Things you might not know about playing in a professional orchestra

Although I am not a full-time member of a professional orchestra, I have been fortunate to perform with a few over the course of my career so far. Here are some things that I’ve learned that you may not know about playing in a professional orchestra.

Starting off with the most obvious- you must audition to play with the orchestra! The orchestras will post the auditions on their website and other audition boards such as Audition Cafe. The posting will state the date of the audition and the requirements, which are usually a movement of a standard concerto, a movement of Mozart, and a list of excerpts. Sometimes solo Bach is required as well. There is a list of standard excerpts that most orchestras pull from but occasionally you may be faced with an excerpt you’ve never played before. Prior to the audition, you must submit a deposit of $50 (usually by check, but some orchestras are starting to accept this deposit online via credit card) which holds your place for the audition. This is returned to you if you actually show up to the audition. Upon arrival, you’ll draw a number which decides the order of the audition. You’ll also get a shorter list of excerpts to play for the first round. After the audition committee hears all of the auditioners, they will make some cuts and provide new excerpts for the performers to play for the second round. After all of the rounds have been completed (I’m sure there are more than 2 for very prestigious orchestras), the committee will announce to the entire group who got the job.

All string players have stand partners, which are often referred to as inside and outside players. Each one has a specific role: the inside player turns the page and the outside player brings the music and pencil. Orchestras provide outside players with originals of the music, while the inside players just get copies, often called practice parts. Additionally, most chords and double stops are played “Divisi”, where the outside player plays the top note or two, and the inside player plays the bottom note or two.

Here in the US orchestras are unionized, meaning that when you join an orchestra, you must also join the union. The union does many important things for the members of the orchestras, but the way that I have experienced it manifest the most is rehearsal times. Rehearsals must start and end exactly on time, no matter what. Each orchestra also has a member of the orchestra that acts as the union steward, ensuring the orchestra follows the union guidelines.

When playing in a community or school orchestra, you have many, many rehearsals before concert day. However, this is not the case with professional orchestras. Most orchestras have between 2-4 rehearsals before the concert, which means the players must know their part very well before the first rehearsal!

All full-time members, once accepted into the orchestra, are put on a tenure track. The requirements for getting tenure vary from orchestra to orchestra, but once a musician has tenure they can never be fired (barring particularly egregious acts or behavior).

Finally, not all orchestras are salaried. Many regional orchestras are paid per service. All musicians get the same amount, except the principal players get more. Some orchestras also offer travel compensation and housing during the concert cycle.

Did you learn anything new?! What other questions do you have about playing in a professional orchestra? Comment down below and let me know!