{"id":7,"date":"2010-03-10T16:08:09","date_gmt":"2010-03-10T16:08:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/music-matters\/?p=7"},"modified":"2018-07-02T16:15:21","modified_gmt":"2018-07-02T15:15:21","slug":"exposition","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/music-matters\/2010\/03\/10\/exposition\/","title":{"rendered":"Exposition…"},"content":{"rendered":"

As this blog gets underway, it seems useful to begin by reflecting on what it is about collective music-making that is so crucial both to members of the University community, as well as to the human experience in general.<\/p>\n

The larger musical activities that occur on campus here \u2013 Chorus, Orchestra, Concert Band and Big Band<\/a> \u2013 are events at which people from different aspects of the university\u2019s community can participate on an equal footing: an English professor sits next to a first-year undergraduate reading Maths; a member of the IT department rehearses with a final-year Drama student; or a departmental administrator sings alongside a postgraduate student reading Law. The opportunity to rub shoulders with, and participate alongside, others from the same community is a great leveller, and also widens one\u2019s social circle. The sense of a collective discipline \u2013 attending regularly, rehearsing, performing \u2013 shared by so many, whatever their occupation or background, and often one that is outside<\/em> of one\u2019s profession, gives communal music-making its great appeal.<\/p>\n

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The University Concert Band, conducted by Ian Swatman<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

For a short time, whether in rehearsals at the end of the day, or during a performance in Canterbury Cathedral<\/a>, everyone achieves the same goal as a result of sharing the same rehearsal and performance experience that led up to it. What you do during the day makes no difference: you are in the same boat as all the other performers around you, striving to create a musical event \u00a0that will move both yourselves and the audience, working as part of a larger team. For those working in an office or at a quiet table in the library the rest of the day, these moments offer a chance to get away from the solitary and join in with a communal activity – often creating a lot of noise!<\/p>\n

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University Chorus and Orchestra in Canterbury Cathedral: Photo: Robert Berry<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Apart from solo practice and recitals, music is inherently a social activity: it demands that people work together, share the same experience, support one another: perhaps most importantly, that they make mistakes together in an environment where mistakes are expected and assistance is offered in rectifying them (at least, in early rehearsals!). Few other undertakings offer so supportive an environment in which to work. And events such as WorldFest are a celebration of this, of the collective community coming together to celebrate its unity in working and performing.<\/p>\n

I sat in the midst of the Chorus on Sunday\u2019s rehearsal, bolstering the tenors (who this term really don\u2019t need any support \u2013 how often can one say that <\/em>about a tenor section ?!) \u2013 and was immersed in the sound-world of Poulenc\u2019s Gloria<\/em> <\/a>and Szymanowski\u2019s Stabat Mater<\/em>; along with everyone else: counting bars\u2019 rests like mad, frantically pitching the note for the next tenor entry from a fleeting clarinet solo or cello line, not being able to see the conductor, singing the wrong text: it was hard work, and terrific fun. I can say that now after a period of twelve or so hours from the tranquillity of the office: it didn\u2019t feel quite like that at the time!<\/p>\n