{"id":1722,"date":"2009-01-18T17:03:20","date_gmt":"2009-01-19T01:03:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/?p=1722"},"modified":"2016-03-04T10:24:56","modified_gmt":"2016-03-04T18:24:56","slug":"pulling-ones-own-weight","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2009\/01\/18\/pulling-ones-own-weight\/","title":{"rendered":"pulling one’s own weight"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"mt1133913028\"<\/p>\n

I’ve been thinking about the elaborate process of playing in an orchestral section, and thought that hearing about that process might be enlightening for both casual and avid observers of orchestras.<\/p>\n

Particularly in the string sections, it’s a constant balancing act – literally. \u00a0Keeping one’s sound both within the sound of the section and giving enough volume to help support those around you. \u00a0Keeping centered in the rhythm, while being attentive to the rhythm of the section and the orchestra as a whole. \u00a0Executing tempo changes attentively, but not jumping ahead or in back of the musical flow of your section mates. \u00a0There’s a lot of dual responsibilities involved, and that’s where it gets rather tricky.<\/p>\n

You see, even though we’re faced with a lot of musically objective factors (lengths of notes, articulation markings, the conductor’s beat, etc), there are also a range subjective factors both within and without out control to consider. \u00a0Did we have too much or too little coffee today? \u00a0Did we fight with our partner right before the concert? \u00a0Do we hate our stand partners? \u00a0Do we hate the conductor? \u00a0Are we losing our hearing? \u00a0Have we lost much of our former technical facility? \u00a0Can we hear others in our section or in the rest of the orchestra where we are sitting? \u00a0So, even if you know your part and are able to play it, you still might have some work to do.<\/p>\n

\"jackhammer\"<\/p>\n

A common situation is the “to thine own self be true” phenomenon. \u00a0This is the player who knows that they are correct and will make that point by playing their part as loudly and inconsiderately as possible (and did I mention rhythmic rigidity?) hoping that the rest of the people in the section (who are “wrong”) will come around to their own point of view. \u00a0This sort of player is the most obviously damaging type of musician to have in a section.<\/p>\n

\"doctor\"<\/p>\n

There’s also the “do no harm” player, who doesn’t want to stick their neck out on the chopping block, so they endeavor to bring no attention to themselves and ride on the backs of everyone else in the section. \u00a0Aggravating, to be sure, but less damaging in an overt way. \u00a0The problem is, if you have a couple of players who are true to themselves, and a larger number of no harm players, then you have a section rife for disharmony (not to mention discord and rhythmic mayhem).<\/p>\n

\"douglasmacarthursalute\"<\/p>\n

Ideally, you have a principal who is a great player and who meshes well with the other principals and the conductor. \u00a0The principal plays confident chamber music with them, while a section of confident but flexible and deferential players give full support from the second stand on back.<\/p>\n

\"11\"<\/p>\n

Nothing makes a string principal feel more confident when they know that the section literally has their back with strong, attentive playing. \u00a0And nothing can make a principal feel more paranoid in a tricky entrance or passage than not knowing if the section will even come in or play with assurance.<\/p>\n

\"spock\"<\/p>\n

Sometimes the old Star Trek<\/em> axiom “the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few” really does come into play, and a good principal will feel the inertia of a strong and confident section and shape their own leadership accordingly.<\/p>\n

So, that’s my ramble on the subject of playing in a string section (and a tiny bit about leading one) – so next time you’re at an OSO concert (or at your local orchestra’s concert) pick out a string section to watch and see how well these inter-personal dynamics play out on stage.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I’ve been thinking about the elaborate process of playing in an orchestral section, and thought that hearing about that process might be enlightening for both casual and avid observers of orchestras. Particularly in the string sections, it’s a constant balancing act – literally. \u00a0Keeping one’s sound both within the sound of the section and giving […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":303,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[148,115,2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1722","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-appreciations","category-music","category-the-orchestra-world"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pa8kC-rM","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":13315,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2014\/04\/29\/the-john-williams-experience\/","url_meta":{"origin":1722,"position":0},"title":"the john williams experience","author":"Charles Noble","date":"April 29, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Wow. Last night (Monday) was quite a night for the Oregon Symphony and the 2600+ lucky audience members on hand for John Williams' first appearance with the Oregon Symphony in its 118 year history. I cannot remember, other than the OSO's Carnegie Hall debut in 2011, a concert which so\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "the orchestra world"","block_context":{"text":"the orchestra world","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/category\/music\/the-orchestra-world\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/static2.hypable.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/john-williams-book-thief.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/static2.hypable.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/john-williams-book-thief.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/static2.hypable.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/john-williams-book-thief.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1467,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2008\/11\/24\/notes-on-progress\/","url_meta":{"origin":1722,"position":1},"title":"notes on progress","author":"Charles Noble","date":"November 24, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"I've been thinking a lot about the artistic progression of my orchestra over the last couple weeks.\u00c2\u00a0 You can point all you want to how the orchestra sounds under its music director, but to me the real test of the artistic growth of an orchestra is how they sound under\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "appreciation"","block_context":{"text":"appreciation","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/category\/music\/appreciations\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":847,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2008\/03\/13\/northwest-horn-orchestra\/","url_meta":{"origin":1722,"position":2},"title":"northwest horn orchestra","author":"Charles Noble","date":"March 13, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Jen Harrison, free-lance horn player extraordinaire, sent out the following - sounds like a fun time: THE NORTHWEST HORN ORCHESTRA TAKES THE STAGE March 22nd @ 8pm at The Old Church 1422 SW 11th, in downtown Portland. Tickets at the door: $8 for adults\/ $5 for students and seniors. The\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "chamber music"","block_context":{"text":"chamber music","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/category\/music\/chamber-music\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"fh.jpg","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/03\/fh.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":4298,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2010\/03\/31\/nw-horn-orchestra-this-saturday\/","url_meta":{"origin":1722,"position":3},"title":"nw horn orchestra this saturday","author":"Charles Noble","date":"March 31, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Here's what came into my inbox today: French Horn Enthusiasts; Our Fourth annual show. Don\u2019t miss it! The Northwest Horn Orchestra rides again On Saturday, April 3rd at 8:00, The Northwest Horn Orchestra will perform at The Old Church, 1422\u00a0 SW 11th, in downtown Portland. Maestro Dave Bryan and eighteen\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "the orchestra world"","block_context":{"text":"the orchestra world","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/category\/music\/the-orchestra-world\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":4202,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2010\/03\/15\/a-tale-of-two-pieces\/","url_meta":{"origin":1722,"position":4},"title":"a tale of two pieces","author":"Charles Noble","date":"March 15, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"This Sunday the Oregon Symphony performed a concert consisting of three pieces which it had never before in its history performed. (My apologies for that seemingly Google-translated-to-English-from-German sentence).\u00a0 The Delius Irmelin Prelude was pleasant fare, and having a couple nice section viola melodic moments (and one big, exposed viola solo\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "appreciation"","block_context":{"text":"appreciation","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/category\/music\/appreciations\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":699,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2008\/01\/25\/grim-faced-music-making\/","url_meta":{"origin":1722,"position":5},"title":"grim-faced music making?","author":"Charles Noble","date":"January 25, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"I read with interest an archived review by Stephen Marc Beaudoin from the Willamette Week of the OSO's last classical subscription concert, which featured the works of MacMillan's The Confession of Isobel Gowdie and Mendelssohn's Incidental Music to A Midsummer Night's Dream. It was nice to hear that the MacMillan\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "music"","block_context":{"text":"music","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/category\/music\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1722","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/303"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1722"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1722\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1722"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1722"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1722"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}