Letters, emails, online comments

LETTER of the MONTH

TAKING A BACK STEP

I wholeheartedly agree with Alexandra Gorski’s piece about the value of back-desk orchestral players (Opinion, March 2024). I’ve led a charmed life as a musician, been very lucky and worked tremendously hard. There have been national music festivals where I’ve sat in the middle or rear of the section, and always found it a rewarding and revelatory experience.

Recently, a colleague asked me to play substitute viola for the first time with the Seattle Symphony, which was essentially my hometown orchestra – the first one I’d listened to as a serious student and had heard many times. To be in the back of the section for that series of concerts really led me to think about what we front-stand players can learn from being in the rear of the section. Some observations follow.

First, it’s more difficult to figure out the intentions of the conductor from further back. I hadn’t realised just how much I relied on hearing intakes of breath and subvocalisations for indications of the tempo that the conductor wanted (rather than the one they’re supposedly showing with the stick).