Tips from Simone Roggen from Spira Mirabilis on playing in a united orchestra without a conductor

We were sent some tips from Simone Roggen, a violinist in Spira Mirabilis. In a long and interesting email, here are some of the main points:

• Large ears! "You should be always listening to whats going on, especially on the other side of the orchestra. In spira everyone has a score, and has studied it before arriving at a project. During the rehearsal project we learn what instrument to focus on at what moment. It might not be the obvious melody instrument, but the bass, or rhythm section. In spira we do the work of a conductor in the rehearsals – that’s why we rehearse one piece for such a long time." Simone Roggen
• Articulation "In that sense, who has the focus of the orchestra at that one moment, knows they can be spontaneous because everyone is listening with big ears, and will hear how the note/phrase is shaped and will react accordingly. Every ensemble developes their own language -  way of playing, which with trust and time can create many moments of spontenaeity in concert. But only if everyone is really listening!" - 'large ears' and articulation is something we continued to work on throughout the project and these skills greatly improved. I believe this would get better with time as we have not been playing together for long
• Play with people's gestures rather than just the sound - we did a lot of movement exercises and this is something we would have to continue to practice if the project was extended.
• Try to listen to the orchestra from different positions and angles, to hear all the parts - we took this advice on the second day, moving around the orchestra while we had rests to look over each others shoulders before running back to our own parts!
• "And, as for everyone having an opinion and/or suggestion, well, from experience it doesn’t really work. At the beginning there was only talking and no playing." - This is interesting as it is a problem we were having too! Our solution has been to really be aware of the need to move onto playing. Spira Mirabilis have a concertmaster to  help this issue, I believe we would need some leader of this kind if we were to continue the project. Having a leader would also help our timing and communication.
• "So what we do these days is if you have a suggestion – you have to be very convinced and be able to back up your theory. If the discussion goes on for too long, or the rehearsals has ground  to a halt (sometimes the discussions are fascinating!) our concertmaster will take things into her hands. We all have an enormous respect for her (this is very important, to have someone you can really trust) and whatever which way she decides in the end, we play it like that."

It was really interesting and helpful to hear from a musician who has been playing in this way for a while, with a carefully chosen orchestra who work well together. It was interesting that they encountered similar problems. Although they also swap around parts to avoid the traditional ranking of an orchestra, they feel the need to have a leader. Perhaps the use of a leader is something we would have to consider were we to take our project further.

"...Spira is not your normal ensemble. It is unique, (and not a little weird) and has been built up over the years to find the right people who fit together. We are not paid,  we are there to learn. That in itself is the defining point i think." Simone Roggen