Story

In the fault game your attention is focused on actions—what was done or not done by you or others.When you name yourself as the board your attention turns to repairing a breakdown in relationship.That is why apologies come so easily.Sometimes I just need to get a job done, and people have to understand that. Well, the answer is either they will or they won’t.Members are juggling school, work, holidays, business trips, and conflicting performance obligations.But the final rehearsal days take on a more serious cast.For the Boston Philharmonic Orchestra, this cycle is amplified because of the rare position it occupies in the music world.So, as the concert approaches, the pressure mounts, just as it would on an amateur baseball team about to play in the majors.I was already anticipating a fraught situation before the Thursday night rehearsal for an upcoming performance of Stravinsky’s ballet Petrushka.This was to be the penultimate rehearsal for a work considered by most musicians to be one of the most treacherous in its technical demands on both orchestra and conductor.Our performance of Petrushka was not going to go unnoticed!Already, three student members of our viola section were going to have to miss the rehearsal because of a performing obligation with the Boston University Symphony Orchestra.A fourth had called in sick that afternoon.Only five violas remained, the very minimum to achieve any reasonable balance with the other sections.As seven o’clock approached, I noticed that Cora, the assistant principal violist, appeared to be missing as well.I was beside myself!Not only were we down yet another violist, but Cora had failed to notify either the personnel manager or me, so there had been no chance to persuade her to come or to find a substitute to sit in for the rehearsal.I began working with the orchestra, my head turning continually toward the door, expecting Cora to walk in.How could she ignore such an important rehearsal?At the break, I rushed around the Conservatory looking for her, and finally found her on the third floor, chatting with two other students in one of the classrooms.What was the use of her telling another member of the viola section, rather than the personnel manager or myself?And how could she be so nonchalant?Cora, we cannot possibly do Petrushka this weekend with only four violas at the last rehearsal.At least come to the second half!