Frequently asked Questions

Question – Do I have to be able to read music in order to join?

Answer – Because we are an orchestra and the different types of instruments have different parts you do need to be able to follow the music and play your part. Abilities in music reading in our group vary. Some are very good music readers and others less so. To help everyone we endeavour where possible to produce sound files for the pieces and sound files for each part so that you can hear what your part sounds like and play along to it at home. We also send the music and sound files out in advance to give people time to learn their parts before getting together as a group.

Question – How much does it cost? We are a totally self funding group and are not supported by grants. However we are a not for profit organisation and our aim is to just cover our costs. This enables us to charge the minimum we can to cover our costs. We ask people to pay by term and not by session as this is the fairest way to ensure we can meet our committed costs to our orchestra leader, and practice hall without putting more of a burden on some members.

Question – I already play an instrument, and can read music Ok but don’t have a Mandolin type instrument but don’t want to buy one in case I don’t get on with it.

Answer – We don’t yet have a complete loan pool of instruments but there may be some instruments available to loan in the short term.