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Sharing some joy

woman conducting orchestra

On Wednesday evenings I meet with extraordinary people for an hour and a half and a wonderful byproduct of that time is the creating and sharing of joy. These bold, brave, trusting, visionaries each bring a piece of a magnificent puzzle to our orchestra. Individually they live unique lives, with their own personalities, likes, and dreams, but somehow they choose to meet with a group of diverse people to create something unknown. That inspires me.

Somehow they trust me to guide them. It’s like a secret playground. I get to do things I love (and that few people see) – I move: I dance around and show them the music – and leave the hard work to them. They produce everything. Actually in this recording they did produce everything – even the score was arranged by one of the members (Mark, who plays trombone in the video). pair of leather shoes, unlacedI included this photo of his shoes for two reasons. First, I think it is so lovely that he is comfortable enough in our rehearsals to not wear them. Secondly the shoes remind us we never know the expectations or pressures on other people’s lives. This is especially true as people come together here from all walks of life. Each contribution to this group is something to be celebrated. You are valued, and your part makes a difference.

Nobody auditions for this group. I never ask them to play for me individually, have never said someone is not good enough. Importantly, I always leave rehearsal feeling uplifted. Last week I realised what we do is deeply rooted in joy. There is joy in coming together, making music, creating something more than you knew you could do, and in helping others make that journey with you.

The music:

setting up for orchestra recording, taping gopro to door frameThis November we have been recording our pieces in rehearsal, really as a surrogate for a concert. There’s still a pandemic, and although people are aware and careful, it’s far better to create opportunities to avoid risk – that and we all get very busy at the holiday time — and we do not have any sort of attendance policy. Actually the policy would be health and family come first.. so this was a great way to allow the most people to participate as possible and for the performances to be easy to share with the widest range of friends and family. (yay!)

Last Wednesday we recorded Danny Boy. I created a playlist with the other recordings (so they should auto-link after this one plays). In addition to Danny Boy, we recorded Harry Potter, Apalacian Morning, the Radio 4 Theme Music, and the Rienzi Overture (I will upload the last two …soon!)

Enjoy! …and if you play an instrument and live locally, you might consider joining us. The good thing about spreading joy … you never run out.

 

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