We had a full day's rehearsal yesterday (Sunday) and then our regular rehearsal this evening. I'm enjoying every minute of it. A big reason is of course that it's been my dream for a long time to play again in an orchestra. And while I know I won't be able to play in a professional one, this is a really good amateur orchestra and I'm so thankful they accepted me :)
This weekend, we're going to Kouvola to perform at the opening ceremony of some assembly event for
Kokoomuksen Nuorten Liitto (Youth League of the National Coalition Party). It's not a public concert, KNL hired us to premier a symphony composed by their 24 year-old chairman Wille Rydman. While we're not a professional orchestra (i.e. the players don't get paid, in fact we have to pay membership fees), the orchestra still need operating expenses (salary for the conductor, purchase of sheet music, transporting instruments and people for events, renting instruments and players when needed, refreshments for rehearsals etc. etc.). So it's great we can get paid gigs like this. And I'm happy because the percussion section is benefiting quite a bit from all these. When I joined in April, we only had a set of timpani (which was also just purchased last year). Now we have a snare drum, bass drum, cymbals and a few auxiliary instruments. Maybe more to come!
Another reason (for enjoying the rehearsals so much, especially recently) is - and I surprised myself upon realizing this - that I think I have a crush on someone in the orchestra ;) What to do? I've always had a thing for musicians. And now I see this group of wonderful musicians every week... it was only a matter of time! Heheh...
Oh I've only just learned the details of this Northern European Note system (originated from Germany). For a while there I was wondering how do I play note "H" on the timpani?? In my many years of making music I've never heard of an "H" note, only A to G. I listened to the recordings and figured out for myself that H = B, and B = B-flat. Confusing, right? And they use -es and -is to indicate flats and sharps, e.g. Fis and Ges. A couple of times I heard the conductor asking some player to play the Es note, and I thought -- what? "S" note? yet another note I've never learned??
This wiki entry cleared up the confusion for me. Should have checked it earlier. Felt inadequate for the longest time due to this :P
We'll be playing a horn concerto by Strauss in the upcoming concerts at the end of the month. The horn soloist came to rehearse with us these couple of days. No denying that he's a good player, but I didn't care much for his attitude. Even though I didn't understand too much of the Finnish he was saying, it seemed that he was trying to tell Kimmo (the conductor) how to conduct and the players how to play the piece. That's not his job!! When you play in an orchestra, you respect the music director! Sure, different people have different interpretations of a piece, but if you want it played your way, go find an orchestra to conduct! I happen to like Kimmo's interpretations. If the horn soloist really had strong objections, he should have voiced them to Kimmo during a break or something instead of taking over and directing the orchestra what to do. Not sure what the conductor thought, perhaps he didn't mind as they are colleagues (both play for the Tampere Philharmonic), but at least to me it looked very disrespectful. I don't think I've seen another soloist do that.
Anyway, I simply adore the pieces we'll be playing for the Jämsä and Tampere concerts. If you're coming to those concerts, I hope you enjoy listening to them as much as I do playing them!
