Home!

I'm finally home after a long two months filled with lots of music and lots of orchestra experience. It's really amazing how much repertoire we covered in such a short amount of time, considering the fact that we're a music "camp," not a professional orchestra. Here's the list of rep we did on concerts alone...that doesn't include other readings.

Barber: Overture to The School for Scandal

Beethoven: Symphony No. 6 in F Major

Berlioz: Les Troyens; Royal Hunt and Storm

Bizet: L’arlésienne, Suite No. 1

Bizet: L’arlésienne, Suite No. 2

Brahms: Symphony No. 2 in D major

Britten: The Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra

Debussy: Petite Suite

Dvorak: Symphony No. 8 in G Major

Haydn: Symphony No. 87 in A Major

Hindemith: Symphonic Metamorphoses

Mozart: Symphony No. 40 in G minor

Prokofiev: Piano Concerto No. 3 in C Major

Schumann: Piano Concerto in A minor

Smetana: Overture to The Bartered Bride

Strauss, R.: Till Eulenspiegel’s Merry Pranks

Stravinsky: The Firebird Suite

Tchaikovsky: Violin Concerto in D Major

Wow that's a lot...and it's really hard, too. We're not talking arrangements of Bach concertos, we're talking rep that you would hear at any concert by any professional orchestra.

The Final Stretch

Well, it's down to the last week now. I can feel things starting to wrap up and I couldn't be more excited to go home. It's been a great experience but I really am burnt out. I've started to wonder that if I can't survive eight weeks of this, how am I supposed to do it 52 weeks out of the year? I think doing it as a job would be a lot different than doing it as a summer camp, so that is reassuring. As an orchestra player, music would just be a part of my life, rather than a consumer of my life. I think my stamina for long rehearsals has definitely grown, so my lack of enjoyment is not necessarily a physical issue, even though I have had some problems with my wrist. I think I'm burnt out because I'm honestly just sick of doing the same routine every day, seeing the same people, none of whom are my family, and it just gets old after a while.

In the next post I want to list all of the repertoire that I've played this summer, because it really is a huge list!

Next...

Wow, I only have two concerts left! It's amazing how fast this summer has gone, but at the same time I can't wait to go home.

Earlier today I played in an opera scenes masterclass. A reduced orchestra performed scenes from operas of Handel, Haydn, and Mozart. It was a pretty good experience; I really love opera music and this Classical-Baroque style is enjoyable for me to play. A lot of full time orchestras continue performances in the summer, but instead of traditional symphonic concerts, they perform as the orchestra for an opera company season. I've never played opera before, so this gave me a nice introduction. The only problem I have is that unlike a regular concert, the orchestra is crammed in a small pit and usually the instrumentalists have to live and perform in the shadow of the singers. Let's face it, the patrons care more about operatic divas than a rockin' viola section. However, it can be very rewarding if you approach it with a fairly selfless attitude.

Next concert: Strauss Til Eulenspeigel, Prokofiev Piano Concerto No. 3, Beethoven Symphony No. 6. WOW! Lots of notes to learn...