Every instrument in an orchestra has the sheet music for their part.
How do they know when they are supposed to start playing?
Do they count measures or what?
The conductor might cue them but they already know when their turn is coming up.
I have searched and I cannot find this answer.
The entire piece is on each sheet of music. When the section is not playing for several measures, this is indicated in the sheet music with a dark bar annotated with the number of measures to rest. Partial measures are written out with the rests shown alongside the notes. This wiki article shows an example of a 15 measures rest:
The resting musicians will count 1-2-3-4, 2-2-3-4, 3-2-3-4, etc. Yes it is easy to get lost. About a measure before they are to come in again, the conductor will signal with something like an upheld palm, lifting it upward just before, and then a definite downward movement (or poke with the baton) at the instant the first note should sound. Once the piece has been rehearsed a few times, the musicians will know from listening to the other instruments when they should come in, but still take the cue from the conductor.
Yes, they all have their own sheet music, and all of it was put to paper by the same composer/arranger. The whole point of the sheet music is that it tells you not just when (and what) to play, but also when not to play. The written music has notes of varying length to indicate the former, and it also has rests of varying length to indicate the latter. Just as you keep track of the length of notes and how they sync up with the conductor’s movements, you also keep track of the lengths of the rests. As long as everybody begins following their sheet music at the same time (when the conductor provides the initial downbeat), everything syncs up. In theory, you could record your part alone in a soundproof booth, have everyone else do the same, overlay the 100 separate tracks, and as long as everyone was following the exact same tempo, you’d end up with the finished orchestral performance.
In reality, sometimes you have very long rests (see “Multiple Measure Rests” at the Wikipedia link above). IME, it was tedious to count so many beats, e.g. 15 bars of 4/4 time = counting 60 beats; you might have to do this the first few times through, but in fairly short order you remember what the other players are playing when your rest is over, and instead of counting you just listen to them to gauge when you’re supposed to resume playing.
Ninja’d by Kevbo…
I used to play tuba in symphonic band, and there were lots of rest periods in our sheet music. It got to be too much of a hassle to count the measures. I got to where I’d remember the whole piece and know by the music when to come in. I eventually memorized my part and didn’t need the sheet music any more.
There’s this guy (or gal) with a train engineers hat on and holds a stick, and everybody watches him to know when to start.
Moved to Cafe Society.
Colibri
General Questions Moderator
I was in school orchestra six years. Never counted beats during a long rest. We had practice every school day and learned the piece very well. We knew by sound or visual cues (like the cellos starting a couple bars before us) when it was almost time to resume playing. Our teacher made eye contact and cued us in
Sometimes you’ll have what’s called cue notes in your music, usually a measure or two before you come in. It will give you (in smaller print, so you don’t confuse it with your own part) part of a melody the first violins or the flute might be playing, which is usually very recognizable. Especially useful when you’ve got a very long break. Other pieces might have a lot of tempo, time or key changes, and those can also be used to keep track of where you are.
There’s also rehearsal. Practice, practice, practice until you know it by heart.
This.
The music in front of you is only for YOUR instrument. You have to be really good at counting. You can’t rely on the conductor to cue you.
As everyone said, once you’ve heard the piece approximately 1,000 times, you know when to come in. This applies to school bands anyway. Professional orchestras don’t have all that many rehearsals with everyone there. You’re expected to learn your music on your own. That’s one of the things that makes you a professional.