Thank heavens it’s Friday

Last Friday in Turner Sims, Master’s conductor Kevin Withell ran an experiment to see whether a room full of people with a very mixed ability of singing and performing could come together after just 30 minutes of rehearsal to create a memorable performance of Haydn’s ‘The Heavens Are Telling’.  Here’s Kevin on how it went:

The concept of Thank Heavens It’s Friday came from a long-term idea of opening orchestral rehearsals to the public, who only ever see the finished product and miss out on the interesting rehearsal process – the way that conductor works with an orchestra to shape the music. From this came the further idea of including the audience in the rehearsal, so that they could experience it ‘from the inside’. I chose ‘The Heavens Are Telling’  from Haydn’s Creation as it is simple enough to feasibly tackle within 45 minutes, but hard enough to provide a challenge. It is also an upbeat piece of music, to maximise the enjoyability of the afternoon.

The idea of the event was that anybody of any musical experience or background could come along and join in. Therefore, I had to prepare easy parts for both choir and orchestra. I didn’t know what size orchestra would turn up, and how many I would have on each part, so I had to make sure that any part could be covered by any other instrument. This involved, for example, putting the alto trombone into Eb so that it could be played by a saxophone. I also had to create parts for ukulele and bass guitar, as I couldn’t turn away anybody who wanted to play.

On the day, I had over 100 people singing and around 33 people in the orchestra. The choir immediately struck me as competent but shy, so I decided to work in a way that would help their confidence. A note-by-note ‘repeat after me’ rehearsal, while good for experienced singers with confidence, would only expose and embarrass less seasoned singers, so I opted to keep them singing together as much as possible, repeating sections to give them more chance of picking it up on their own, and at all times making sure that they were singing loudly and enjoying themselves. At the end of the concert, we ‘performed’ the entire piece – a huge achievement for all of those who had never done anything like this before. The timid and tense atmosphere amongst those who had been worried and shy at the beginning had been completely transformed into a strong sense of pride and accomplishment, thanks only to the commitment and passion of everybody involved, and the blind faith shown in an entirely crazy and unproven idea.