1. When you have to carry an enormous instrument case around for half your damn life.
2. When you lose count during a massive rest.
3. So you come in at the wrong time and it's realllyyy obvious.
4. When your stand buddy hogs the stand.
5. When there are no convenient page turn points.
6. When your sheet music falls off the stand and you and your stand partner have to frantically improvise.
7. When you see a ridiculous key signature and your heart sinks.
#orchestraproblems You know you're playing with a choir when:
8. When you play a sharp instead of a flat and then try and act like it wasn't you.
9. When you forget about the coda.
10. When you accidentally hit your instrument on something and feel extremely guilty.
11. But then your instrument gets its revenge when you develop bizarre calluses from playing for so long.
12. When you have to sit in front of the brass and basically lose your hearing every week.
13. “We’re going to play this all the way through” *conductor stops after one bar*
14. When the conductor makes you play the same bit over and over again until the end of time.
15. When your legs cramp up from sitting down for hours.
16. When you're a string player and your rosin smashes.
17. When you spend weeks cultivating the perfect reed and then in splits literally just before a concert.
18. Wearing your concert clothes out and about and getting confused for waiters.
19. When you're performing and an audience member tries to clap between movements.
20. When you get home after a really long day of practise and nobody can understand why you're tired because you just sat down all day.
21. And then you have to go and practise some more.
22. And finally, the eternal struggle of playing an instrument that you rarely get the opportunity to show off.
"Oh thank god someone brought a clarinet to this party."