So yesterday i participated in the Great Orchestra Experiment. This was a collaboration between my orchestra and our adult, professional equivalent. We performed twice to primary school children, who were the ‘lab assistants’ and had to participate in experiments to do with various musical and sound features. All in all, it was really successful.
Our set list went as follows:
1. Mission: Impossible
2. Beethoven’s 5th Symphony, First Movement
3. Captain Ocane
4. Celebrate
5. Feeling Good
6. Soul Bossa Nova
7. Hall of the Mountain King
8. Superman March
9. Mambo (from West Side Story)
There were no hitches, except for one of e presenters being a bit bitch when her co-host didn’t call her by her ‘scientist name’. I mean, come on: there is no need to correct him in front of all the little kids. Although, it was really funny when a small child talked back to our conductor.
It was amazing to be a part of something so inspirational like that. As our hosts kept saying, I started out in their position, and The Great Orchestra Experiment was far more exciting than what I did. (Performing alongside the Halle Orchestra might be more prestigious, but TGOE was tonnes more fun!). If I were one of the kids in the audience, I would have loved it. I would have been far more interested to carry on my instrument off my own back instead of being forced into it by the school.
The only negative things that I would have to say about the whole day was that my instrument got mis-recognised twice. I play the bass clarinet, which looks like this:
Got that? Okay. It first got called an oboe, which looks like this:
I can sort of see it: they’re the same colour, both woodwind instruments. Yes, the oboe is a lot smaller, but it was a small child that said so, that I can live with. But then it got called a bassoon, which is this:
Does that look anything like a bass clarinet? No! And it got called that by a member of the orchestra! The traitor! I was offended on the bass clarinet’s behalf.
Other than that minor incident, it was a truly successful day. Both concerts, on in the morning and one in the afternoon, went well with no problems. I will be glad to (hopefully) never do Superman ever again, as the bass part is very tiring. The problems came when i had to go back to school in the evening to perform in our Spring Concert. I was shattered! When i was there I had to play my normal clarinet and the tenor saxophone. *Sigh* Busy, busy bee…
The Musings of Eden 