r/orchestra

This is mostly just a rant, but I'm getting increasingly burnt out and frustrated being the only grad student in my program who is required to work for a living in addition to doing a full-time grad program.

I spent five years out of school working in various industries and unfortunately the last one I worked in just had all of its funding cut so I ended up going to grad school to mostly just get health insurance.

I have a full tuition scholarship and a very, very small stipend and health insurance. But unfortunately, I still have to pay rent and groceries and all of the other living expenses.

As a music student, I'm expected, in order to keep my scholarship, to play alternating cycles of 12 hours a week of rehearsal for our orchestra. Unfortunately, this coincides with the hours that I work at my job doing instrument repair. So, whenever we have orchestra concerts, my hours get cut by about 50% for two weeks.

I'm kind of at the end of my rope because even though we are out of orchestra cycle right now, one of our required auditions just got rescheduled to the middle of my work day. And we had two weeks of orchestra last month, so I'm already very low on cash.

On top of this, the syllabus for my instrument requires three to five hours of individual practice on solo repertoire every day. And I'm also a member of three other ensembles, which require their own preparation and practice.

A few of my colleagues do have student jobs at the university. However, the student work only pays $10 an hour and has a maximum of 10 hours a week so that it's not viable for people who are supporting themselves.

Is anyone here a music student who had to work through graduate school and if so how did you manage to keep up with all of your classmates who have many free hours in the day to practice and parental support for buying instruments and strings and repairs etc?

Do you know of any funding resources that I might be able to apply for to help cover living expenses?

I don’t mean to make fun or anything like that, or to be mean and/or cruel. Also, I don’t mean parodies or students practicing. But I would like to listen recordings of orchestras that are not particularly good, in order to compare and notice a bigger contrast with the elite, world-class symphonic orchestras we all know and love. (And everything in between!)

For the sake of simplicity, let’s say something from the core repertoire (Brahms, Beethoven, Dvořák late symphonies etc). Thank you 🙏

I will open this post by stating that I have read the FAQ entries about getting a teacher and on resources for self teaching.

I have been playing the violin for around 10 years, but I am not as good since I have not been consistent; I play sporadically. I got into playing the violin again, but I am barred by my parents from receiving formal lessons with a teacher, due to the reasoning that "(I) know how to play the violin, receiving lessons is unnecessary". To clarify, I am still not allowed to take lessons even if I pay with my own money, as they think the money can be used for "more productive things".

I genuinely don't know what to do now. I still play the violin, though now I'm trying to maintain and improve my current technique. I'm not here to ask for a mentor/someone who is willing to teach me for free. I am aware that I can pay for myself after I move out from my parents' place. I'm just asking about what I could do in the meantime, because I don't want to remain stagnant at this level.

Supplementary information/notes:

- I am currently at Suzuki Book 4, specifically the first movement of the Vivaldi Violin Concerto in A Minor (L'Estro Armonico no. 5).

- I don't aim to become a professional, though I would like to try applying for some community orchestras in the future.

I am willing to answer more questions in the comments. TIA.

Has anyone used it?!!