Concert

Why listen to the Open University orchestra's October concert of Bizet & Borodin? See the page here.

You might complain that amateur musicians make horrible noises, but I miss the amateur sing-songs that my family used to have as I was growing up, before you could hear professional music of high quality everywhere. You used to have the fun of doing it yourself, participation they call it now.

And that's what I got from this concert - the pleasure of watching people getting pleasure from successfully performing for their colleagues. The musicians looked so happy to hit the right notes at the right time, to make these lovely sounds, to be working together. And unlike in big concert rooms, I could see their pleased faces, watch the drummer's head approvingly nod and count the beat, the nervous look on the flautist face as she played the long last note of the Borodin Central Asia musical picture, and her pride as the conductor waved his baton to finish.

That's why you should go. Enjoy the pride.