Not as we thought: Transitions into the orchestral workplace

Winning an orchestral position is cause for celebration. The result of long-term, intensive study and, often, countless auditions, new players are understandably enthusiastic about their future. But are the realities of orchestral life what they had expected? Building on previous research with estab...

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Main Author: Bennett, Dawn
Format: Conference Paper
Published: Australian Society for Music Education Inc 2007
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/16070
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author Bennett, Dawn
author_facet Bennett, Dawn
author_sort Bennett, Dawn
building Curtin Institutional Repository
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description Winning an orchestral position is cause for celebration. The result of long-term, intensive study and, often, countless auditions, new players are understandably enthusiastic about their future. But are the realities of orchestral life what they had expected? Building on previous research with established orchestral players, this paper discusses a case study within a larger ethnographic study of the orchestral workplace. The case study discussed here was intended to develop a better understanding of the issues facing new players, and involved casual and permanent orchestral players in their first year of orchestral work. Results indicated a level of disappointment with orchestral life. Although many aspects of this disappointment had been voiced by established players in earlier studies, the rapidity with which negativity was voiced by new players was surprising, and suggests that more could be done to support them.
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spelling curtin-20.500.11937-160702017-10-02T02:27:09Z Not as we thought: Transitions into the orchestral workplace Bennett, Dawn Winning an orchestral position is cause for celebration. The result of long-term, intensive study and, often, countless auditions, new players are understandably enthusiastic about their future. But are the realities of orchestral life what they had expected? Building on previous research with established orchestral players, this paper discusses a case study within a larger ethnographic study of the orchestral workplace. The case study discussed here was intended to develop a better understanding of the issues facing new players, and involved casual and permanent orchestral players in their first year of orchestral work. Results indicated a level of disappointment with orchestral life. Although many aspects of this disappointment had been voiced by established players in earlier studies, the rapidity with which negativity was voiced by new players was surprising, and suggests that more could be done to support them. 2007 Conference Paper http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/16070 Australian Society for Music Education Inc fulltext
spellingShingle Bennett, Dawn
Not as we thought: Transitions into the orchestral workplace
title Not as we thought: Transitions into the orchestral workplace
title_full Not as we thought: Transitions into the orchestral workplace
title_fullStr Not as we thought: Transitions into the orchestral workplace
title_full_unstemmed Not as we thought: Transitions into the orchestral workplace
title_short Not as we thought: Transitions into the orchestral workplace
title_sort not as we thought: transitions into the orchestral workplace
url http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/16070