Having not had a music tour since prior to COVID-19, expectations for orchestra students regarding the ‘what’ and ‘how’ of a mini music tour were uncertain. Did they want to share their time and skill with rural communities? Did they want to be away from their main friendship groups?
I sought to inspire students and remind them of their individual and collective value, that we notice, we see, we hear, when just one person is missing.
On the first day we watched the students grow from being directionless, not knowing how to set up for a performance, to taking ownership in only a matter of hours. Choosing one task in a sea of many, completing it and finding a new task, meant that everyone started working with a united purpose, cutting their setup time in half by the second performance!
Working as a team has extra complexities in a band or orchestra. Students not only need to play their instrument and read another language (notation), but become a careful roadie, stage manager, develop spatial skills and understanding and appreciation of others’ roles, but they also need both big picture and small picture viewpoints of their purpose. It is an experience where timing is everything, all the time! I was blown away (not literally) by the students demonstrating not only how their part fit in the whole, but how well they knew each other’s parts and where they fit. In the middle of a park in Gunnedah, they sung the pieces we had played so many times, impromptu. Being put to the test by performing two or three times a day improves an ensemble like nothing else possibly can, and this was the most unexpected evidence of that.
When I questioned the need to go out to personally invite people to one of our last performances, students were ready to play for the sake of playing, and a love of music. Faith is performing to an empty marquee in the Warrumbungles, believing that an audience would turn up as the sound carried. And turn up, it did. Was it our biggest audience? No. But it may have been one of the most appreciative. Is our faith about how many people it is shared with? Or whether it is shared with the right people? And trusting God that the right people show up at the right place.
Just like our tour, we don’t always realise the value we hold. We kind of flail along until God tells us how much He values us. He shows us the next step to take. And the next one. While we practise those steps, thankfully we don’t have to do everything on our own. We can share and learn the journey through our own, and each other’s experiences, which is exceptionally valuable in propelling us on our way. Sometimes we come up empty and simply have to trust that what we have been called to do isn’t in vain – He shows up and is pretty excited when we do show faith, even to the point of singing
Zephaniah 3:17: The Lord your God is with you, the Mighty Warrior who saves. He will take great delight in you, in His love He will no longer rebuke you, but will rejoice over you with singing.
Mrs Natasha White
Secondary Music Teacher
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