Great Expectations

I thought that I would tell you about my week in the orchestra to address Drew’s questions 2 and 3. Here’s the program we’re playing:

Szymanowski – Konzert-Ouverture, Op. 12
Schumann – Concerto in A minor for Piano and Orchestra, Opus 54
Intermission –
Mussorgsky – Pictures at an Exhibition

Conductor: Andrey Boreyko
Soloist: Michael Roll, Piano

We have had 5 rehearsals, including one for next week’s program. We will have 4 concerts of the rep above starting this evening, and going through Sunday afternoon. We are also working with a guest conductor that we may be considering for our soon to be vacant Music Director position. We also had our annual orchestra meeting this Wednesday afternoon during which the chair, officers, and the heads of committees had to give reports. I had to give two reports.

I also had two other orchestra related activities to deal with this week. Last night a horn colleague and I attended a symphony patron function. We had to play some duets, drink some wine (I guess we didn’t HAVE to do that), and schmooze with some donors. Today, I had to attend a meeting with our management as the chair of our orchestra’s internet committee. We discussed future internet projects.

I am not saying this stuff to show you how busy or to imply that I am so important. At times, I may be busier than some orchestral musicians, but there many more that are just as busy or busier than I.

When I was in school I thought that on a week like this I would practice at the beginning of the week, get in a good warmup each morning, take some naps here and there, and hang out with friends. So far, I haven’t practiced outside of rehearsals, I’ve been getting in about 10 minutes of warm-up, naps…HA, and the “hanging out with friends” has been replaced by preparing for what you read above. This week is certainly not like others, but it’s not as atypical as I once thought.

Outside of the orchestra, I currently have 5 students to teach. I have a wife, and a very demanding almost 2 year old daughter. Hopefully I can find some time to practice this weekend!