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[juliet]

I've just had an email from the orchestra I've played with off & on for a couple of years, saying that they're now going to regular weekly rehearsals. I have a feeling that on my current schedule I really don't have time, but on the other hand it might be a good thing to do. Though on the *other* other hand it completely screwed my back up the last 2 concerts I did. Um. Anyone have any thoughts?

Nice evening with the lovely kitty_goth last night. And an evening with Pete planned for tonight. So I am feeling all happy & bouncy & stuff. Long may this last...

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[j4.livejournal.com]

Anyone have any thoughts?

I'd say go for a while and see how it goes, timewise and back-wise. Or would that mess them about more than they would/could stand? (I don't know how professional they are, how much commitment they require, or how many violas they have, etc. ...) Also, how would they feel if you said you could only make e.g. 2 weeks in 3 or something? Surely people miss rehearsals occasionally, they'd probably rather have an honest 66% commitment than a supposed 100% commitment but never actually knowing who's turning up when. IYSWIM.

Definitely tell them about the back problems, though, and make sure they know that if it's doing your back in you will have to stop -- your health's more important.

(Also might be worth talking to your doctor/osteopath/physio/whoever-you-see-about-your-back -- see if there's anything you can do to make it easier, sitting differently, or some kind of back-support for when you're rehearsing, or something? I mean, different activities strain things differently, & I don't know if you've already told back-fixing-person about the orchestra stuff.)

Just throwing out vague suggestions here really. Apologies if it's not terribly useful.

[juliet]

They are, as ever, desperate for violas (it's good to play a rare instrument :-) ) so might well go for a 2 out of 3 deal.

Not currently seeing an osteopath cos of being a bit broke. I did mention it once before but the osteopath didn't say anything; mind you, I didn't stress it much, so possibly if I went back they might be more useful. The first rehearsal's not till September, so I'll think about it for a couple of weeks & see how my back's behaving. I strongly suspect that a large part of the problem is simply that I'm not used to playing any more, so the muscles aren't there to keep my back how it should be. *Regular* once-weekly rehearsals (rather than the previous irregular twice-a-week-for-a-month deal) might help fix that, of course.

Cheers - the idea of saying I'll do 2 out of 3 or similar is definitely helpful, I hadn't thought of that!