what is an orchestra?

Rehearsal date: 01/29/15
Orchestra: CYO
Repertoire rehearsed: Waltz No.1~3

I have always been a member of some kind of ensemble/orchestra ever since I was 8 years old.  But it wasn't always great.

In college, I hated orchestra. In college, orchestra was there for the promotion of the schools, not the promotion of the well-being or the training or education for the students. In college, orchestra was required for all students who studied an orchestral instrument. In college, your private teachers, and all the classroom teachers thought their lessons/classes were more important than the orchestra. In college, we all "learned" that orchestra wasn't important, yet we all had to do it, three times a week at 9 in the morning. Often the very first thing we did in the day. In college, we had seating auditions, and if we did poorly, we were ashamed, and people looked down on people sitting in the back. In college, orchestra was more about the status than the music. But didn't someone say orchestra wasn't important? In college, we were getting mixed message. In college, we were all confused. In college, we learned absolutely nothing in orchestra. In college, I despised being in the orchestra, because I loved orchestra in general, at least how I remembered it to be.

After I graduated from school and started playing in ensembles and orchestras around the city, I learned that there were nice orchestras, and not so nice orchestras (whereas, before college, it was always always great). And the difference between a nice orchestra and a not-so-nice orchestra seemed to me, depended on the leaders, and the other players - do they really know what orchestra is about, or did they only have the kind of experience I had in college?

I would suspect that if you don't "get" it, it must be super boring to play in an orchestra. And your attitude shows, and that's what creates bad experience for the others.



So here are some tips for you (in order to help you understand what orchestra is really about).


The most important thing about being in the orchestra, is that you must treat it like a group project, or like a sport team.

As a unit, we have a common goal.

You practice your part, not for yourself, but for others in the group. If each of you sound incredible, the orchestra would inevitably sound better. That's why you practice your part. Like being very good at your position in a sport team. If you are a good goalie, the other team won't be able to score as much, and your team would likely win more often. That's why goalies practice getting better at defending their goals.

Each individual part therefore is very important, and they are important that they are played well, BUT (!) all of that would mean nothing, if we can't work as a team. It doesn't matter how good your goalie is, if your defenders lack coordination and strategy, and won't listen to the goalies direction, your goalie can't help you, esp. against the coordinated attacks of the other team.

The most important part that determines how good the orchestra is, is how well we rehearse. You can have all the best players in the county, but if they are not paying attention during rehearsals, you can also have the best conductor in the world but still be the worst orchestra in the county.

If we can't work as a team, if there are people who just don't get why we are there to rehearse, then we don't have much hope.

It is more difficult to be in an orchestra than being in a sport team, because our goal is less clear. What exactly is our goal? We don't have any other teams to beat, nor are there any scores or points that we can gain. But that is precisely why I love orchestra, and why I think it is extremely important for our growth.

Orchestra is non competitive. It is supposed to be anyway. Orchestra is cooperative. We look at the pieces as a challenge. The challenge is to try to figure out what those black dots and lines actually mean. We are, as a team, to decode the secret messages hiding behind those symbols, and make it come alive. We give birth to ideas and statements. Each piece is a challenge, a puzzle. We work together to solve these problems. Orchestra has never been just about playing the right notes at the right time. NEVER. It has always been about ideas, statements and stories, and messages, and will always be so. To tell these stories, to deliver these messages, to understand, and share. That is our goal.

So we need team players, who would work hard for the team. We need players that are proud of the group that they are in and respect their fellow members. We need players that take each rehearsals seriously, and players that want to solve these problems together with other players in the group.

Orchestra is not for your personal status. It will not help you in that regard. Orchestra is unkind to selfish and shallow people. And if you are selfish and shallow and are there for the wrong reason, you disturb others that are not, and ruin the group. So try to be educated about what you are doing. Try to understand what your roles are in the context of this particular group.

Orchestra will only help those that help the orchestra. You would gain only if you participate. And it is fair, for the more you put into it, the more you will gain. That is another reason why I love the orchestra.

So let's be a team player, and make ourselves proud by improving the group, shall we?