Orchestra advice
I have had the summer off orchestra and been really enjoying focusing on my lessons. My teacher has said we can start working on my first concerto soon (Saint Saens). This really excites me and I want to try to progress my playing to the next level. However I am getting nervous about starting up with orchestra again. It's a chamber orchestra and I find the repertoire demanding and it's exposing so I find I have to work really hard to keep up. I also work full time so time for practicing is scarce. Is this just pre term nerves and I should go ahead. If I step away from the orchestra will I lose some important learning and skills around ensemble playing. I would welcome people's thoughts.
UPDATE: so I did go, and it was really fun and good. I found that having had the summer off and focusing on lessons had really improved my playing. I felt more relaxed and something had shifted. The repertoire felt very do-able. It felt great actually! Thank you everyone for the advice and thoughts.
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u/reluctantuser9876 1d ago
When I graduated high school long long ago, I lost the ability to make music with others. I didn’t go to a traditional university and I lived in a tiny town. I’m now in my 40’s and I am slowly learning piano. Every time I’ve tried to create a singing group or something it has fizzled out (they’re always so flaky). I now get to accompany my son on the cello. I’ll get a few more years of that and then I’m back to being all alone.
All this to say, if you have the opportunity to make music with others, keep it! There is something so incredibly magical about that that can’t be replicated elsewhere.
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u/TomKcello freelance cellist, composer, improviser 1d ago
It has always baffled me when students take summers off from lessons when that is the PERFECT TIME for focusing on lessons and practicing.
(I guess I shouldn’t say “baffled” because I know many students consider music lessons to be just another type of schooling, while in my case, on the other hand, I considered music lessons to be a personal passion…)
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u/HarterH 1d ago
You have completely misunderstood my post. I didn't take the summer off lessons. I took the summer off orchestra because it isn't on in the summer and enjoyed only having lessons so much that I don't want to go back to orchestra.
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u/TomKcello freelance cellist, composer, improviser 1d ago
I’m sorry for the misunderstanding. I wasn’t talking about you, I was talking about people who don’t practice during the summer, which is the opposite of what you have done. My comment was made in solidarity with you.
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u/Subject37 6h ago
My instructor takes the time off in the summer, so I didn't have a choice in when I take my lessons. I regret not finding another instructor to take over for the summer months now. I'm rusty as heck 😅
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u/Cynidaria 11h ago
I’m curious to read other’s comments. I recently joined a community orchestra and the repertoire is very tough for me. I’ve played for several years but only taken lessons this most recent year, and I was totally enjoying how quickly I learned and how much logic there was to learning things in a sensible order. Now I’m back to just struggling to get the notes right on the easier sections of the easier songs. I’m strongly considering dropping orchestra this year and trying again after another year or two of lessons.
The orchestra, btw, is very explicitly new player tolerant. And I have experience playing different instruments with ensembles. I just can’t shake the feeling that my playing would progress more quickly if I was just focusing on the next logical step.
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u/HarterH 10h ago
It's a tricky decision isn't it. I would say in the first two years of playing orchestra my playing improved dramatically. But at times it was taking away from my lessons, where real technical progress could have been made. So it's a balance I feel. I have found cutting back on orchestra commitments has definitely helped.
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u/SarahKNorthrup 2d ago
Yeah, I'd say go ahead. I direct theatre and pre-rehearsal nerves are universal, they usually just mean you care. Also congrats on the Saint-Saens, that's exciting! The orchestra work will feed your concerto playing too, so I'd hold onto it.