This is an exciting time of year as the season begins to turn and our new fall routines start to emerge. I always relish the anticipation of hearing the first rehearsal of the year. It’s often slightly different from what I remember: it sounds louder, I hear more threads of tone searching for harmonious partners across the orchestra and most importantly I feel that subtle, yet powerful impulse to communicate through music.
It makes one feel very vulnerable at first- you feel exposed and a little too self-revelatory but after a while it’s the universal in the vision of the composer that starts to dust itself off and a true voice begins to sing and declaim and whisper all the difficult and radiant truths about being human.
Most of the time I say: warmer, softer....softer, more vibrato, sing through the line, listen, more attack but really it’s the composer entreating us through the notes not to give up, believe, rest, look harder and pass it on.
What’s great about music is that when we talk about it we all have a different revelation. It may evoke a memory, a shadow of emotion unexpressed, a philosophical insight or a spiritual path to follow. And equally it may provide relief from pain and suffering or even make us laugh. The beauty of it is that it meets you where you are, brings you to yourself and out of yourself. Ultimately I think it has the power to support us on a journey to wholeness.
In uncertain times, as things change, as seasons change, we can so easily become fearful about the future. I am so grateful that we have music to help us stay open to rediscover the world around us and within us. We are all reaching for harmonious partners of one sort or another and through the threads of tone running through us from the orchestra we may gain an additionl measure of comfort and strength.
-DL