Hi all,
I’m in pit orchestra on percussion and it’s not working out for me. I joined because I really wanted to be a part of the musical with my friends, and it seemed liked the perfect opportunity. It’s not working out, for the following reasons.
- I’m not a percussionist. I’m an oboist but last year I was in jazz band on percussion and I played percussion at one of the actual symphonic band concerts.
- I overestimated my ability. Because of my previous participation in other percussion activities, I thought that I’d be able to manage, and I was wrong. The music itself is actually easy (notewise), but I cannot play it in time, with everyone else, and confidently enough.
- I’m unable to practice. I don’t have percussion equipment at home, though even if I did, that’s not the problem. I can play the notes decent, but I can’t play at the right time and I don’t have any recorded audio cues or anything.
- I am terrified of speaking to the director about it. I don’t want to seem like a quitter. He’s pretty “chill” and wouldn’t be too upset yet I still can’t bring myself to tell him.
Tech week is next week and I really need to decide whether I continue or not as soon as possible, maybe even as soon as tomorrow. The thing is I don’t want to quit, because my friends are in it and I don’t want to “ditch” them. There’s another percussionist who could easily handle all of the percussion parts, so that’s not the problem. What would you do in my situation? I know only I can make the final decision, but I’m really looking for feedback. Also, I’m sorry that this was so long and if it doesn’t really belong on this forum.