I have been learning flute for about 3 years, and we (myself and fellow flutists) are basically expected to play whatever we are presented with at the band we play in. We would be expected to play fairly complex rhythms, along with your standard multiple key signatures.
However, some of the other instrument players (particularly the low brass, and I mean whole instrument sections, not just individual people) in the band seem to have dramatically lower standards. They will often say that the piece we are playing is too hard due to relatively basic rhythms, or because of key signatures that their instruments "aren't supposed to play in" (for example, they complain when there are any sharps, or sometimes even no sharps or flats. As for what they are "supposed" to play in, I have no idea). I'm pretty sure that if I said I can't play a piece because it wasn't in the key flute is "supposed" to play in, I'd be given a reality check quick smart by my teacher.
They can even get away with not knowing fingerings for notes, something that I'd think is easier than flute, since they only have a few valves (except trombone, of course) to remember. Either way, I know that people in other sections not knowing fingerings is not really acceptable in our band once you have been learning the instrument for a while.
These people have been playing for as long as, if not longer, than I have, yet they don't seem to be expected to have equivalent skill of the other instrument players in the band.Why would this be so? Are those said instruments simply much harder to learn, or is it because of how those players have been taught?