Working With the London Philharmonic Orchestra

       “Ah, music. A magic beyond all we do here!”

J. K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, 1997 

One Friday at my singing group, Streetwise opera (http://www.streetwiseopera.org/) based at Crisis Skylight (http://www.crisis.org.uk/pages/crisis-skylight-london.html) it was announced that we could work with the London Philharmonic Orchestra. (http://www.lpo.org.uk/).......

I turned up on Monday morning. I did not know what to expect. There were several instruments around the room: drums, harps, trumpets, violins, xylophones, maracas and guitars. We started by clapping to our own individual beat, making sure it did not match anyone else’s. It was then discussed if the sound was synchronised or not.  The next exercise, the conductor started a beat and we all joined in as one. The difference was very clear to hear. To work as a team and to listen to each other sounded as if we had created a tune, achieving synchronisation.

We then looked at 14 different pictures, picked our four favourites, with which we would then create the music and lyrics for a 10 minute piece of music. We had one week to create and learn the piece ready for two performances at the end. The pictures we chose  came from a Mexican revolution exhibition at the Royal Academy of Arts (http://www.royalacademy.org.uk/). The four most popular were the four pictures we would work from.

The first picture was of 4 men sat at the very front of the train holding up their guns. We discussed why they were sat on the train: their moods, and their characters, to get an idea of the type of music we could create. Then we chose an instrument. We decided that the 739 was important to these men; so we decided to include that in the piece we were creating. So we started the time signature (the beat) with people getting used to playing in a 7, 3, and then 9, while choosing what chords to use.

After the first day, we started to get the basic feel of the music and the shape of the piece as well as getting used to each other. The orchestra were brilliant at encouraging us to try different instruments, while we found our place for this piece. The conductor then needed singers to come up with words. I decided to join the singers. We discussed words, feelings, thoughts as a way to truly incarnate the 4 men in the picture. Then we would meet up with the orchestra to put our words with their music. The days went fast and didn’t seem as long as they were.

I missed one day because of other commitments.  On the last day, we had to rehearse everything. We had being rehearsing in small sections all week however this was to be the first time we put the whole piece together. Even then, alterations were still being made; for all the pieces  had to flow effortlessly into one big piece of music.   The first performance would be at the end of the day.

“Some part of me can't wait to see what life's going to come up with next! Anticipation without the usual anxiety. And underneath it all is the feeling that we both belong here, just as we are, right now.”
 Alexander Shulgin

The performance seemed to take ages to come around. The buzz, anticipation and nerves flicked around the room like lightening. The performance itself was over just as it began, and there was applause. I know the piece was 9 minutes long but that isn’t how it felt.

Then I don’t know how long it was before we met for our next rehearsal in preparation for our second performance. But when we did the conductor had made a few changes that we went over. Every time we have played the music it has always changed a little. It was like being home from home. Then we met for the final performance, we had a sound check. Then it came to performing. Again, it was over all too quickly.  The young boy in the picture above, so well expresses the anticipation. It was a very exciting time, inspirational, invigorating, motivating and exhausting all the same time.

My thanks to everyone involved and to everyone who encouraged me to go for this amazing experience.