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first ensemble, any advice?

Author: acermak
Date: 2014-09-28 22:12

I'm joining a community band. It's the only ensemble bigger than myself and my instructor on duets I'll ever have played in. I was brutally honest when I signed up with the fact that I'm new to playing (I've been taking lessons for over 2 years now on soprano and over 1 year on harmony clarinets). Despite that, they still seem willing to have me play with them.

I was not in the band in school or college, so have no experience with taking direction, rehearsals etc.

I, of course, practice for my lessons. This involves starting a new piece at a slow tempo, isolating over segments where I'm faltering, getting it smooth at that tempo, then cranking the metronome up a few more notches (5pm typically, slower if I'm already near the desired tempo or it's just tough music), then repeating until it's time to work on the next piece or I'm exhausted or whatever, and then I do the same thing the next day picking up again at the same tempo I ended the night before. For duets, I typically record both segments in pieces (lines 1 and 2 or 3 through 5, etc.) and then play against the recording.

Is practice for ensemble playing similar?

Any advice for a beginning ensemble player? Oh, yeah, I'm old, too, in my late 40s if that matters!

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