I want to share with you a blog I wrote about my first orchestra experience as an adult, whom, lets just say not quite qualify for the orchestra yet...

I don't think I have ever been that lost before. I'm a pianist, why can't I count correctly?? Why???

I emailed one of the junior college community orchestra group's director about sitting in the first rehearsal. Told him honestly that I've only been playing for 3 months, playing towards the end of Suzuki book TWO, and am interested in joining in the FUTURE. He insist that this year he will be doing some chamber music group, so he'll be assigning maybe just one movement of easier pieces to different groups depending on their level, and that I should come in with my violin.

Alright, so here I went with my violin. Staring at the section wondering which is the last chair of the second violin section. I sat down, praying that no one will sit next to me. Then a nice college kid sat next to me. We exchanged greetings, and I told him i'm very new. He said he's been only playing for a few years. I said, that's great, I've only been playing for three. Three MONTHS. You should see the look in his face, it was priceless.

We started off playing Haydn's Symphony No100. Ehmmm... you mean I have to sight read this thing? (thank goodness it's in G major). I can play the slower passages, only when I can find my place in the music. It's not like the music is in complicated time, why do I have so much trouble following the music? I pretty much count the best I can, watch my stand parter to see where our section suppose to be at. And try to play the first note of each bar if I can. Quickly, I realize my goal for the nite was not to play any notes during our rest.

Since its the first rehearsal, everyone was sight reading. The first violin section was of course quite good. There were alot of giggling going on in the second violin section because we're either playing out of tune or we enter wrong.

I almost pee in my pants when the director wants each section to play their section alone.

Will I go back to this orchestra? Probably, but not now. I'm not ready. I think it's a great learning opportunity, but I should not be wasting their time. If they do indeed have the chamber section, and they can really find someone my level, I would be delighted to join. I took the music home, I just can't do this. At least for now. Nonetheless, it was a GREAT learning experience!!!

That sounds like a normal situation in sight reading a new piece in orchestra. And I've been playing in various orchestras for over 5 years! Still can't count, and I'm supposedly doing A level maths. Don't worry about it! Practice makes perfect, if you keep going you'll get better I bet at least half the first violins were miming!

Although I appreciate you've been playing for only a very short length of time, I think this highlights just how difficult orchestral playing is, even when the music is comparatively easy. Yes, there might be safety in numbers, but only to some extent, you've still got to pull your weight and people sat around you will eventually notice when you are playing and when you aren't

From my own perspective, I get fed up with non-musos thinking orchestral playing is an 'easy peasey' job that anyone could do. It's not. It takes a great deal of skill and a lot of practice.

You've said you play the piano, but have you much experience of score reading? Obtaining a score for a work and following as you listen to a recording is a good way of 'upping your skills' in following a full orchestral work. It helps train your ear to each instrument and teaches you 'cues' in your own line. I did so much score reading at music college I can now physically put a score down while the work is being played, do something else for a minute and then pick the score up again and find where the music has got to! It is a skill well worth learning and I'd recommend it to anyone who's thinking of joining an orchestra - whatever their level of playing.

While I don't want to suggest that even small ensemble playing is easy, could you find someone of similar standard to yourself, or perhaps a little more advanced, and start playing some very easy duets together? This would help you follow the line of music better (even when you aren't playing) and help you learn to adjust your own playing (skipping a bar or missing a few notes out) to keep you both together. If it sounds rough at first, don't worry. It will get better, I promise you!

Finally, take heart in that even professionals have to fudge it at times and will miss out more than a few notes in the first play-through! Our own counting occasionally drifts and individuals do get lost from time to time. Some of us even take the music home to practice! There is absolutely no shame in that - we are human, not machines.

What I'm really really worried about is the 2nd rehearsal. Maybe the 2nd violin groups sight reading skill aint that great, but they may have the skills. After they take the music home and practice, they'll do 10x better than the first rehearsal, but I'll still be left behind!!

I'm interested in the smaller chamber group that they have to offer, we'll see how that goes!

Good idea. At least it will ease you into performing music with others. Hopefully they will be understanding to your needs. Good luck.