What Should You Bring to an Orchestra Rehearsal?

Every orchestra has a player who arrives with nothing but an instrument, and every orchestra quietly wishes they wouldn't. Here is what experienced players actually carry to rehearsal, and why. If you're preparing for your very first night, pair this list with our guide to what to expect at a first rehearsal.

The non-negotiables

Your instrument, in working order. Obvious, but 'working order' is the operative phrase: strings that aren't fraying, reeds that speak, valves that move. Rehearsal is a bad place to discover a problem you noticed last week.
Your music. In most community orchestras you are responsible for the folder or parts issued to you. Bring all of it — conductors change the running order without warning.
A pencil. Not a pen. Bowings, cuts, cues, and reminders go into parts in pencil so they can be erased when the music is returned. This is standard practice in the orchestra-library world; the professional body for performance librarians, MOLA, exists in part because preparing, marking, and returning parts cleanly is a real discipline. A stub with no eraser doesn't count.

Usually needed, sometimes provided

A music stand. Many community groups rehearse in schools or churches with stands on site, but plenty don't. Ask before your first rehearsal; a folding stand lives happily in a trunk.
A stand light, if your group rehearses anywhere dim or performs in low-light venues.
A chair-height plan for cellists — some venues offer only folding chairs, and some cellists prefer to know that in advance rather than discover it.

Instrument-specific supplies

Each section has its own small economy of consumables and gadgets. String players carry rosin, a spare set of strings, and a mute, since mutes are called for in orchestral parts far more often than in solo playing. Wind players bring spare reeds, cork grease, swabs, and cleaning cloths. Brass players need valve oil, slide grease, and the specific mutes the repertoire demands — straight mutes at minimum. If you're returning to an instrument after years away and can't remember what its kit includes, the Philharmonia Orchestra's instrument guides are a good refresher on how each instrument works and what it involves.

The items veterans swear by

A tuner and metronome, or a phone app, for warming up before the downbeat — not during rehearsal.
Earplugs. Rehearsal halls are often smaller and more reverberant than concert stages, and sitting in front of the trumpets is a different experience than hearing them from the audience. Filtered musician earplugs let you protect your ears while still hearing pitch and balance; the NIDCD's overview of hearing protectors describes the main types, and our page on hearing protection for musicians goes deeper.
Water in a closed bottle, kept away from the instruments.
A folder or flat bag for music, so parts come back uncrumpled. Librarians notice.
Layers. Rehearsal spaces run hot or cold with no relationship to the season.

What to leave home

Perfume and cologne (you sit close to colleagues for two hours), anything that clips noisily to a stand, and the urge to practice other repertoire during breaks at full volume. Food at the stand is generally unwelcome around borrowed sheet music.

A five-minute habit

The simplest system is a rehearsal bag that never gets unpacked: pencil, rosin or reeds, mute, earplugs, folding stand in the car. Players who pack fresh each week forget things; players with a standing kit don't. Ten years into an orchestra life, the bag is usually shabby, and its owner is usually the person everyone borrows a pencil from.