CIAO DATE: 11/2009
November 2008
Institute on Globalization and the Human Condition, McMaster University
Imagine this scene, if you will: orchestra members gather for a rehearsal. They chat amiably as they find seats and tune their instruments. Then they get down to work: in their last session they had decided to interpret a Vivaldi score and selected a Baroque specialist from among their number to serve as concert-master. In the meantime, everyone had carefully studied the score as a whole and brought with them ideas of how to work with it. To get the rehearsal underway, the concert-master talks to them a bit about the difficulties she sees in the piece and a lively discussion ensues about possible approaches. Together they make a preliminary general plan, and then the sections—wind, strings, etc—meet in their smaller groups to decide on precedence and strategies within each. Finally, the whole orchestra reassembles to play together. They seat themselves so that they can see each other—and begin. After a few bars, the newly-elected first chair violinist stops them and comments that the tempo seems off. To illustrate, he plays at a speed that seems more appropriate to him. A discussion ensues. Various musicians experiment: “how about this?” they ask. Finally, after trying out several options, they come to an agreement, and begin to play again at the new tempo. They watch each other closely as they play, responding to bodily cues and meaningful glances that help them collaborate effectively. At various points, a performer stops the group to make a suggestion or ask a question. A new discussion ensues, a new decision is made, and the orchestra tries again. It is slow, absorbing, challenging work. Sometimes group members will step out for a bit to seat themselves in the concert hall to listen from an audience position and comment on the effect of the performance as the orchestra works on, struggling at times through dissonance. Nerves can fray. Disagreements occasionally get heated, and a few personal antagonisms manifest themselves, but in the end, music is made: passionate, coherent, supremely skillful—and all without a conductor.
Resource link: Organizing the (Un)Common [PDF] - 421K