Issue Nine

    Despite perils, problems and challenges to the voyager’s patience, travel has emerged as one of the constants of modern life.  To be sure, travel affords the opportunity for enormous pleasure and extraordinary experiences, and people today want to combine vacation and business on their trips.  Travelers make frequent shorter jaunts, often decided upon suddenly and spontaneously, simply for the sake of “getting away.”  I myself have become intrigued by the travel agent’s seductive promise of “Three Perfect Days in…” and their detailed itineraries designed to guarantee the maximum enjoyment in locations ranging from Moscow to Honolulu.
    One fact that causes me great dismay is that these itineraries rarely mention an experience that is at the cultural heart of most of these cities–a visit to a performance of the symphony.  Restaurants, hotels, boutiques, jazz clubs, coffee houses are described and lauded, but the artistic jewel is, sadly, often overlooked.  Could a visit to Philadelphia be complete without hearing the famous Philly “string sound?”  Could the renaissance of the city of Cleveland be really understood without hearing what is one of our country’s greatest orchestras inside its breathtakingly beautiful hall?  Among its myriad offerings, Los Angeles is most proud of its newest attraction–the astonishing Disney Hall, housing an equally astounding orchestra.  The city of Buffalo, despite its beautiful summer and fall, its superb food, its museums and theatres, the Bills and the Sabres, could not be fully appreciated without hearing the Philharmonic that has been its defining cultural heartbeat for over seven decades.
    Hearing live music is one of the most pleasurable experiences available to human beings.  Orchestras are wonderful to listen to, generate intense physical and emotional responses, and are fascinating to watch as musicians create the sound that envelopes us by scraping bows across strings, blowing into tubes of wood and brass and beating on a variety of percussion instruments.  A symphony concert can leave us refreshed, energized, uplifted, amazed.  It can be romantic.  It can be spiritual.  It can be just plain fun.
    And, unfortunately, it can be terrifying to many people–and this, perhaps, is the reason for the exclusion in the aforementioned “Three Perfect Days.”  To the uninitiated, an orchestra concert can appear to be filled with peculiar ritualistic behavior and baffling terminology.  To someone who has never had the experience, the fear of not understanding and not knowing “the rules” or “how to act” can be strong deterrents to an exhilarating celebration of music.
    Yet every musician on the stage, every listener in the hall would encourage the first-time concert-goer  to “come right in.”  There is no job description for the listener, no right way to hear the music, no mandatory experience, nothing that one must understand.  Our ears are the most flexible, the least limiting of all our senses.  They require no education, no training, no special talent to communicate to our brains a uniquely personal interpretation of the sound waves that set them resonating.  Every listener brings his or her own life experience and personality to a concert, and the aural communication of sound to brain is an intensely individual one.  This experience, too subtle and subconscious to be expressed verbally, is unique to each of us; one listener’s personal reaction can never be exactly duplicated by any other human being.  One thing is certain–the music one hears will evoke memories, kindle reflections, awaken emotions, create a myriad of physical sensations, and deeply touch the spirit.
    Now that the potential “symphonic tourist” is hopefully sufficiently intrigued to venture into the experience that awaits him, how do we open the door?  I would like to propose some guidelines for making the first step into the spectacular sonic world of the orchestra.
    The musicians and I would greatly prefer that the listener approach a concert–not with reverence–but with curiosity, appetite and excitement.  Too much emphasis is often placed upon “worshipping at the temple of music” and too little on the thrill of hearing one hundred superb musicians doing what they do best–creating an overwhelming, passionate and beautiful aural experience.
    Orchestras offer a great variety of concerts, often given intriguing titles by the marketing department.  Would you prefer “From Mozart to Mahler” or “East meets West?”  The best way to find out is to call the orchestra office directly.  I can guarantee that anyone there would be happy to offer warm and thoughtful advice to the tourist who is interested in hearing their orchestra for the first time.  Don’t be hesitant to talk about your likes and dislikes or lack of experience–the orchestra staff will steer you to a wonderful concert.  They can help with finding affordable tickets (which are often much less expensive than people assume) and will assist with any other  details about the concert.
    The concert hall, rather than being austere and remote, is brimming with life.  Dress comfortably and come early.  The first-time concert-goer is likely to see clothing ranging from the very dressy to the extremely casual–all equally appropriate.  Arriving early holds several advantages.  Concert halls often have reasonably priced light meals beforehand–a convenient and quick way to have a dinner that won’t make you stressed about rushing through dessert or too groggy to listen to the music.  Most orchestras in the United States have free “pre-concert talks”–informal and informative presentations (often given by the conductor, composer or other musicians) that will add interesting personal perceptions about the program.  Some orchestras feature student musicians showcasing their budding talents in performances in the lobby as the audience enjoys a pre-concert coffee or glass of wine.  Being early also affords the opportunity to “prowl around” some of the most glorious architecture in the city, which has usually lavished great attention on the building of its concert hall, which can date back as much as a century.  It can also be very interesting to “eavesdrop” on the locals as they discuss the latest events in the city.  These citizens are pleased to share insights with visitors, and if the symphonic tourist identifies himself as a newcomer, are more than happy to welcome him and “fill him in” on their orchestra.
    You will choose your seat when you purchase a ticket, and there is no need to worry–there is no such thing as the wrong place to sit.  Some concertgoers love the drama of witnessing the performers’ energy from the close perspective of the front row.  Others enjoy the visual overview of the entire orchestra from a perch high up in the balcony.  Take advantage of going to your seat a bit early to read through the program notes in order to glean a few more insights into the music and the performers that you are about to hear.  Above all, don’t fret over when to clap or not to clap–just follow the lead of the listeners around you.
    The concert is a feast for the ears and the eyes.  Listen with your ears wide open, but watch as well.  You’ll notice the intensity of the musicians, their visual communication with each other and with the conductor, their obvious pleasure in playing, their sense of accomplishment and joy at the end.  You’ll feel that same sense of joy–often impossible to put into words–during the performance.
    Sometimes the orchestra will feature a session after the concert during which the listener can pose questions to the performers, and these sessions are filled with humor and high spirits.  The performers are happy to meet with members of the audience backstage to hear their observations and (hopefully!) compliments.  It can be a great delight to realize that the violin virtuoso who held you spellbound is really a friendly young man from Indiana and that the conductor is pleased to autograph your program with a personalized inscription to your parents.
    Often it may take a bit of courage to attend an orchestra concert for the first time.  Uncharted territory can be frightening, especially when that territory lies deep within us.  You may find it difficult to describe what happened, or to verbalize exactly how you felt.  We musicians feel the same way.  But that wonderful unsettling emotion keeps us making music every day of our lives, and wanting above all to share that music with you.
    As you leave the concert hall, take your time.  I often like to reflect for a few moments on all the performances that have taken place in Buffalo’s Kleinhans Music Hall, all the musicians that have played on that stage, all the audience members who over sixty-five years have raised expectant ears and eyes as the conductor lifted his baton, all the great music that has resounded within those walls over many decades.  Each concert hall is a historical treasure for the city, a repository of years of music and people, of dedication and inspiration.  More than any restaurant, boutique or modern stadium, it can put the symphonic tourist in touch with the roots of the city and its inhabitants, with its glorious past and its vibrant present.
    Including a symphony concert in your “Three Perfect Days” can add up to much more than a single performance.  As spiritual tourists we travel through the course of our lives, constantly searching for the map of ourselves, for the ports of call that define us.  Music can be one of the most profound journeys upon which we will ever embark.