Air conditioning and G strings and plane travel! Oh My! Here are the truths all string players will recognise.

The string section is the heart of the orchestra. Whether with the beauty and finesse of a delicate pianissimo or the elemental power of a full throttle forte, the strings are a mighty force to be reckoned with. However it’s no bed of roses being a string player! Here are the 10 truths that any violinist, violist, cellist of double bassist will knowingly nod to.

You have to put up with some pretty bad jokes

Being asked if you have a G string, or (if you’re a Double Bassist or Cellist) if you wished you played the flute, just isn’t funny. And let’s not even get started on Viola jokes!…

Your instrument costs more than all your other possessions combined

Your instrument didn’t come cheap, and basically everything in the world –  air conditioners, public transport, just walking down the street – wants to destroy it! Where’s my hygrometer!?

Air travel is the worst

Either fork out for a whole extra seat for your instrument, fork out for a travel case that’s more reinforced than a nuclear bunker and yet still manages to get totally smashed by baggage handlers, or prepare to be attacked by antsy and officious airline staff!

Nothing makes you cringe like watching an actor pretending to play a string instrument

Rubbish bow hold… no vibrato… flat fingers… collapsed palm…. NOPE!

Rain ponchos should be issued to front desk players

Leading an orchestra: great! Sitting in the danger zone for being splattered with the conductor’s flop sweat: not so much.

Strings either sound like heaven or hell

The exquisite beauty of a virtuoso is the most gloriously perfect sound, but a beginner scrubbing out Twinkle Twinkle is like Satan’s nails on a chalkboard.

You feel just a tiny bit like a rockstar when a hair breaks on your bow

But then you remember you’re meant to be the respectable section of the orchestra and demurely pull it loose.

You have to play way more notes than anyone else in the orchestra

Enjoying your 137 bars rest Mr Tuba?

No one has it worse than the poor violas

No one knows what to call you (Violist, Viola-ist, Viola player?), there are a million bad jokes, you have to read a goofy clef and if you ever have to explain what exactly a Viola is, you inevitably end up saying “it’s kind of a big violin.” Hang on in there Violas!