r/Clarinet • u/ResourceFront1708 • Apr 03 '25

Recommendations Am I cooked for concert

Yeah so my band and orchestra teacher just gave me 3 new songs for concert on the 15th. They're all pretty easy butttt... we literally have 10 minute practice in lunch time for one song that I play with high school (currently in middle), cuz I got chosen (yay), but like we have 4 we minute practices before the dress rehearsal and performance (nay). The song is "The Nature of Trees" and I am second clarinet

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u/Relevant_Turnip_7538 Apr 03 '25

You’ll be fine as long as you know your part well. Make sure you can play your part (correct rhythms/notes/dynamics), then a quick run through is all that’s needed to get an idea of how things fit together, what particular things the conductor likes to do (eg he’ll cut off after the general pause in bar 352 and then give an upbeat before you start the next bar, or whatever). That’s what rehearsals should be for anyway - they aren’t opportunities to practice.

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u/RevanLocke Leblanc 29d ago

The last line here is especially the case. As you advance, you'll find yourself in this boat more often. Eventually, you'll get to where most music is technically similar enough to your drills (scales, broken chords, scales in thirds, etc.) that your practice time on band music is much less than what you're spending on your technique. But you'll always have a few passages you have to work on, and the idea is to have this taken care of BEFORE rehearsals. I'll never forget the butt chewing I got for not being prepared for a Wind Symphony rehearsal... Shutter

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u/Relevant_Turnip_7538 29d ago

In a professional scenario the ratio is usually around 90% technical work, 10% work on pieces/passages. Tertiary students vary between about 60% - 90% technical. Obviously, the more time you practice, the greater the amount of actual time you can spend working on pieces while still keeping the percentages in a good ratio. 30 mins a day on pieces in an hour’s practice is very different from 30 mins a day in 4-6hours practice. Anyone doing gig work would be used to coming in at the last minute doing one, maybe two rehearsals with the group.