Concertmaster

What it is

The concertmaster is the principal first violinist and the leader of the entire orchestra's string section. In British usage the title is leader. More of this kind of thing is in the performance section.

They sit in the first chair of the first stand, closest to the conductor on the audience's left.

It is the most senior playing position in an orchestra and carries responsibilities well beyond playing well.

What the job actually involves

Bowings. The concertmaster decides how every passage in the first violin part is bowed, and those decisions propagate to the other string sections so the whole group moves together. This is substantial work done before rehearsals begin, marking a part that the section then copies.

Bowing choices are not cosmetic. They determine articulation, phrasing and the physical shape of a passage, and a section bowing differently sounds ragged even when every note is correct.

Tuning the orchestra. The concertmaster signals the oboe for the A and leads the tuning at the start of a concert. It is ceremonial and practical at once.

Solos. Orchestral first violin solos belong to the concertmaster. Many major works contain them, and they are played standing out from the section.

Leading the section. Entrances, phrasing, dynamics and physical gesture. The section watches the concertmaster as much as the conductor, because a bow arm is easier to follow than a baton.

Liaison with the conductor. The concertmaster represents the strings in rehearsal, raising questions and conveying decisions.

How it is earned

By audition, and the audition is harder than for a section seat.

Candidates play solo repertoire, orchestral excerpts including the standard concertmaster solos, and usually lead a section in a trial rehearsal so the orchestra can assess whether they can actually lead.

Many orchestras run trial periods of a season or more before confirming an appointment.

Playing ability is necessary and not sufficient. A concertmaster who plays beautifully but cannot lead, or cannot work with a section, does not last.

The seating hierarchy

Understanding it clarifies the whole structure.

Concertmaster sits first chair, first stand, first violins.

Assistant concertmaster sits beside them and covers when the concertmaster has a solo or is absent.

Principal second violin leads the second violins, with their own assistant.

Principal viola, cello and bass lead their sections.

Everyone else is a section player, seated in stands of two, sharing a stand and a part.

The outside player of each stand, nearer the audience, turns pages. This is why an inside player never turns and an outside player is always slightly ahead in reading. Our free note identification helps with this between lessons.

What students should take from it

Two things.

Bowings are decided, not natural. A student who has only played from edited parts may not realise that someone chose those bowings and that the choice was interpretive. Reading a part and asking why it is bowed that way is a step toward musicianship.

Leading is a skill. In any ensemble, someone has to start together, breathe together, and make the physical gesture others follow. Students in youth orchestras and chamber groups are learning it whether or not anyone names it.

The path to it

For a student, the sequence runs: school orchestra, youth orchestra, principal or concertmaster of a youth orchestra, conservatory, professional section seat, then eventually principal or concertmaster.

Very few reach it, and that is not the point of mentioning it. The point is that the skills it requires, leading, deciding, listening across a section, are worth building at every level and are almost never taught explicitly.

A student who plays first stand in a youth orchestra should be told what the job is rather than just given the chair.

Bowings, and why they are the real work

The part of the job least visible from the audience and most consequential.

A concertmaster receives a clean orchestral part and must decide, bar by bar, which direction the bow travels. Down-bow or up. How many notes in a slur. Where the section retakes.

Those decisions determine articulation, phrasing, dynamic capability and the physical shape of every passage. A phrase bowed to arrive at the tip cannot swell at its peak. A passage bowed so the section retakes together sounds unified; one where players choose individually sounds ragged.

The concertmaster's part is then copied to every first violin stand, and the second violins, violas, cellos and basses adapt from it so all five sections move together.

This is hours of work per programme, done before the first rehearsal, and it is why concertmaster appointments consider musicianship rather than only playing.

Learning from marked parts

For a student, the useful habit is to notice bowings rather than simply obeying them.

Every marked bowing in an edited part was a decision. Asking why a passage is bowed that way, and what a different bowing would change, is the beginning of understanding phrasing as a physical matter rather than an abstract one.

Students who play from youth orchestra parts marked by a section leader are reading someone's interpretive choices, and knowing that changes how they read.

Reading about playing in context is a start, and playing it with someone watching your hands is faster. We teach private and group violin lessons in Sugar Hill, Cumming and Peachtree Corners. Call 470-789-2422 or book a no-commitment evaluation lesson.