asking you guys to ask us

any questions you might have about

life as a professional orchestral musician.

It's been a while, actually. Back in the days.

Days where we used to sightread...

I mean, uh...

Practice all my parts. Haha, what?

Rehearse and play in orchestras

with great conductors and soloists

and all the other great musicians.

We will do our very best to answer

as honestly as we can.

- All right! - Here we go.

First question, from bella.

Yeah.

I'd say so.

I think musically,

you get to taste a lot of different genres very quickly.

- 'Cause you're always playing new works every week. - Yes.

Especially with working with all the conductors

- that come in every week. - Yeah, I was gonna say,

it depends a lot on the conductor.

The second thing I would say,

it really helps you develop ensemble skills.

Especially in professional orchestras,

there's very little tolerance of playing out of time.

- Oh, yeah! - You know like, school orchestras?

- Oh, yeah, everyone's... Yeah, yeah. - People are kind of still like, out of time.

- The conductor's just like, "Ah, whatever." - Yeah.

If you're out of time in a professional orchestra,

- and it's a good professional orchestra, - Ohh!

- everyone knows. - Everyone knows if it's you.

And then if you play wrong notes, out of tune,

- and stuff, they will notice you. - Yeah.

I would say, when I first joined an orchestra,

- it really pushed me into it. - Oh, yeah.

It's all coming back to me now.

Alright. So, if everyone goes...

And you're the only one that goes...

You stick out. 'Cause you're just...

holding your note value a little bit too long.

And you ruin the whole sound of the section.

Next one!

I can only speak for myself.

I was a casual.

And I did, I think, one or two years—

I actually can't remember.

One or two years of contract,

where I was basically employed for the full year,

but as a "casual." Right?

Usually, it's about 40 hours

- a week, for us. - A week? Yeah.

From what I remember, there was like,

one and a half months.

- I think it's... - Actually, it may be even less.

- It was like, around like, January, right? - Yeah.

But usually, the typical week was like,

you start rehearsals Wednesday.

And you perform Saturday or Sunday.

- Mhmm. - So you rehearse throughout the week.

- And Monday and Tuesday are off. Yep! - Yep. Yep!

Next one!

I mean, now zero.

(Ooh!)

- I mean, it's kind of true. - Yeah.

Even our tour.

- Concert tour had to get canceled. - I know!

- Can't see you guys! - Wanted to see you guys, right?

Hopefully when things clear up,

when everyone behaves,

we will be back on the concert stage.

Okay. Usually like two, three concerts a week.

Actually, sometimes one as well.

Actually, you know what,

one person wouldn't always be doing three.

It would be too much.

They'll be rotating people out.

So like, you can get the day off on this one.

Except for ballet.

- But we— You didn't have that many ballet concerts. - But I've done it before.

- Like, three... - Ballet is like, ten concerts in one day.

I remember it was like,

Tuesday, Thursday, Friday,

and then Saturday matinee and like...

- Two concerts on Saturday. - Yeah.

And then maybe Sunday,

- one in the afternoon. - Yeah...

It was the double concert on the Saturdays

- that really got me. - Oh, that kills you! You're just like...

You do the whole throughout ballet,

and you come back at like, 7:30pm.

And you have round two.

And then if you're lucky,

you're like, sitting in the outside of the pit,

- you can kind of glimpse what's happening up there. - And you just see their head.

Like, half their body like, moving.

Next question.

- Not for us. - No. No for us.

I know some do, though.

And I think it's not a bad idea,

- to be honest. - I think it's a very good idea,

because it'll keep everyone sharp.

And PRACTICING!

My personal opinion is, uh...

Even if the every year audition is not to like,

if you don't pass your second audition,

- you get fired. I think that's a bit... - Yeah, that's a bit harsh.

But I do think it's nice to have something

to make sure the players are

still practicing in their own time.

- Yeah. Stagnant. Yeah. - And not kind of just, getting stagnant and complacent.

I feel like a lot of...

...orchestral players will hate me

- for saying that though. - I know.

Oh, yeah!!

Oh, my god!

There's SO much pressure for the first time!

I remember the first time playing with Sydney Symphony.

It was Mahler 7.

Ooof!

It was messed up!

Mine was Mahler 6!

Oh, that's too much.

Yeah. I was playing like this.

- Like just really, really safely. You don't wanna stick out. - Yeah, yeah!

It's a lot of pressure because,

- a) You don't have the experience. - Yeah.

b) You don't know. You're like, you're...

worried about things could go wrong.

- Yeah. - And because you're worried,

- things will more likely go wrong. - Yeah.

But it's one of those things where after a few times,

- you just get used to it. - Yeah.

- You mess up one or two times. - Yeah, you will mess up.

You realize like, it's not the end of the world.

