One cellist, thirty passionate people….as much emotional bang as Bruckner Fourth – which makes me think, what are we doing here?
Where do you begin?
This blog won’t be all about symphony orchestras, but that IS what I do for a living, and so it should probably start there.
I found myself driving home the other night after an extraordinary evening of music making.
The night had featured a cellist in the orchestra who had been engaged for an “Up Close” event – meaning he played a little bit of unaccompanied cello music (Bach, and Hindemith), talked about his instrument and described his life as a musician. There was also coffee, tea and cookies. Some staff members were introduced, and the whole event lasted about an hour and fifteen minutes. All of this effort was for about 30 people. The “audience” was drawn from our own data base, but not focused on donors. In other words, we were investing in the non-investors. I didn’t know most of their names. They attend some concerts each year. That’s all. Not the usual suspects…
And yet…
You would have thought, walking into the room mid-way through, that we were dealing with the most passionate people in the world – they were incredibly curious about what was going on. There were questions throughout, and sometimes the audience actually interrupted the musician – how does the bow produce sound, explain how you make those really high pitches (the harmonics), or how much did you practice today? Why do you use your thumb like that? How do you memorize the music?
A little music-making. A lot of life.
In theory, a symphony orchestra is a concert-giving organization, but that is only a small part of what it actually could do.
Should do?
We’ve been confined by who we think we are, and by what we think we are.
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