In college I took a music class. In the syllabus it stated it was for people who could not play an instrument. The professor was Bob Schectman, a jazz buff who played bass but it was his teaching that he was known for. He would lecture about how Beethoven made a contraption with five sticks of wood three feet long, spaced a couple of inches apart. For inspiration he would take it down to the pool hall, lay it across the scattered balls using them as notes depending on where how he placed this thing. At the end of one of these lectures, Bob gave our homework assignment – write a piece of music – for an orchestra. We could use any symbols we wanted to explain if the sounds should go up or down and for how long each should play for. The next week we all showed up with our masterpieces made up of lines and circles and arrows and squares, and there on stage was the Grand Rapids orchestra, not all of them but enough. We each took our turn as conductor, handing out our “music” to the various sections. They would look at their parts, while listening to me as conductor explain what all those symbols mean. The totally got it. Everyone of those musicians took us as seriously as conductors as we took our music, and they wanted to make sure it sounded the way we heard it in our heads.
Want to feel empowered? Conduct an orchestra with your own piece of music.
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