<p>I actually withdrew from orchestra. I am in the Double Reed Choir and the Symphonic Winds. Further, I am learning to play the contrabassoon. I had to make a choice for my sanity. I could only keep two music ensembles, and I found orchestra to be less fun and more time-consuming than the other two. As a reed player, I enjoy the big sound and inflexible schedule of Symphonic Winds more than the orchestra. Symphonic Winds is basically an orchestra without strings, so my choice was pretty clear. I do miss the orchestra, but I don’t regret my decision. Music is challenging right now, but it is not impossible. I can budget time up to the minute because of the fact that the band program has a specified number of rehearsals in a week and these start and end exactly when they are supposed to and do not generally require sectionals. Another thing I forgot to mention—I believe strings have to show up an hour early because they have string sectionals every rehearsal, or at least they did last semester. I do not know if it is the case this semester, because the emails I have been getting do not differentiate between time requirements for strings and for winds. Last semester was very challenging for me in terms of matching school and music. Orchestra took place during my chem prof’s marathon office hours (which he held during exam weeks). Since I was in Chem 10181 (aka chem for masochists/majors) and the professor made the course extremely difficult, even for people who got 5’s on the AP Chem exam (we comprised 90% of the class), life was difficult.</p>