Tuesday was the first official day of work at the festival. Some of the orchestras don’t start rehearsing until later in the week, but the AACA orchestra kicked off the week with repertoire readings. These sessions give the student conductors podium time without too much stress in terms of rehearsing since this music is not programmed for performances. It also gives the orchestra a chance to play through some repertoire to build experience and improve sight-reading skills.
The reading sessions we have had so far have been pretty enjoyable. We’ve read through Rachmaninoff’s Symphony No. 2, Schubert’s Symphony No. 8, and Debussy’s La Mer. It’s nice to play music for fun with quality players you enjoy working with; I had a lot of fun with some of the other violas in the section. However, all the hours of playing have taken their toll. It’s hard to find motivation to practice after expelling so much energy with orchestra. This is one of my major fears of an orchestra career; unlike a typical nine to five job, being an orchestral musician can be extremely strenuous on both the body and the mind.
My lack of energy might be due to the fact that I haven’t had a regular orchestra schedule for about a month, but I think I have learned right off the bat that I need to build my stamina and save my energy. I think the stamina will come with more and more rehearsals, but the energy rationing is something I will have to work on more deliberately. We’ll see…
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