Working At The Chicago Symphony Orchestra Is Not A Nine-To-Five Job

The Nine-to-Five job timing has been so commonplace that it has become a kind of idiom. However, when it comes to creative jobs in Theater, Movies, Publishing or Orchestra there is no one yardstick for all. The work environment is as different as a shoe and a cat. Like many renowned orchestras, the Chicago Symphony also requires twenty hours of practice including four concerts and as many rehearsals every week.

According to the Audition Café, this weekly tenure is a part of the routine that the members of Chicago Symphony have been accustomed to. A newcomer might find it perplexing but with time they gradually understand the process and its importance. Many of the members are students who start very early with the company. Being aged just four or five, they enthusiastically follow the prescribed regime.

Sometimes the musicians have to do "overtime." In the case of practicing as well as performing a particular piece, essentially a difficult one, the prescribed time limit is not always enough to completely understand the piece. These desperate times call for "overtime", which can be of many types, namely normal overtime, unscheduled overtime and penultimate overtime. The most interesting of them all is the "extraordinary overtime". Most instructors refrain from using it due to its obscene cost. The first five minutes cost $75 per player, the next five minutes $150, and the next $300. Any instructor using it can even be blacklisted from any future engagement with the Symphony.

According to the Slipped Disc, during the audition, if it lasts for almost fifteen minutes or so, it is considered a good one. This requires continuous practicing of the musical instruments, even after one is selected to join the coveted.

The key to success in an orchestra is complete concentration while practicing. Each instructor has their own way of presenting a piece, while each piece has certain technicalities that are to be handled very subtly and proper practicing makes it easier to do that. As perfect harmony is needed among all the musical instruments to create a perfect piece, concentrated practice among all the instruments, be it the string, wind, brass, or percussion is the first requirement in Chicago Symphony.

To be a Chicago Symphony member, one needs absolute determination to fight the odds and practice as much as possible. The Chicago Symphony symbolizes the phrase "practice makes perfect."

TagsChicago Symphony Orchestra, music, Job, Workplace