The UMHS Music department has an upcoming concert on the 17th of December from 7-9 PM. What’s going through a musician’s mind when the lights go up? We compare the wildly different on-stage perspectives of two long-time orchestra members: a violinist and a violist.
As a violinist, who is also performing in the concert, my perspective and thoughts during concerts mainly consist of “oh boy, here we go,” “how long until the live video is officially published online?” … or, inside jokes only musicians understand as well as random funny moments that occurred before the performance. However, my thoughts are not necessarily the thoughts of all performers overall. For example, Hunter Noel, a violist and fellow student in orchestra, gave his perspective, and it is vastly different from mine.
A performer’s perspective can vary based on the instrument they play. One of those perspectives is their field of vision when on stage. As a violist, Hunter notes that his position is physically isolating: “I can’t see anything since a majority of the orchestra consists of violinists…”, which impacts his awareness of the audience. As for my perspective, my position on stage as a violinist is less isolating, but in turn there are more eyes on me.
Some other factors that add to our varied perspectives are how long each of us has been a member of the music department for, why we joined in the first place, why we chose the instruments we did, our thoughts during concerts, and our favorite & least favorite parts of being in the department overall. Both of us have some similarities such as how long we’ve been in orchestra for (both of us have been members since 3rd grade, so about 7 years now). Our reasons for joining are slightly different. In Hunter’s case, “his parents insisted, but he also likes playing music, and his parents had him choose the Viola since there are several violinists.” While in my case, joining orchestra and choosing the violin was out of a liking for music, partial boredom, and the ability to understand funny inside jokes only musicians understand. His favorite parts of orchestra are the facts that he considers orchestra to be “very relaxing and chill” and considers it his “down time.” His least favorite part is “difficult songs/pieces.” Difficult pieces are also one of my least favorite parts of orchestra as well, and my favorite parts are different. During concerts, Hunter’s initial thoughts consist of “doing his best and not worrying about anything at that point.”
Another variation in perspective is our opinions of the audience at concerts, as both of us have relatively neutral opinions about them. Hunter elaborates, “The audience is respectful,” and he also had some added comments for those who are not in the music department. For those not in the music department, he says, “It’s free credit and the relaxing experience is worth it.”
