PASO Orchestra Player Expectations
Rehearsals and Call Times
Rehearsals are Monday evenings from early September through April at the Port Angeles High School Auditorium. Rehearsals begin promptly at 7:00 PM and end at 9:30 PM with a 10 to 15 minute break. Please be at the auditorium, seated and warmed prior to 7:00 PM.
CONCERT WEEK rehearsals are Monday and Thursday at 7 PM, with a Saturday morning dress rehearsal, with audience, beginning at 10 AM and ending at approximately 12:30.
SUBSCRIPTION CONCERTS begin at 7:30 PM; the call time is 7 PM.
CHAMBER and POPS CONCERTS begin at 7:00 PM; the call time is 6:30 PM.
Concert dress
Men: tux or black suits with white or black shirts and bow ties.
Women: long black dresses or dressy slacks and black tops with longer length sleeves.
Please avoid short skirts, flashy jewelry or bare arms that may distract audience attention from the music.
Touches of red or green may be added for the December concert and dress rehearsal when permitted by the conductor.
Saturday dress rehearsal: neat casual, no torn jeans and sweatshirt, shorts or bare midriffs.
Chamber Concert performers are selected. Please keep the rehearsal and performance dates open until the performers have been determined. If you wish to perform with a chamber group, talk with your section leader and the personnel manager. Please consult the rehearsal and concert schedule and mark your calendars now with all chamber concert and rehearsal dates.
Attendance
PASO players are expected to perform all concerts and attend all rehearsals for that concert. If you are unable to attend a rehearsal, or participate in a concert, please contact, in writing or email, Music Director, Jonathan Pasternack at pasymphony@olypen.com or 360-457-5579, as soon as you know. Please also tell your section leader.
Music
You are responsible for all the music in the folder given you. After the Saturday concert, please return the folder with all parts to the box backstage. Do not take your folder home after the final concert! Put it in the appropriate plastic box. When marking music, please use a soft touch and soft, No. 2 lead pencil. DO NOT WRITE ANY NOTES, CROSS OUT ENDINGS, OR IN ANY WAY MARK ON THE NOTES OR STAVES unless they are your own photocopies. When possible, use Sticky notes or short arrows to indicate cuts.
Port Angeles Symphony Orchestra Protocol
• Before the rehearsal, the concert master will tune each section (winds, brass, strings) Please, when you see the concertmaster standing, cease talking and playing, unless it is your section’s time to tune.
• There should be no talking, even about musical matters, when the conductor is discussing or rehearsing with another section.
• String section players should copy and follow bowings from the first stand. Please try to play in the same part of the bow, unless “free bowings” are indicated. The first chair players may send out files, but it is the section player’s responsibility to copy all markings into her/his part.
• Standing: Please watch the concertmaster to know when the orchestra as a group should stand and sit for the conductor or to acknowledge applause.
Recruitment
We appreciate your recruiting musicians for PASO; however, please give their contact information to Music Director, Jonathan Pasternack, who will discuss potentials with the principal players. It is up to the Music Director and principals, to decide who will play and when to admit new people.
The Conductor or Music Director should be consulted about musical questions; however section players should first ask the section leader; often s/he has already resolved the question.