Hans said: "Ralph, with all the other things you were right, but it is up to the professional to adapt to any players in the section - at spot. That is required from a pro."
In my days of playing in several orchestras in south Florida, very often we had a different section for every performance with only a few of us, and not necessarily the principals, on a regular basis. Many, many times, too many for comfort, we would often have a different principal for every series of the season-symphony, opera, ballet, touring shows (which carried only principals, if any). Some orchestras did have fixed personnel, either contracted for the season or at least a contracted core with the balance on a pick-up basis, but many were just pick-up orchestras which, while they played under the banner of "Whatever" Symphony Orchestra, did not have permanent personnel-we were hired for the performance series. Made for rather tenuous financial planning. My point is, that with all of these different sections, and only having between one and three rehearsals to pull everything together, we had to work and adapt quickly to the principal's playing, as well as the conductor, etc. If you couldn't adapt, you just didn't get rehired. Period. Dana Twiss _______________________________________________ post: [email protected] unsubscribe or set options at https://pegasus.memphis.edu/cgi-bin/mailman/options/horn/archive%40jab.org
