Orchestra Tours

Travelling with an orchestra is no easy feat. My first major orchestra tour was to Germany my Freshman year, but I don't remember anything about the actual transport because I was too excited exploring new cities with my friends. As a violist, all I had to worry about was my case fitting in the overhead bin.

Last week, my school orchestra and jazz band toured California (Los Angeles, Disneyland, Hollywood). I didn't think that travel would be difficult at all because I figured that everyone would just keep track of their own instruments and luggage. Personally, I was fine travelling with my viola, but other kids had much more to schlep. Some had two instruments, had to lug around heavy cymbal cases, or prayed that their cellos would survive the flight in the cargo hold. Such travel would be difficult with a dozen people, but this group had almost one hundred. Although, we chartered our own plane so I thought at least getting through the airport would be a breeze. I was wrong, again.

The morning of our flight, we arrived at Midway before 5AM. Surprisingly, the airport was the opposite of desolate. Check-in lines were the longest I've seen and our tour guide was panicking. "Come on everyone, let's go faster, we need to board in twenty minutes..." She reiterated to anyone in our group T-shirts. I shrugged my shoulders as I saw the snaking check-in line I would be standing in for at least another fifteen minutes. Then there still was security.

Our group got completely split up. Groups of two or four students ran through the terminal to our gate; of course we didn't want the plane to leave without us. The plane waited for all of us because we made up 90% of the plane, but I felt sorry for the few passengers not in our group who had to wait for us.

It's exhausting to get a full-sized orchestra loaded onto buses, into the airport, checked in, through security, onto a plane, off the plane, through luggage claim, and onto more buses. I was completely spent by the time we actually had free time at Santa Monica Beach and I didn't even have to carry heavy percussion equipment!

I have much appreciation for my directors: nobody got lost, hurt, or left behind through all the crazy travelling. It takes the whole ensemble to stay alert and calm to make it to any destination on time. That was no easy feat, considering there were many spaced-out freshmen on the trip. I had a blast once we could break off into smaller groups and explore, but such a trip is not something I'd want to be on (let alone organize) in the near future. Realistically, I will have to tour as a professional musician, but at least I will be with like-minded and organized people.