I guess it depends what concept the orchestra has of what it means to be a 'community' orchestra... is it bringing the music to the community, in which case just get on with it like any performing orchestra, or is it bringing the community in to the orchestra, in which case educational aspects might be more important.
But then, the most professional and productive rehearsal set I ever did was with the NZ National Youth Orchestra, under Michael Houston. We were doing Shostakovich 10 (think about that for a minute... a youth orchestra, nobody over 25).
Late one afternoon, Michael talked to us for 20 minutes or so about what the work was, how each movement fitted in to the overall picture, etc. Then we played it straight through, and that was all the rehearsal for the day. Next morning, we tuned up, and he rehearsed little bits and talked for three solid hours, based on notes he'd made the night before from memory (that's an impressive feat in itself). That afternoon, we played it again and it was very nearly there, and rehearsed a couple more untidy bits. We then played parts of it in the dress rehearsal, and did it for real. Best performance of anything I have ever been involved with.
Point was, talking about the concept of the work and the interpretation can be helpful.
