What a difference a day makes....

I spent a good proportion of yesterday in rehearsal for Shostokovich Symphony 4 in preparation for a concert next Saturday.  This local orchestra seem to be gaining a reputation for crazy programming and tend to go for pieces that most amateur orchestras shy away from, for example, The Rite of Spring and Mahler 3 which I played in last year.

I went to my first rehearsal on this before Christmas and came out a bit shell shocked.  It was the first time I'd seen the music, the normal conductor wasn't there and they seemed to focus on all the most difficult bits.  I was struggling with both counting the bars rests and playing the notes.  It all sounded like noise rather than music.  Fortunately over the holidays I had chance to listen to the piece and could do some practice on the notes.

Yesterday's rehearsal was significantly better.  The sectional rehearsal in the morning helped me see how my part fitted with the other oboes and reassured me that there were large parts of it that I can play - fortunately.  The main conductor took the wind sectional and we were lead by a recent post graduate who looked about 12 but is probably in his late twenties.  He was very knowledgable, very clear, very detailed and most importantly very encouraging.  His enthusiasm for the music was very contagious and it was helpful to hear what different parts of the music represented - the alarm calls, the Russian factories, the references to film music and fair ground pastiche.  It was an incredibly useful and helpful rehearsal.

The afternoon was the whole orchestra together and after a look at some corners we made our first attempt at playing the whole thing through without stopping.  We managed it - which is encouraging - and some of it even sounded quite good.  I found it really useful to see my parts in context and to develop an overview of what I need to work on.

From my perspective:
Most of the time I am playing at the same time as the other oboists which is a nice safe place to be. 

There are 2 or 3 bars when I am on my own and need to hold the note when the other oboes have finished. It is good to have identified those parts and be prepared for them.  None of them are difficult but I need to hold my nerve and not panic when the others drop out!

There is a lot of counting to do - whole pages of rests with one or two short entries in the middle.  But I've marked in some sign posts now so I don't need to count them all.  So I am fairly confident about not coming in at the wrong time.

There are some sections that I am really struggling to play but most of those are in very loud tutti sections so will be lost within the noise.  I will look at those but I am not overly concerned about them.

There are some more exposed woodwind bits which I need to make sure I can play well.  My practice this week will make sure they are absolutely right.

Before the rehearsal I was quite worried that I wouldn't be able to do this at all, but it now feels manageable. It's amazing what can be achieved in just one day of focussed work.  But I'm still not sure whether I like it or not though! 

We have another rehearsal on Friday with a final run through on Saturday afternoon before the concert on Saturday night.