- Hopefully, your colleagues are supportive about it. - Yeah.

And then, yeah.

Well generally they are more, they're quite supportive.

- If you're new. Yeah. - Yeah.

- Yes, they are mandatory. - Dude, yeah.

- You need... You need rehearsals! - You can't just not go to rehearsals.

'Cause orchestra doesn't

pre-record the audio and dub on top.

'Cause we actually practice and do the music properly!

Ah, I would say like, four a week?

Yeah. So, four rehearsals.

One general rehearsal, and then one or two concerts.

- Yeah, usually it's like that. - Yeah.

Six or seven calls. Sometimes nine.

But nine would just mean it's like a cinematic piece,

- Harry Potter or something like that. Yeah. - Yeah, it also depends on the repertoire, you know?

No, the competition didn't stop that for me.

I was just very very very very very shy.

Still am very very very very shy.

I just didn't want friends.

I don't think there's that much competition.

- 'Cause you're already kinda in it. - Yeah.

Unless you're like, on trial with another person.

But even then, from what we've seen,

I don't think people really behave that way.

- Nah. Not in orchestra. - It's not like those, it's not like those

crazy Juilliard stories.

Everyone's kinda like,

friendly to each other and we help support each other.

Keep in mind though, this is Australia.

- Yeah, that's true. Australians are pretty chill. - We're pretty chill. Yeah.

- Oh, you get - - Oh!

- Don't be late. - You're never late.

If anything, you rock up like one hour early.

Or 45, 30 minutes earlier.

There were a few times where I was

stuck in traffic before a concert,

and I would make it there like,

- 4 minutes before, 5 minutes before. - Oho!

- That's cutting it close. - And that was

some of the most stressful moments in my life.

Don't. You don't want to play that game.

- Rock up before every rehearsal 30 minutes early. - I think so.

And if it's a concert,

- get there like an hour earlier. - Yeah.

They did say, "What's the consequence?"

I think if you're late too much,

- you get fired. - Yeah.

- Or they'll put you, they put you, - I don't know.

I think they put you on like, probation.

- You're on watch. - Yeah yeah yeah yeah.

- And people know, you just don't want to... - Yeah.

If it's soloists,

the orchestras kinda rehearse separately.

- And then do like, one or two rehearsals - Yeah.

with everyone again with the soloist.

Generally, I feel all orchestra members are onstage.

Ah right, yeah. Like, you don't really have sectionals.

- Sometimes. - You don't have, yeah. Rarely.

If it's a sectional, there's like, serious stuff.

Actually, one thing.

Good conductors know how to

schedule their rehearsals, so if there's any movements

- where like, brass has tacet, - Yeah yeah yeah.

they do that at the beginning or end. So,

- Yeah, it's like everyone can go. Yeah, yeah. - brass doesn't have to sit around. You know?

Yeah, I mean...

I...

Sometimes it does, if you play...

- Let's say, ballet for like, ten times in a row. - Yeah.

To be honest, like, first time playing it like, yeah.

But by the ninth, tenth concert, you can imagine

there's just no more passion in it anymore.

There are certain weeks when the orchestra cares,

and people make the effort

- and we make good music. - Oh!

And the other weeks, where you can tell...

...they're just kind of going through the motions.

And personally, I try to care,

because my mind says, "I'm here.

- I might as well try to further myself as a musician, - That's true.

- make the most out of it." - Mhmm.

But then other times, um...

- If it's like a Harry Potter concert, - Oh.

- and then some people just stop caring. - Yeah.

Uhhh...

They do have more responsibility.

I know the first violin section,

we look at the concertmaster.

- Yeah! We typically do, - Yeah.

we don't look at the conductor as much.

The other principal second violin, violists,

cellos, double basses

- kinda look at the concertmaster as well. - Yes.

I believe the principal winds

- also look at the concertmaster. - They do, they do.

- Yeah. Yeah. - So it's like a second point of contact.

'Cause there are some freak accidents where

- conductors just misses it, or something. - Yeah.

- And then concertmasters do take charge sometimes. - Yeah.

Oh, there's so many stories.

- We never did that many recordings, you know, actually. - Ahh... I didn't do that many, yeah.

I'd imagine they're on a tight timeline as well.

- 'Cause it's very expensive. - Yeah.

I would imagine they would just do...

Two or three run-throughs, and patch it up.

- 'Cause they can't afford it. It's too much. - Yeah.

It's not like you're one singer.

You're a hundred musicians, you gotta pay for them.

- You just gotta get it done. - Yeah.

And hope no one screws up.

I remember this recording we did, in...

It was youth orchestra.

It was like, a new composer.

- Like a student composer's work. - Yeah.

- It was just modern music. - Yeah yeah.

So it just kinda sounded a bit funny.