I love playing in the symphony. Motherly guilt at leaving my son aside, I love playing in symphonies. If one is not familiar with the characters in the symphony, let me paint a picture for you.
Let's start with the violin sections. The First Violin section is where people can, well, for lack of a better phrase - let their DIVA out. Usually very nice folks, but always get the melody and, well, can be fancy shmancy playing all the fancy shmancy stuff. Very nice, but usually full of the high-falootin' type.
On to the Second Violins - this is where violinists go when they can still play a stellar lick, but just want to go to rehearsal and chill, have fun, and leave the high "pick your nose" parts to the first violins.
The viola section is usually full of quiet, reserved musicians. They have the hardest part, really. They still have to hold up the darn instrument that is heavier than the violin without any melodies to play. Good people.
The cello section, ah, the cello section. This is where I sit and - let's just say - we are a rowdy bunch. The cello section usually gets a cool melody here and there, but most of the time we get the oom-pah parts and tend to goof off during rehearsals. (Not our rehearsals in this symphony... Dr. Palumbo runs a very, very tight ship...). Usually, we lose count during the resting measures and change bowing mid-concert. Ah, well. Most people love the cello the most ("such a mellow sound" they all say... yeah, and heavy to lug around, but worth it.)
The bass section is always behind and 1/2 step flat. But no one can hear in that register, so the bunch of bass-playing hippies in that section just play on... behind and flat.
Any good symphony has a killer wind and brass section - flutes, oboes, bassoons, trumpets, clarinets.... you know. During high school and most of college, I referred to these folks as the Unwashed Masses. These are the band people. Please refer to the title of this post. Surprisingly, they are stellar and really professional. But when I watched them all today playing a wind-only piece, all I could think was, "Wow. They are all... the same... band geeks." We need them and they are great players, but...
Okay. In other words, string players and wind/brass players really don't mingle after rehearsal. It is not a faction, mind you. Just... we are so different. We say "rosin", they say "reed".
Good thing we have this AMAZING music to bring us together.
