Playing vs. Performing

This weekend the Claremont Concert Orchestra gives two concerts which include Beethoven's 6th Symphony. I've been playing in orchestra since I was 10, so I am pretty familiar with concert situations. Usually during the concert I work on concentrating through each piece in its entirety, something that we don't usually do in rehearsal since we stop frequently to work on sections.

Beethoven's 6th viola part is either beautiful (often doubling the cello part) or tedious, but the familiar music is so beautiful that last night I just immersed myself into the music, listening to the gorgeous parts of other instruments when my part was boring, and soaring with the beautiful low melodies. I hope I can replicate that again this afternoon.