Lydia Tay

Respecting music

My school has an annual concert at the end of every year, and last year was no different. Everyone looks forward to the main performance - the teachers' performance. Last year, there were 2, figuratively a bonus. One was a dance, and the other, a "last minute orchestra".

The teachers who formed the "last minute orchestra" played "The Entertainer" by Scott Joplin. There were teachers playing the violin, cello, synthesiser, xylophone and so on. There was even a conductor!

Here's the catch. The act was an impromptu drama. That means that while the teachers were playing the music, the "conductor" would go around doing all sorts of wacky and funny things like taking a feather duster and trying to tickle other teachers.

It was funny. However, I came to realise that it was TOO FUNNY. As the teacher who played the conductor carried on with his pranks and jokes, the entire audience focused their attention on him. That may seem fine to you, but what happened was that he was so funny, he completely took any attention to the music away, such that the music was negligible. The teachers could have played crap. It wouldn't have mattered.

I found it excruciatingly painful to sit there and watch the wonderful piece of music get so much disrespect that I ended up in tears. While I understood the rationale behind the jokes, I find that the teachers should have struck a balance between the jokes and music.

What are your views?

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Previous entries: December 2012