Chapter Six Sample
THE VILLAGE REHEARSALS
It's nearly the summer solstice and our rehearsal season has come to a close after the recent successful concert in May. The orchestra doesn't meet again until late summer. Today, however, I have to return some music to the filing cabinets in the loft over the hall where we rehearse. The car park is empty. I unlock the main doors and go into the rehearsal room.
It, too, is completely empty and there is no sound. I can smell the polish on the newly cleaned wooden floor and then as soon as I stand still the room fills with musicians, chatter, the bustle of music stands being erected, instruments being tuned, the conductor preparing his score, all of this a ghostly clamouring of times gone by. Then music fills the air and I see myself sitting next to my partner on the front desk deep in concentration, playing our violins, lost in the music. I can see clearly the faces of each of my friends in the orchestra as they play. Then the brief but vivid reverie comes to an end and I make my way upstairs to return the music to its store. It will be September before this place fills again with real people and real music, but the ghosts play on.
Rehearsing is about playing with other people. That's it. Nothing more, nothing less. The conductor's job is to make sure that we all interpret the sign posts in the music in the same way and that we have the same approach to the music that we play together as an orchestra and not as a collection of individuals. Rehearsal is about learning to play in a team in just the same way that, say, a footballer would. It's no use having a football team made up of brilliant individuals, none of whom can fit in with their fellow players while they follow their own game plan. That doesn't work and it’s just the same for an orchestra. The conductor is the equivalent of the football manager.
There is a lot about training for a sport that can be applied to music - the Inner Game was first devised for sport, for golf, but was found to be quite suitable for any activity where achievement of one...
It's nearly the summer solstice and our rehearsal season has come to a close after the recent successful concert in May. The orchestra doesn't meet again until late summer. Today, however, I have to return some music to the filing cabinets in the loft over the hall where we rehearse. The car park is empty. I unlock the main doors and go into the rehearsal room.
It, too, is completely empty and there is no sound. I can smell the polish on the newly cleaned wooden floor and then as soon as I stand still the room fills with musicians, chatter, the bustle of music stands being erected, instruments being tuned, the conductor preparing his score, all of this a ghostly clamouring of times gone by. Then music fills the air and I see myself sitting next to my partner on the front desk deep in concentration, playing our violins, lost in the music. I can see clearly the faces of each of my friends in the orchestra as they play. Then the brief but vivid reverie comes to an end and I make my way upstairs to return the music to its store. It will be September before this place fills again with real people and real music, but the ghosts play on.
Rehearsing is about playing with other people. That's it. Nothing more, nothing less. The conductor's job is to make sure that we all interpret the sign posts in the music in the same way and that we have the same approach to the music that we play together as an orchestra and not as a collection of individuals. Rehearsal is about learning to play in a team in just the same way that, say, a footballer would. It's no use having a football team made up of brilliant individuals, none of whom can fit in with their fellow players while they follow their own game plan. That doesn't work and it’s just the same for an orchestra. The conductor is the equivalent of the football manager.
There is a lot about training for a sport that can be applied to music - the Inner Game was first devised for sport, for golf, but was found to be quite suitable for any activity where achievement of one...
