Jonathan Ellis' reply to David Runnion raises some interesting questions.

Obviously it's wonderful if a re-creative musician (e.g.  an orchestral
player, whose job is to deliver the notes written by someone else -
probably far more famous - in a manner defined by another person waving a
stick who is possibly more famous and probably a great deal better paid);
it's wonderful if this drudge of a professional musician enjoys every
moment and still feels the thrill of live music-making not only at every
performance but at every rehearsal and practice session as well.  We'd all
like that to be true of every anonymous figure in every orchestra we pay to
hear.

In reality, we know that of those hundred or so figures on stage, some
will be loving every moment but others will have their minds elsewhere,
some will be unwell, some may be drunk (I recall once seeing Duke Ellington
send Paul Gonsalves off-stage just after the interval of a concert in
Bournemouth - he played superbly in the first half while clearly unsteady
on his feet, but had a couple too many at half-time and could barely hold
his instrument when he came back for the second set).  Some of the wind
players will be busily engaged in falling in love with one of the second
violinists and competing for her attentions, the principal trombone won't
be speaking to the first horn because of a misunderstanding over the
horses, anything you can imagine may be going on up there.

And yet the result may well be magnificent.  Is the professional orchestral
musician really required to be totally engaged in every moment of every
performance etc.  with every fibre of his being? If he or she were so
engaged, would that "drain" the player of whatever there is to give so fast
that the emotional / intellectual / physical resources would dry up while
there was still work to be done?

And what of soloists, chamber groups and even conductors? They all tend to
"perform" much less often than orchestral players - perhaps that is a
necessary consequence of the need for them to be more fully engaged in
their work?

I'm tempted to extend the argument to writers, painters, sculptors, film
directors etc., but I'll leave that to the imagination of others. The big
difficulty is to think of analogues to orchestral players in other fields -
members of the corps de ballet are a possibility.

Ian Crisp <[log in to unmask]>