Wasn’t it good to be in the same room, playing together once again!
After a crusty start, we got back into the swing quite quickly, and it was exciting to hear the ensemble sound start to re-emerge so rapidly.
But what of the last few months? What can we gleam from continual zooms, etc…?
I think this time round, it was harder as the goals kept getting cancelled and the time dragged on more and more as motivation dropped further each week, so is there a positive from all this?
If we set aside the obvious opportunity to practice – which most of us didn’t do nearly as much as we thought we would – there are still several things that can be viewed as pluses:
- Firstly, the desire to play again as a band. It was evident in abundance last night that we actually like making music together and socialising as a group.
- Secondly, our zoom sessions helped us listen more, not so much to each other but to the pieces we are attempting. That was evident as we often played at the tempo of the recording rather than the tempo being conducted!
- Thirdly was the growth of our ensemble socially: members checked in on each other, we saw our fellow musicians in a different light, and often saw a new side of our team.
All these things add to the positive growth and depth of community in our band, and I hope we can keep the positives ongoing whilst we shed the negatives of isolation, restriction and online zooming!
We must never forget that it is the people in our band who make the band fun and interesting – anyone can play a CD, many people can play instruments to a varying degree of competence, but no-one can be the amazing group of individuals we are!
Murray