Waldemar Kozak; double bass

"I'M Polish, and I've been with the NSO since January 1990. I began to play the double bass in my last year at primary school - it wasn't a very popular instrument, and the teacher was very interested to have a pupil!

"I was too old to start violin at that stage; I did play piano, though, because in Polish music colleges you have to choose a main instrument and then take piano as well.

"From the age of 14 to 25 I studied music right up to third level, and my family didn't pay anything for all of that time - it was free. We also bad practice instruments at school with special classrooms for the double bass pupils - but everybody had their own instrument at home as well.

"I wanted to get a job in a German orchestra, because my family had moved to West Berlin and in fact when I was in Berlin I got in touch with some players from the Berlin Philharmonic and they gave me some lessons, which was a great experience. But the German orchestras didn't invite me for audition, they didn't give me a chance, so I got a chance here!"

Aisling Drury Byrne; cello

"MY mother played the cello; the peak of her amateur career was playing The Swan in Luxembourg cathedral in 1925. When I was about 12 my piano teacher suggested I should play the cello too, so it seemed natural to me.

"I love playing in the orchestra - I love the big sound and all the harmonies. A lot of the work I do outside would involve more stress - recitals and so on - that's the wonderful aspect of the orchestra, that you're part of that big group. The repertoire is fantastic we've covered nearly everything, Russian, eastern European, northern European that's very interesting, to feel you have mastered a wide range of styles.

"Since the orchestra has expanded to its full size, it has really made a difference to the sound. The concert hall? It's a very good hall for recording, it has a very clear sound, but it favours high frequencies - so, being a cellist, I'll have a little moan here. It's not so good for us. Some conductors make us sit in the middle, where the violas are, and we feel we can be heard better there.

"Favourite piece? I love La Valse by Ravel because it's swirling and sweeping and beautiful."

Melanie Briggs; second violin

"I got into music through my father, who's a horn player in this orchestra - there was always music in our house. I originally said `I want to take harp' and my parents said `no, we don't have a car big enough'. So then I said `OK, I want to take violin'.

"Basically, as members of an orchestra our job is to do the best we can all the time - whether we like a particular conductor or not. But I think it's important that a conductor should build up a rapport with the orchestra, because if we feel a conductor respects us then we'll automatically give more.

"Favourite piece? Shostakovich Five. I couldn't stop smiling through it when we were playing the concert recently. I just got such a buzz out of it!"

Ian Dakin; horn

"WHEN I was about 10 my school in Derbyshire started a music workshop and I went along. How did I pick the horn? It picked me, I think! I liked the idea of making noise, making an impact.

"I've been with the NSO for 15 years. No, you don't feel lost in a big orchestra you might think it wouldn't be important if you went wrong, but you soon discover your mistake.

Working with certain conductors can be really illuminating, even if you're doing a work you maybe aren't too keen on, or which seems hackneyed. A few years ago we did Beethoven Seven with Raymond Leppard, and it was like a totally new piece. But for the Friday night concerts, even if you've had a tough week with a conductor, you usually forget everything - nothing matters except the music and the audience."

Mathew Manning; oboe

"I'VE been with the NSO since 1983, and the thing about living in Dublin as opposed to London, where I grew up, is that in London everything is specialised - there are session players, soloists, orchestral players, baroque players whereas here, you can dip in and sample everything.

"I love to play Bach - the oboe obbligato in the B minor Mass is wonderful - and I was pretty lucky with the Raymond Deane commission, the orchestra commissioned a concerto for me which we'll be recording later this year.

"The best thing about playing in an orchestra? Those moments of heart- stopping musicality where everybody is thinking together, breathing together feeling the music in exactly the same way. It doesn't happen very often - but when it does, you realise why you do the job."

Alan Smale; violin (leader)

"I was a co-leader of the Royal Ballet Orchestra when I got the job as co-leader of the NSO, and I'm just celebrating 20 years here, 10 with the Concert Orchestra.

"The two orchestras do sound very different; because it's smaller, the concert orchestra tends to play very much at the point of the beat whereas the Symphony Orchestra having 80 or 90 players, the sound is a lot rounder. I call the ideal sort of attack in the strings a spongey sound - it should be together but not heavy.

As leader, I have to make sure the orchestra gets a good deal out of the conductor - if he's picking on an individual, or if he's not making himself clear, I have to step in as tactfully as possible. And if a player or a section is fooling around, then I call them up sharply. It does happen, but very infrequently because the NSO is incredibly good-natured and very professional.

"This tour is a matter of personal pride for members of the orchestra: they want people in London and Glasgow to know the orchestra from Dublin is as good as their own."

John Finucane; clarinet

"I started totally by accident in Willow Park school - the music priest there just came into class and waved a clarinet in the air one day and said, `who'd like to play this?' and I was the only one who put my hand up. I think the clarinet is probably the most accessible instrument for kids to take up - I teach in the academy (the Royal Irish Academy of Music), and I've had a few students who got to grade one in a month or two.

"And you can buy a clarinet for about three hundred quid - though I know that's still a lot for some people and a really big problem for underprivileged youngsters.

"I've been with the NSO two years this week and I spent 18 years with the concert orchestra. I also do a lot of conducting - I was actually conducting the NSO this week- and I conduct the concert orchestra quite a bit, as well as my own Hibernian Chamber orchestra and the Dublin Youth Orchestra. But the day job is quite busy - playing with the NSO takes a lot of hours!

"Favourite piece? Puccini opera is my thing; I'm a mad opera person. Boheme, Butterfly and Tosca are my favourites."

Martin Metrustry percussion

"I'VE always been mad about drums - as a teenager all I wanted to do was play in pop groups, but when I was 15 I had a girlfriend who pushed me into the school of music in Belfast. After a couple of weeks I was told I had to play in the youth orchestra. I was horrified - this was the sissiest thing - but after a fortnight I was hooked. And the great thing about the youth orchestra was, there were kids from all over Belfast - Protestant, Catholic, didn't make a blind bit of difference.

"I've been timpanist with the NSO since 1979. I think it's very important - for anyone playing percussion to play another instrument so that they develop a melodic and harmonic ear - obviously when you're playing the timpani, the first and foremost thing is being in tune and being aware of the harmonies around you.

"I love Brahms symphonies and the more challenging 20th-century works by Janacek, Bartok and Stravinsky, where you find the timpani playing the bass line by means of the pedals.

"My other musical passion is traditional music. I play the concertina."