The Power of the Symphony

This past weekend I was digging through my filing cabinets of music and I came across a couple of old file folders that contained practice photocopies of parts that I played with various orchestras and bands. Some of them were handwritten transcriptions that I did as for some, I did not have the proficiency to do it by sight either it was because of the interval or it was because the tempo of the music was faster than I could manage. And others were computer generated parts for the same reason. I had managed to spring for a copy of Finale to make the transcriptions pretty. And others were just photocopied as they were fragile rented parts that I was petrified that I was going to lose or destroy. Nothing upsets an orchestra librarian more, particularly if the music is out of print and it is a one and only copy of the trumpet part!

It was really interesting going through the folders as they were a pretty decent snapshot of my musical life. The oldest one was a photocopy of the 1rst trumpet part for Holst’s Suite for E Flat that was yellowed and clearly had my high school handwriting on it. It had come into my possession as one of a few parts that were handed out for the 1990 PEI Provincial Honours Band. I actually did not play that part. I played the third or fourth trumpet part, but somehow a photocopy had ended up in my possession. I kept it because it was the benchmark of where I wanted to be. That was the part that I most wanted to play, but I was not capable of doing it at all. I wanted someday to be able to play that part, more than anything. I particularly loved the melody in the second movement. So, I kept it.

I had other parts and marches from the Fredericton Community Band. Lots of march cards that were blown up so I could see them from a music stand to practise, instead of using the lyre on my horn. I had photocopies of parts from the Concert Band of Cobourg. Both of those bands marched a ton! And that is a topic for another day and another week.

The ones I was really drawn to were the orchestral parts. I was the principal trumpet for the Deep River Symphony Orchestra (DRSO) from 2006 to 2011, the Pembroke Symphony Orchestra (PSO) from 2008 to 2011, and the York University Orchestra in 2007. I opened up the first folder and the handwritten transposition for Tchaikovsky’s 2nd Symphony lay on top. I remember that performance well. It was from the first concert that I did with the DRSO in October 2006.

Through the stack I went. I saw the transposed part for Tchaikovsky’s “Romeo and Juliet” that I did with the York U Orchestra. And then, there were the parts for some of my later performances - Bruckner Symphony #4 and Dvorak’s New World Symphony. The Bruckner was a transposition, but the Dvorak was a photocopy. I was working in the North West Territories doing a fly in/fly out (FIFO) job and I was so scared of losing the rented part in my travels that I made a photocopy.

I played both of these in my final season with the DRSO and the PSO. As I was looking at the parts, I just had to pull out my C trumpet and go over some of those passages again for nostalgia.

It was a profound afternoon. As I played, I could hear the orchestra swelling around me in my head. I have always found Bruckner’s Symphony #4 to be immensely powerful. Playing the part again reminded me of the immense power generated by a symphony orchestra. I had a music professor once say that you could only feel it as an audience member sitting right in front. I didn’t agree with him then and I still don’t. There is a feeling of energy and synergy and pure raw power that emanates from that many musicians playing together. As a player sitting in the orchestra for something like Bruckner #4, you realise that you are just a small part of something much, much larger.

I think the other way I can describe it is from a movie that I saw on Netflix about a university rowing team. The 8 man boat team talked about the feeling of swing when all 8 of them were in synch. When I heard that description, I had a “Yes, that’s it!” moment. That is how playing in an orchestra feels to me. I am sad that my engineering career moved me away from that space, but I am ever so grateful for having had those experiences.

The other cool thing from pulling out those folders was to see how far I have come in terms of my ability to play trumpet, and even as a musician. I have not had parts quite so demanding the last few years here in Fort McMurray. However, when I look at the old Holst part and the part from Bruckner #4, I realize just how far I have come since my days in the PEI Provincial Honours Band in 1990 to the Bruckner #4 performance in late 2010. As a side note, I did get to play the Holst Suite as the first trumpet in December 2007 with the York University Concert Band, just before I left music school to return to my full time engineering career and my orchestral commitments in the Ottawa Valley.

Both the Dvorak and Bruckner symphonies are just gorgeous music to listen to. I’ve been so grateful to have had the opportunity to play both of them. If you have not listed to either, I suggest you look them up, and spend the time to really listen.