Feeling unseen as a pianist in orchestra
I am not professional, so don’t judge pls.
I’ve been playing piano for years, and I really love it, but I’ve recently started feeling kind of invisible in uni orchestra (just a club in uni) . We play mainly contemporary music. I play synth btw. At concerts I sit in the back with the rest of rhythm section. There are no lights on us, so in photos I basically don’t show up at all. Even when photographers come, they rarely capture me unless it’s random luck
On rehearsals, I don’t play all the time as other sections do because pianists rotate, so sometimes I play only once and that’s it on a 2hour rehearsal. Because of this, I sometimes feel like I’m not really part of the orchestra in the same way, or even like I’m wasting my time. I’ve started thinking about leaving and just going fully solo instead. However, what stops me is the community. I found my community in orchestra and I enjoy being part of the concert preparation. During usual uni days I feel lonely, so orchestra the only way for me to deal with loneliness