The Showing - Day Three: 19th February 2014

We used this morning to rehearse the Mozart, Ravel and Bruch Sound Painting ready to perform to an audience in the afternoon. The success of the project is not judged by the quality of the performance as the point is to explore how musicians approach playing and rehearsing in orchestras and ensembles, and how this might develop in the future. This is why we had an interesting discussion after the performance.

Our rehearsals were now more focused. I believe this is because we had already discussed ideas and interpretations and had got used to playing together. A greater knowledge of the music helped our communication and we had established that we needed to spend less time commenting between sections. Nevertheless, without a traditional conductor to keep us within the short time limit we ran over when rehearsing the Mozart.

While the performance went well and was enjoyable we did have some issues. One of these was the acoustics of the hall creating a greater need to use sight over just listening. Although we made an effort to move together, the lack of a permanent and prominent leader made timings hard. This is especially true of the rhythms at the beginning of the Mozart. The Bruch was more confident and secure now we were using sound painting to improvise as people were confident with the guidance and more willing to experiment with their ideas.

Reflection and discussion: 

We discussed how our experience of leading ourselves would affect our playing in the future, when in traditional orchestras. A good knowledge of the score and a strong level of preparation would enable a conductor to work with the orchestra's interpretation to create something of a higher standard. 

Approaching orchestras with an attitude of creating a piece together - for instance thinking "we are being Mozart's 39th" rather than merely thinking "I am playing the flute part" would also be a positive step for me to take from now on.

I believe I will approach orchestral playing with a greater awareness of the parts around me and the overall sound we are creating. This project has shown me the significance of good communication within an orchestra, which is something that should continue even with a conductor to guide us. 

Being aware of the phrases around the ones you individually play is something I believe we would work on if this project was extended. A beautifully played phrase might actually sound better if it wasn't phrased by the individual instrument and instead led into the next entry. I think that having a greater support of the other parts would've limited the amount of uncertain entries in the Ravel.

Flautist Jonathan Snowden stated that "the orchestra should be like a family", with parent figures who take the lead at different times and "always full of love".