I did not follow the "Hayden" thread so don't know how this fits in with that.
In the US opera houses work differently for a variety of reasons but orchestras normally do 4 rehearsals and 3 concerts in a week. Now, there are orchestras with smaller budgets that might only do one repeat or no repeats in a given week so they might do something additional with rehearsal time, I can't speak to that. I am speaking here of 52 week orchestras that pay a large group of musicians so use them normally for the maximum number of allowed contractual services each and every week. I have never been in a "sectional rehearsal" in a pro orchestra. Orchestras that are smaller or on a tight budget sometimes have an extra strings only rehearsal if they are paying per service. A normal week would look like Tuesday rehearsal, Wed. 2 rehearsals, Thursday rehearsal + concert, Friday, Saturday concerts. Some orchestras have Sunday concerts and not Thursday concerts, some do a Tuesday repeat the following week of the music rehearsed the week before. Some are experimenting with rush hour concerts that are shortly after the end of the workday and not as long, some are4 experimenting with Saturday late morning concerts. When I coach chamber music I speak about the "job" of the conductor. If we look at Orpheus (a conductor less ensemble) what does the conductor do? He is an arbiter of pitch, volume and style but most importantly he is the architect of the piece. I preach and yes my students will attest to the preach word that dynamics are relative to the situation, they also are a driving force behind the direction of the music, the catch the audience and carry them along on a journey. That is what a conductor does at his or her best. All work a little differently all have different priorities. Debbie Schmidt Tisch Center for the ARts On 5/22/10 12:39 PM, "Bill Gross" <[email protected]> wrote: > I'm exposing my ignorance of the professional world with the following > question. I am interested in knowing a little about the rehearsal scheme of > professional orchestras. > > My assumption is that since most of the works on a schedule are from the > well known repertoire most musicians in a professional symphony are already > familiar with the work. Are rehearsals devoted to bringing the ensemble > together and becoming attune to the conductors desire on a piece. Are the > regular section rehearsal or something similar? > > I've picked up from conversations here that professionals seem to put in > about 3 hours day on personal practise time. Is that a correct impression? > _______________________________________________ > post: [email protected] > unsubscribe or set options at > https://pegasus.memphis.edu/cgi-bin/mailman/options/horn/jasoncat%40aol.com _______________________________________________ post: [email protected] unsubscribe or set options at https://pegasus.memphis.edu/cgi-bin/mailman/options/horn/archive%40jab.org
