Becoming an Orchestra Savant Lesson # 1- Why are you even here/hear?

         I've now been playing in orchestra for six years and while that doesn't make me an expert, I have learned a lot. I've played in both good and bad orchestras. I've played with professionals, college students, high schoolers, and beginners. I've been the principal and I've sat in the last chair. It's been fun but in many cases a challenge and if I've learned anything it's that you can't plop yourself in a chair and expect it to be easy. It doesn't matter how good you are, playing in an orchestra takes a lot of work.
        So, for the next week I will be exploring the seven basics for 'mastering the art of orchestra playing.' As I've said, I am absolutely not an expert and would never claim to be. I am only sharing my humble and growing opinion. So, here it goes!!

        Two years ago while atttending Sewanee Summer Music Festival I had the wonderful opportunity to work with Kenneth Kiesler. While he is both an amazing conductor and educator... he is more than terrifying. I can still remember that brilliant rehearsal like it was yesterday. We were rehearsing Shostakovich's 12th symphony (which if you don't know... is very hard). We had been sawing away for a little over an hour and the theme so far had been 'listening'. Kenneth Kiesler kept shouting,"You're not listening! Do you even care? Why are you even here?"
       We all looked around, totally confused. What did this man want from us? He began to point at people in pairs and he commanded them to pick up their parts and switch places. In only a few minutes the orchestra was in shambles! There were woodwind players in the percussion section, the concert master was sitting last chair viola and we had a violist for a concertmaster!!! I personally was sitting next to a French Horn player.
       With all of our parts in front of us and our new stand partners, Kenneth Kiesler gave the down beat without a word. In one second we were an entirely new orchestra. We were an orchestra that was 'listening.' Everything finally clicked.
        If I haven't lost you, that's great but just just in case I'm going to do some explaining. Before Kenneth Kiesler's little experiment we weren't really listening. Sure we were being conscious of the melody and trying to stay below it dynamically. Frankly, this is a perfectly fine way of playing in orchestra. There are many orchestras that do this very well and are pretty good orchestras.
        But the kind of listening that Kenneth Kiesler was demanding was something entirely different. This level of listening requires you to listen to individual players in the orchestra and actually care about their part. This makes it essential to have complete mental focus. To be perfectly honestly you should care about your part least of all.
         Let me just say, if you aren't completely mentally exhausted after playing an entire symphony, you've done something wrong. I remember having a hard time forming lucid sentences after performing the Shostakovich Symphony! But it's worth it because the music comes alive in an unreal and chilling way. It starts to breathe and it becomes less about playing your notes and more about following the music.
        Kenneth Kiesler taught me that day about being a musician rather than an instrumentalist. Which is my own personal way of distinguishing the good from the not so good. A musician is someone who is captured by the music and an instrumentalist is captured by their own sound and is self-obsessed.
       ANYWAYS, I digress. Being a great orchestra member demands a tireless, high level of listening. It can turn a fairly good orchestra into a brilliant one. So, I challenge you to listen and completely wear yourself out during your next orchestra rehearsal. Like I always say,"If it isn't hard, it's probably not worth it."