end goal as completing this task, rather than playing the music for honest and important reasons. As for simpler and more tangible advice: have good rhythm and get lucky.