When I was watching the summer Olympics this past August, I got it into
\nmy head that a funny segment during the TV coverage would be to show an
\naverage person swimming alongside the Olympic swimmers (running against
\nthe runners, etc.). Me, for example, in all my former New Canaan High
\nSchool swim team not-glory, diving into the pool next to these women
\nwho were breaking world records. My thought was that after watching the
\nOlympics for days on end we lose track of how incredible these people
\nare; there are no points of comparison, so when the Olympic athletes
\nswim fifty meters of a pool in 22 seconds (it took me longer than that
\nto write this sentence), we don’t comprehend what it really means.<\/p>\n
Last
\nSaturday night, I made my concert debut in a world premiere performance
\npiece by a Pulitzer Prize-winning composer in New York City. Go big or
\ngo home, I always say. In the interest in full disclosure, composer
\nDavid Lang, who I work for, and visual artist Suzanne Bocanegra
\ncreated a piece for 50 “violinists” who had never played the violin
\nbefore. I was one of them, and I was terrible. I must have asked our teacher Todd Reynolds to
\nshow me how to hold the bow four times, in addition to glancing conspicuously at the girl
\nto my left who seemed to know what she was doing. I was the only person
\nin the whole group who Todd Reynolds had to physically correct, and when
\nI asked David how I did later on he said, “You had the best posture of
\nanyone when you weren’t playing.” <\/p>\n
I’m certainly guilty of
\nleaving concerts and complaining about the quality of musicianship. It’s obvious to state, but this is hard work – physical work – that
\ntakes decades of commitment to perfect. We know this in our heads when
\nwe sit at concerts, just as we know it in our heads while watching
\nthe Olympic swimmers on TV, but can we really grasp it without experiencing the physicality ourselves? <\/p>\n
How can
\norchestras give donors, audience members, and perhaps even critics a
\ntaste of what it’s like to play an instrument? Would that help ticket
\nsales? Change reviews? Increase donations?<\/p>\n
Many industry people
\nand classical music lovers have or still do played\/play an instrument, but we
\ndon’t usually play just before the concerts we now go and see. If
\nevery person in the audience was required to take a half-hour music lesson
\nfrom member of the orchestra before that evening’s performance, how
\nwould that connectedness alter the concert experience? Would the
\naudience appreciate the music more because they understood the
\ninstruments better? Some might even appreciate the music more simply because
\nthey met an orchestra member personally before the concert. Similarly,
\nwhen was the last time your orchestra’s administration played
\ninstruments? Perhaps the orchestra members could give them lessons as well. Make it a team-building day, and see if your local paper
\nwould cover it.<\/p>\n
I won’t be quitting my day job any time soon, even though Hilary Hahn<\/i>
\nsaw the photos and swore I looked like a natural (that’s because she didn’t see my post-concert Erlk\u00f6nig<\/a> impression). That said, after a
\none-hour group lesson, I feel like I understand what I’m pitching a bit
\nmore intimately, and will smile fondly and knowingly at my (big air quotes) fellow violinists during the
\nnext concert I go to.<\/p>\n