For Wilshire Baptist Church
Monday night at Wilshire Winds rehearsal we were practicing a piece called “Consolation” by Noah D. Taylor, and director Shana Gaines stopped us and suggested we try something new: spread out in a large circle and play the piece while facing each other. She said it would help us hear who has the most important parts at different times, especially as the dynamics – the loudness and softness – changes, and it would help us play more in tune.
So we picked up our music stands and instruments and spread out into a large circle that rose and fell with the contours of the risers in the choral hall. We didn’t move our chairs; we all stood, looking more like a jazz band than a wind ensemble, and we played through the piece.
As the name “Consolation” hints, the piece is thoughtful and emotional. To quote from publisher J.W. Pepper, it “passionately evokes the emotions one endures when they find a source of comfort in a time of suffering or grief. Representing the complex emotions of the human condition, are juxtapositioned moments of quiet solace, building tension, and immense emotional release.”
When we finished playing, Shana asked, “Did you hear it?” and the answer was, “Yes.” Facing each other, we could hear each other’s parts better than we do when facing the back of the person in front of us. And hearing all the parts better, we ebbed and flowed better together and we played more in tune. Someone noted that standing had a way of opening up the airways and enhancing our breathing that we don’t experience when slumped in a chair. For me, standing with the weight of a 15-pound saxophone hanging from my neck sharpened my focus and attention.
I’ve played standing and facing one another in a small quartet, but I’ve never done that before with a large group. I have to admit the experience and the sound was remarkable. I doubt we’ll rehearse that way every week, and we certainly won’t arrange ourselves that way in worship. But it served a valuable purpose in the way that it changed our focus from just the music on our stands to the music coming from each other and being created together.
In that way it’s an example of how community should be and can be – where people are facing each other, working together, listening to each other, respecting each other’s efforts and contributions. As members of communities — and we all are whether it be family, civic, business, cultural or spiritual — are we not better able to provide comfort and consolation when we are facing each other than when we are looking outward and away?
Perhaps this is something to work on as we begin this season of Lent: to turn toward the center, to listen for balance and harmony, and to rediscover how our life fits with Christ’s and with each other’s. Because when we put Christ in the center and face the center, we also find that we are looking through Him toward each other.