Redlands Symphony Reflection

This paper is a reflection on the Redlands Symphony Concert that occurred on Saturday, February 11th, under the direction of Maestro Ransom Wilson. The rehearsal schedule was somewhat normal, or what I understand to be “normal” in the professional field, with about two and half hour sessions on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. However, the Thursday time was reserved for just the strings, giving wind players only two rehearsals before the concert. The amount of time allocated for specific pieces also felt normal, with more time spent on the bigger work, in this case Beethoven’s Symphony No. 7 in A Major, moderate amount of time on Bruch’s Violin Concerto No. 1, and the remaining time on Beethoven’s Fidelio Overture. I was able to take part in this

Before the first rehearsal I had to prepare and make sure my part was solid. About a week before we first rehearsed, I printed out my part, looked at the score, and just listened to a few recordings. This was to get a sense of how my part fit into whole piece, but also to find any trouble spots, such as places with tricky tuning or technically weird passages. Then it was just about practicing the parts and writing in notes for the needed adjustments. Overall, my part was not difficult to play, except for a small section (about two measures in length) in the Beethoven and Bruch that I could have had cleaner articulation in. Despite this preparation, the best way I found out whether I was making the correct adjustments was playing with everyone else. Also, there was the challenge of adjusting my playing to the conductor’s interpretation of