[MusicTlk] Scrambling to Learn Music for Community Orchestra

[Catherine Getchell]

Hi Ella,

Thanks. Good idea. I'll post to MENVI, too once the other discussion dies down a bit. You're absolutely right that string players often sit out for a concert here and there, whereas wind players don't. I've become much more familiar with this lately because I'm now on the personnel committee for the orchestra, so I get emails from players whenever they have to miss a rehearsal or a concert, and it's much more often strings than winds or brass. The reason is those of us who are the only one on our part might feel a stronger obligation to make every show unless we have an absolutely immovable conflict or illness. That's part of my hesitation in sitting out the show. I'd basically have to find myself a sub who I trust to play the part well, hopefully without having to pay them. Since this is an ongoing issue, I don't think sitting out one show is the solution. I think I need to have a heart-to-heart with the conductor and just be honest about my dilemma and see what he could do to help me come up with a solution. Thanks for your thoughts on this.
Catherine

-----Original Message-----
From: MusicTlk <musictlk-bounces at nfbnet.org> On Behalf Of Ella Yu via MusicTlk
Sent: Sunday, September 8, 2024 4:23 PM
To: Music Talk Mailing List for Blind Musicians <musictlk at nfbnet.org>
Cc: Ella Yu <ellaxyu at gmail.com>
Subject: Re: [MusicTlk] Scrambling to Learn Music for Community Orchestra

Hi Catherine, This honestly sounds tricky, and it's a situation I personally won't face in the same way you do, even though I also play in an orchestra. I believe you're on MENVI too, right? If so, I suggest posting it there as well, as I think there's a bit more traffic there. Anyhow...

Rental music is tricky. I'm in a symphony orchestra as well, but I play strings (violin/viola) so timing is more forgiving for me, but I know for one-on-a-part wind players, it is not. Also, our group doesn't do much rental music due to cost reasons anyway. Whether learning by braille music or by ear, the lead time is very important. (Honestly, almost all instrumentalists can't really read braille music and play at the same time, which is kinda unfortunate, but just the reality of human nature). I don't know how your orchestra works, but if you're really in a difficult situation, I think it's not unreasonable to sit out a show and just say you've got too much on your plate right now, without putting your blindness into it. At least for my orchestra, although all the winds and percussion are relatively constant from performance to performance, it's not uncommon for string players to sit out a few performances per season due to work/life commitments, and if that happens to wind players, substitutes are usually found. Either way, I would still be up front and honest about your situation and explain that you really do need at least one month of lead time or whatever. I know this isn't easy, wishing you the best of luck.
Ella

On Sun, Sep 8, 2024 at 12:55 PM Catherine Getchell via MusicTlk < musictlk at nfbnet.org> wrote:

> Hi all,
>
> I'd love your collective wisdom on this. I'm just an amateur musician, 
> but I'm very active in a community band, orchestra, and brass quintet. 
> Lately, the orchestra conductor has been choosing a lot of rental 
> music rather than music we already have in our pretty vast library. 
> Since it's a community orchestra, they don't like to order the music 
> until a few weeks before the first rehearsal, and often it doesn't 
> arrive until a week or two beforehand.
> I'm a one-on-a-part player (trumpet), so I don't have the option of 
> taking my time to learn the music while the rest of the section plays 
> it. It's got to be ready by the first rehearsal.  Music Braille isn't 
> really an option for me in real-time because the trumpet requires both 
> hands. And I'm faster at learning it by ear anyway.
>
>
>
> This is proving more and more challenging as there is more and more 
> rental music. The timeframe also often coincides with new music 
> distributed by the other groups I play with, so my ability to stop 
> everything and focus just on orchestra music for a couple weeks is 
> limited.
>
>
>
> I have asked the librarian to work with the publishers to at least get 
> my part ahead of time, or to order all the parts a little early, but I 
> don't get a response to my emails to him. I've let the conductor know 
> about the situation. The question I have for the group is: What is a 
> reasonable ask in terms of getting music ahead of time? Ideally I'd 
> like to have it all a couple months ahead so that I can "put it in the 
> queue" so-to-speak, instead of having to drop everything and focus on 
> orchestra music. I'm thinking of telling the group that if I don't 
> have all the music a month ahead of time minimum, they should find a 
> sub for me for that show. But I'm afraid that if I do this, they may 
> decide that it's just easier to find a sighted player, even if they're 
> not as strong. Has anyone had success in advocating for getting music 
> ahead of time? Any tips and tricks? And what amount of lead time is 
> reasonable to ask for? Thanks!
>
> Catherine
>
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