Some choral societies, at considerable expense (usually paid for by the incessant haranguing of society members to empty their pockets by attending fund-raising events) , hire in actual orchestras for their concerts; others may be Philharmonic Societies which run both a choir and orchestra and so the bulk of any players are already in place; in both cases, the administrative task in organising an orchestra, at least from the choir's end, is much reduced. St Ives Choral Society has always put together a 'scratch' orchestra, by which we would mean an orchestra specially formed for a particular concert. The work involved in making this happen is considerable and not to be under-estimated.
We are privileged to be able to call on the services of a number of high quality musicians from our region. Most live within the Huntingdonshire-Bedford-Cambridge triangle, although some come from much further afield. Over the years, we have managed to attract players of increasingly high, often professional standards, and our success, in this respect, is much to do with careful networking, ensuring we, as a society, look after the players, making their experiences with us sufficiently rewarding to attract them back to future concerts. My wife Sally has, for a number of years now, taken on the somewhat daunting task of 'fixing' players. As well as the necessary understanding of music, this involves many other skills such as time, energy, patience, humour, humanity, organisation and calmness under sometimes considerable pressure (such as when the Musical Director is thrown into a panic because a key soloist player pulls out of a concert at 24 hours notice...). Email makes the entire task so much easier than it used to be, and we are able to keep in close contact with our regular players. Because they seem to enjoy working for us, the task certainly has become less difficult than it used to be, but we cannot afford to be complacent and must always appreciate them as players who often are, or could be if they chose, professional grade musicians. We are truly indebted to Sally for the dedication with which she fulfils this role.
Here comes the technical bit! All choral works with orchestra are written with certain instruments in mind. Fortunately catalogues list the necessary orchestral forces. When choosing music in the first place, it is necessary to ensure that any works at a particular concert use similar forces, so that expense and rehearsal organisational issues are minimised - it would be unnecessarily profligate, for example, to attempt to put on one work which requires lots of brass, but no woodwind, alongside another which does the opposite.
Catalogues tend to list orchestral forces using a shorthand, an example of which follows:
2222 4231:t:str: org hp
The first four numbers refer to woodwind in this order: 2 flutes, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons; the second group of four refers to brass: 4 french horns, 2 trumpets, three trombones, 1 tuba. The other abbreviations stand for groups/special players such as timpani, strings, percussion, organ, continuo, harp etc. The example shown above would be a typical list for a large orchestra for a big Romantic or early twentieth century work such as those by Vaughan Williams. Note that there is no formal indication of the number of strings. Sally will ask what sized sections are needed: the response will usually be something like 55441, these numbers referring respectively to numbers of Violin 1, Violin 2, Viola, Cello, Double Bass. Invariably we use smaller string sections than would, for example, be used by symphony orchestras. This is another compromise based on constraints imposed by performing space, choral and financial resources. Sometimes, it pays to look for further ways of reducing the orchestra, for example by finding movements which can be cut, or parts which are 'doubled' elsewhere, thereby saving us the need to buy in a particular player. This all takes careful forward planning.
This article is being written in September 2010, a time when Sally is busy contacting players for our February 2011 concert. In this concert, we are performing Baroque works; one advantage of these is that the orchestra required is generally (though not always) much smaller. The catalogue lists the works as follows:
Dettingen Te Deum: 0201:0300:t con:str
Dixit Dominus: 0{2}00:0000:con:str
If you find a symbol not mentioned, see if you can work it out...!
Other issues to bear in mind are a clear knowledge of the demands each piece makes on the musicians we ask. For example, the Dettingen Te Deum requires Baroque (high) trumpets and these are for specialist players. We once organised a concert, unbeknown to us, on a landmark birthday of a local French Horn player who had invited all such players within (it seemed to us) a 100 mile radius to a birthday party. Finding four French Horn players for that concert was an interesting challenge..!! Don't forget, of course, the logistical issues in hiring music, ensuring players have received this prior to the rehearsals, together with the various particular details of our concert - such as rehearsal timings, cuts, special directions, etc. And, what happens to these players between rehearsals and concerts? Many are content to look after themselves. Many others are kindly looked after by a small number of 'volunteers' - usually the same volunteers who offer to do all the other small jobs which need doing. Who organises all of this - mostly Sally!!
It also pays to understand what else convinces individual players to turn out for us. Remuneration is obviously important and we are indebted to our players, many of whom could reasonably command substantial concert fees, but are invariably prepared to be paid pitifully small expenses (we should do more for them). Occasionally, we have to look further afield, and that can be expensive; specialist players may ask for particular fees. However, many players like to play for us simply because they appreciate the quality of music making at our concerts, including the standard of singing from the choir!
Our success in raising better and better orchestral forces has been a key factor in the society's improvement over the past decade. We are fortunate that we can depend on a first-rate fixer in Sally, and that she has built up a network of fine players who enjoy coming to play for us whenever they can. Our thanks are due to Sally and all of those players. Long may we be fortunate to appreciate their musicianship at our concerts!
