How are co-affordances relevant in the bigger picture for performing artists? I was an external jury member for the audition for the principal clarinet position in the Malmö Symphony Orchestra in March and April of 2025. The jury listened to 91 submitted recordings over a preliminary round and 31 candidates for the live audition. It was an experience to hear many of the top musicians on the current European audition scene perform. All rounds were behind a screen and thus anonymous, so I could only rely on the auditory information for my judgment.
The technical level was very high; however, I felt that most candidates let the instruments’ affordances dictate their phrasing. In my opinion, only two or three candidates exceeded their instruments' affordances and performed the excerpts and solo pieces, aligning the phrasing with the music's. This was an example of how understanding the agent of co-affordances isn’t intuitive for most musicians. And as I demonstrate in the Case Study of the Mozart Clarinet Concerto, neither was it for me. Those candidates who succeeded in this audition were the ones who, intuitively or not, understood the relationship with the instrument and the agency of co-affordance.
Few candidates have the natural intuition to supersede a musical instrument's affordances. Understanding the agency of co-affordances proved in this research project is relevant for today’s orchestral musicians.
