COOP Poll Results:

FINDING OUR VOICES

On June 21, 2019, the Board of Directors of Commonwealth Orchestra Outreach Project presented a demo concert at the Tewksbury Congregational Church in Tewksbury, MA.

It was a short concert — just under an hour — and its purpose was to demonstrate our reboot of the idea that a symphony concert has to be: 1) just music 2) composed by Europeans, 3) wearing tuxes and 4) doing a favor to the audience because we’re, y’know, trained musicians (don’t try this at home).

We didn’t do program notes on slick paper. In fact, you could only get to them by QR code or by url. Here they are in this blogsite: Finding Our Voices. We avoided commentary between the numbers, but recited poetry instead which was relevant to the piece we were about to perform. In short, this inaugural concert was more like a show. We wore blue jeans and white shirts, and we had fun with a very receptive audience.

Another one of our innovations was to print feedback requests in the shape of green leaves on the pews. The questions were very simple: 1) What piece did you like and, in a couple words, why? 2) Rate it 1-10. 3) Can you dance to it? 4) Do you want to hear it again?

These questions may seem a bit silly, especially the one about dancing. But there was method in our madness: asking about dancing is giving permission to be moved by the music, physically and emotionally. The allusion to the American Bandstand voting system is not coincidental, either.

The last question, do you want to hear it again, gets to the foundation of our mission — we are seeking to change attitudes about symphonic music in America, and one way to do that is to create a body of repertoire that is self-identifiable. By allowing some new music to grow on us, to make it ours, to identify with it is done by repeat performance. If the audience wants to hear it again, and we take requests, the pieces that might just have a place in history will gain traction.

He-e-ere are the results:

In first place: Exuberance by Tomoko Iwamoto. This lively, jazz-inflected tune has a catchy melody and opens for a compelling extended improvised solo by Ms. Iwamoto. There is something so very familiar about this tune, but exotic also — shades of a lovely tan and umber. Its gentle message of peace and calm supports the restrained joy — I feel the kind of joy I get when I’m out having a drink by the pond I live on. And yes, you can dance to it too — almost can’t prevent yourself.

In second place: Oh Blundering Dervish by Charles Turner. This was a close vote with a one point spread. Wow, what a cool piece! It’s elliptical and quirky, always has you off kilter a little bit and feeling wafted hither and yon. It’s wicked fun to play — like an atonal screed combined with a little rock and roll hidden between the lines. And those violin meows, what a hoot! And just when you think the piece is going to settle into a longer repetition of the beat and melody, it pushes you in a different direction.

Both of these tunes were requested as repeats, which we will do in future programs, not just repeats of Finding Our Voices. Making this work takes a relationship based on trust with our audiences, that they have discernment, intelligence and can listen actively. I’m so grateful for their input!

Let me know if you want to know any more of the results. Hope you enjoy!