When a bunch of actors perform a play, they will usually employ an understudy. If one of the actors is unable to perform, the understudy steps in to take over the role. The understudy would be practised in various roles.
Does an orchestra do anything similar? If a symphony requires 3 violins, and one performer is injured, do they have someone ready to step in and take over? Is he trained in a lot of instruments, ready to take over any missing performer? Or does the orchestra have to do the best they can with only 2 violins?
In general, an orchestra could play without some instruments without noticeable changes. The strings especially have some redundancy (there are usually 30 violinists, for instance); the musicians can easily cover. Looking at the list, there are very few instruments that only have one person playing them.
They also usually have names of people who play and who are available for a one-off performance. They are probably not paid as part of the orchestra, but for any individual gigs.
Big symphonies do tend to have assistant conductors who can fill in. Leonard Bernstein got his big break when he had to fill in for Bruno Walter at the last moment, for instance.
Musicians at the professional level usually specialize. Percussionists often can play more than one instrument, and some instruments – usually woodwinds (like flute and piccolo) – can be doubled, but you usually can’t master multiple instruments except for maybe a small community orchestra.
If there are only two or three violins, then it isn’t an orchestra. An orchestra should have something like 20 to 40 violins. Among them, one of them might have a solo part. That solo would be played by the concert master/mistress—the first chair first violin. The second chair first violin should always be ready to fill in if something happens to the concert master.
Similarly, the second chair of any section should be ready to fill in for the first chair.
There are only a very few instruments in an orchestra for which there is likely to be only one person playing.
What about a piece such as Ravel’s Bolero, the melody played in turn by various solo instruments, with the rest of the orchestra accompanying? What if one of the soloists is injured or otherwise unable to perform?
As I said before, the soloist is likely to be the first chair in a section. The second chair should always be prepared to take over for the first chair.
Even if it’s a small orchestra and there’s, say, only one oboe—a key instrument in that piece—there should be another woodwind player prepared to take over the oboe part. Clarinet players are often also oboe players and vice-versa. All flutists should be able to play the piccolo. That sort of thing.
Heck, this is probably stating the situation too mildly. I’d say the second chair is generally chomping at the bit to have their moment in the spotlight.
The difference between a solo performer and the understudy, or another member of a professional orchestra, may be slight. That’s how much competition there is at the top. Sometimes the difference is less that of skill or competence than political connections and public perception.
I have been present at studios during recording sessions where a non-leader could play something better than the leader, but was prevented from doing so (or declined) for political reasons, i.e., if he one-upped the leader, he wouldn’t get further employment. This can be a powerful incentive to keep your talents hidden until just the right time.
As far as Ravel’s * Bolero,* the solo part isn’t any harder to play than the accompaniment. I speak as one who has played both.
I just got asked to be the fill-in for a guy in a local convert band that has like 15 members and one trombone. I’m in a different band with 15 members and 2 trombones, and the other trombonist guy was like “Hey I’m in another band like this and am having surgery soon and need a fill-in. You in?”
So, at the lowest level of concert bands, you find an understudy
Anybody performing in a major orchestra should be able to play pretty much any of the standard repertoire without rehearsal. Anything that qualifies as a solo for their instrument will absolutely be be ready to go, because they probably had to play it for their audition, and keeping pretty much everything in the repertoire up to snuff, performance ready, is part of the job. If you show up to a rehearsal and you’re not ready, your name goes on a list. If it’s already on that list, then you get an awkward letter in your mailbox at work saying something along the lines of “Please meet with the decision-making head cheeses of the Symphony on this date to discuss your future involvement with this organization.”
That said, people do get sick or hurt. Most cities with a major symphony (San Francisco, LA, New York, Chicago, Philadelphia, Boston, probably a few others) also has a major ballet and a major opera company, and they usually have different musicians. So, if somebody from a one-person-only section (say, tuba) from the San Francisco Symphony coughed up a lung one day, the tuba player from the SF Ballet or Opera might come in and sub, or, more likely, the guy from the Oakland Symphony. In turn, that sub’s seat would be covered by somebody from another group, down the line until you end up subbing somebody in who doesn’t have a concert that night. For somebody like the 1st chair violin where you’d think there’d be an understudy, they might (to the vast annoyance of the actual 2nd seat player) bring in somebody from another symphony as above.
However, the snare drum part has driven more than one percussionist right around the bend.
Also, the live theater industry in New York (“Broadway”) is unionized. I’m sure there are union rules for replacing musicians and it should be pretty easy to find replacements.
Yes, that’s probably one of the easiest pieces in the world to play.
I’ve played, a little, most major instrument classes in workshops; vocal (choir) performance with the St. Louis and Kansas City Symphonies; have filled in in recording studios for this & that when necessary; but I feel competent only for keyboards, arranging, composing, directing, notation and copying skills. I have played flutes, brass and percussion in semi-professional venues like community, college orchestras and military bands. It’s been a full life, you bet.
I’m trying to remember what Leonard Bernstein said about Bolero. Something like “It’s a nice demonstration of the techniques of orchestration. And that’s about all it is.”
I would have thought playing the bass part of Pachelbel’s Canon would be extra super boring. At least the violinists get the change things as they go along. But the poor bassist–those same eight notes again and again and again and again!
Flute and Piccolo have the same fingerings and are almost the same instrument, so it makes sense they’d be able to cover each other. Clarinets and oboes are actually much different instruments, and I don’t know any clarinetist that can play an oboe well enough to cover for a concert. If you play oboe that well, why would you play clarinet? Maybe they could cover during rehearsal. The reeds are different, the fingerings are different, the embouchure is different, they aren’t very interchangeable. Oboe and English horn can trade off, though.
My mother plays oboe in several community orchestras. When she is second chair, she knows the first part, and when she is first chair, her second knows her part. If something comes up and she won’t be able to do the concert, she has the contact information for every other oboe player in 75 miles or so. Start making calls and find someone who can cover. If something happens suddenly and there isn’t time to call around, well, you make do with one oboe. I’ve no idea what they would do if the only oboe didn’t show up for a concert.
