Welcome back, Rusties!
If you’re returning to your instrument after a few years away, you’re in good company. You don’t need to be at your old standard straight away, and there’s no pressure to get everything right.
It can feel overwhelming at first, but don’t panic. We’re a supportive orchestra, and we’ll help you settle in. You can talk to your section leader if you’d like advice or a bit of extra support. String sections often hold sectionals, which are a relaxed chance to work through tricky bits together.
A few things that may help
- Take it one rehearsal at a time. Getting your stamina, confidence and reading skills back can take a little while. If you’re practising at home, build up your playing time gradually and take breaks.
- Listen around you. Following the other players can help with tuning, timing and knowing where you fit in.
- Check the key and time signatures before you start, and look out for changes as the music goes along.
- Practice related scales. A few minutes on the scale for the piece can help your fingers and ears find the notes more comfortably.
- Listen to the music. We share YouTube links to the pieces we are rehearsing. Following along with the score can also help you get to know how your part fits in.
- Slow it down. Playing along to a recording at a reduced speed can make tricky passages easier to learn. If you’re not sure how to do this on YouTube, just ask and we’ll show you.
- Bring a pencil and mark the important moments in your part: entries, changes, tricky rhythms and places where you need to count carefully. It’s just as useful to mark where you don’t play.
- Break up the tricky bits. For a fast run, you could start by playing just the first note of each bar, then add more notes as you get comfortable.
You don’t need to try all the suggestions above. Different things help different people, so pick whichever ones feel useful to you. Most of all, give yourself permission to take it at your own pace.
If you have just joined us, we’re glad you’re here, and we’ll work it out together.
If you’re thinking about joining us, do get in touch. We’d love to help you find your way back to making music with others.