Orchestral Music Practice?

[Meldog]

I'm really starting to get into playing orchestral music. I really haven't much experience in this area other then just kind of messing around with a couple of excerpts from the Norris book I have. I really want to start getting good at these parts. What is the best way to go about this and where do you start? How do you choose what to practice and in what order to go and just what pieces should I work on? Along with that, should you do the orchestral excerpt books or should you really go after getting all the trumpet parts to each piece? Also, should I be practicing all the different trumpet parts for that piece like the 1st trumpet, 2nd trumpet and so on? Quite a few questions I know but I really want to start getting into this because I love playing this kind of music. Thanks for all the advice!!
Adam Metzler
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[guenni-trumpet]

Hi,
I think a good start into orchestral playing is doing orchestral excerpts. On that way I really like the orchestral excerpts of Rob Roy McGregor because he made different etudes out of the difficult passages of some great orchestral material (f. i. Pictures of an Exhibition or Don Juan from Strauss).
Another advice:
Try to get some compete material f. i. of Mahlers 5 th Symphony. First practice the material alone but then (when you are able to play it well) practice it while hearing the piece on CD. Then you get the feeling for the right cue for the musical expression and you train to dispose your strength.
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guenni-trumpet
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[trumpetmike]

Learn all parts - even if you are only going to be playing first parts, knowing what is happening around you is very important.
You also need to remember, when you are starting out in the profession, or learning through the various bands and orchestras, you will not be going straight onto the principal part, the chances are high that you will start off playing the lower parts and then graduate upwards.

I agree wholeheartedly with the suggestion of listening to the piece when you are studying it. It is all very well knowing that you are coming in after 4 bars rest, but if you know what is happening around you there is more chance of you coming in with the right sound, dynamic and style for the piece. It will also give you a more realistic approach to the tempi - there are times when the metronome markings on the score are not what is normally played. Or there is a tradition of slightly altering the rhythm written (Mahler 5 - those triplets are very rarely heard exactly as written, but that is the accepted way of playing them), or maybe the unwritten rallentando (should you ever have to play a series of Strauss be careful of this one!).
Listen to a variety of performances of the same piece - if you limit yourself to one performance you could be missing out on a reading that more closely resembles what you feel about how to play the piece.

When it comes to excerpt books, you need to remember that this is exactly what they are - excerpts. For the full picture, you NEED the full parts. Nobody told me this when I was going for my first orchestral audition. The piece was the Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra. The excerpt book had the trumpet duet part, but that was all. No problem, I could nail that at any speed. Unfortunately in the audition the passage they asked me to play wasn't that part, but was in the fugue instead. Needless to say, I didn't get the job!