Double Bass High School Chamber Orchestra

[Eli_Upright12]

I know this would probably fit better in Miscellaneous, but it pertain s to classical technique and I think this demographic is really the feedback I'm looking for. At my high school there are band classes and orchestra classes, but they are segregated. I have the luck of being in both one of the orchestras and the only string player in the highest wind ensemble, in both these classes there are some very talented players and I see know reason why we couldn't have a full symphony orchestra. So on Friday I talked to some trumpet, violin, horn, viola and oboe players about how they would feel about a student led Chamber Orchestra, maybe just taking the first one or two most talented musicians from each section and having a 18-25 piece chamber orchestra. This was so appealing to me, because though our band and orchestra directors do great jobs of picking music, it would be wonderful to play some different styles of music, maybe even quartets and small ensemble pieces.

So I was wondering what everyone here thinks about this idea. Is it feasible? What kind of music could/should we play?
thanks for your input in advance.

 

[sibass89]

This would be very hard to do without a conductor with such a young ensemble, but I love the ideas of small chamber orchestras. Check out some of the groups like Orpheus Chamber Orchestra and St. Martin in the Fields. Best of luck!

 

[mcnaire2004]

Well, if you can get one of your school conductors to volunteer, and everyone is committed it could work. Good luck.

 

[PaulCannon]

I started a chamber music thing when I was in high school. Just put a group together for a piece you all want to play, and go from there. I think you'll have more luck if you stick to small groups of four or five. It's hard to come by 25 committed high school students. It's also much easier to schedule rehearsals with small groups.

My high school's music schedule was set up so that our best orchestra had class at the same time as the best band. That way, when we wanted to do symphonic music, all we did was move into the band room and tell half the band to take a break.

 

[MaxZolt]

I agree that a conductor would definitely be helpful with a group of 25. Also, I suggest you establish an audition process (or other means of admitting people) before you start recruiting members. If you just choose players based on your perception of their talent, you run the risk of making a lot of people very unhappy.

 

[bassman1489]

When I was in high school, the highest level orchestra was a small string chamber ensemble, which sometimes combined with some winds and brass to perform larger pieces. Halfway through my junior year, our conductor left for personal reasons, and we were left with a permanent substitute for a while, forcing us to work on our own. We ended up doing alright, but we were much smaller than 25 (I'd say around 14 or 15). If setting that up is something you are really interested in, go ahead and give it a shot. If it doesn't work out, you can't say you didn't try, and hopefully, if it does, you'll have yourself a great time. Good luck!

 

[BMason]

My school orchestra consists of about 300 members and there are six, sometimes seven orchestras, depending on the demand. The two more advanced groups are a full, symphonic string section and a much smaller chamber orchestra. The top band and full strings rehearse simultaneously, so every other day we come to school half-an-hour early to rehearse with the winds and brass for about an hour, then they go back to wind ensemble rehearsal.

Obviously, it's much easier to assemble a 25-30 piece chamber ensemble from a string section of 75-80, but even a small one with a few dedicated members is completely feasible. Only your more desirable and dedicated members join anyway.

 

[Andrew McGregor]

There's plenty of repertoire for chamber orchestra, even strings-only. There's a lot of gorgeous stuff written in England in the early 20th century, that isn't even particularly difficult (Frank Bridge, John Britten, many others), and there's always Bach, Vivaldi and Mozart. And if you want a serious challenge, there's Bartok and Hindemith.

Someone needs the conducting skills, and for practical reasons they either need to be standing up front, or one of the upper string principals (otherwise they can't be seen from everywhere). One of the chamber orchestras I was in at high school was led by the principal cello, the other by the principal violin, and both worked really well.

 

[Eli_Upright12]

I talking to my musical partner in crime today (he's a piano player and trumpet player, and has a very good musical mind over all) and asked him what he thought of the idea and he said this, " It would be kind of hard to work out, but I would be down for it, I would probably conduct/direct not play trumpet." I personally think that he is more than capable of running the show. The problem with having a staff person conduct is that

1. Our wonderful band director, though I think he would be supporting of the idea, probably wouldn't be able to fit it into his schedule(he does so much as it is)
2. Our Orchestra director is not the most friendly or easy to work with person and it is commonly known that she is kind of a hack conductor (no offense meant to her, but its the truth)

Another thought I had is that of the musicians that would be qualified enough it would kind of be a wind heavy ensemble which is pretty much the opposite of the norm for this kind of music. Do you think this would be a problem? would trumpets and oboes be able to fill the first violin void?
Its kind of ridiculous that in my school of 2000 there are really only about 20 or so really commited and willing musicians.

I'm amazed and greatful for such a great response so far.

Edit: By the way forgot to mention that we already do small ensembles in the band program by sections, Low Brass, Trumpets, Double Reeds etc.

 

[Andrew McGregor]

Well, if you have a shortage of strings, you could do some classical (meaning Mozart Sr to early Beethoven) chamber orchestra repertoire that was written for one instrument per part; I presume you can find a string quartet? Mozart, Schubert, and anything baroque will work like that. Don't try to get wind players to play string parts, that won't work well.

 

[Eli_Upright12]

Well to give an update I talked with band director and he was ecstatic about the idea and even said that he would coach it and try to set-up an independent study hour for us. So the efforts have begun on this brain child of mine. It sounds like its going to be a double quintet or or sextet, one being strings the other winds. On board currently are myself, 2 Violins, a viola, maybe 2, Bassoon(possibly in place of cello), french horn, trumpet, a conductor/pianist. We are still missing Cello, Oboe, Flute or Clarinet and a midrange wind or two.

Now I need suggestion for music, which is where ya'll might be able to help.

 

[Eli_Upright12]

So Just to update this thread, this idea/dream has come to realization, I went the University of Wisconsin Music Library and picked up some music today. All the spots are filled with talented musicians and our first meeting will be on Thursday, I'm going to learn to conduct and hopefully develop my sense of reading a score. This has been so much fun just getting it together so far that I can only imagine how fruitful the actual thing will be.