Upon arriving in college, I quickly translated my musical passions into an extracurricular. I joined a chamber music ensemble, hoping to expand my experience as a musician. For a soloist, I was daunted by the idea of playing with others. Because chamber groups are much smaller than a full orchestra and usually contain three to five people, each instrument plays a duel role: one as a soloist and another as an accompanist. It is challenging and requires a lot of cooperation amongst musicians in the group. A year of dabbling in chamber music truly expanded my classical music interests and also helped me discover a newfound appreciation and love for ensemble work and orchestral pieces. I began to attend the music department’s concerts, recitals, and even symphony performances. I was truly amazed by what I heard and saw. If you think it is difficult to coordinate five musicians, imagine what it must be like to coordinate fifty or even a hundred musicians.
Returning home for the summer, I was excited to feed my new love for orchestral music in the capital city of all-things entertainment. One of the amazing opportunities I came across was Concerts in the Park, free outdoor concerts performed every summer by the NY Philharmonic. I was familiar with this series because as a child, my parents often took me to the performances at Cunningham Park in Queens. Back then, we never caught the full concert and were mostly there for the fireworks that burst into the sky as the orchestra finished it’s triumphant final note. Being older and more of a classical music aficionado, I wanted to hear the entire concert this year.
We thought we arrived early enough. Boy, were we wrong! Even after stepping onto the Great Lawn an hour before the concert started, we were baffled by the amount of people already situated in the grass. In retrospective, I should have expected a large crowd considering New Yorkers go bonkers for anything with the word “free” printed on it. However, who would’ve guessed that classical music could ever draw such a crowd. I suppose it is a good thing, right? That should be sign that our city is cultured and classy!
Navigating the Great Lawn was like hopping around a minefield. The last thing you want to do in a crowded picnic field on a sultry summer day is step on a cranky person. It was clear that many people had arrived much earlier to grab a spot on the lawn so it really was no fault, but our own for arriving this late. Nevertheless, I was sort of infuriated by the gigantic picnic blankets that sprawled across the grass with two people sitting on it. Could people be anymore selfish?! Worst was the group that we eventually settled in front of, who were holding a section of the lawn for their friends who were arriving late. Rather than laying out another blanket and sitting on the spot, these people inconsiderately dumped bags and shoes in the grass and got butt-hurt when anyone tried to claim that area. This was no Shakespeare in the Park where you got booted if you held a spot for someone!
The second mistake my group made that evening was finding a clever and effective way of locating others who were meeting us at the park. In a sea of people, it is nigh impossible to pick out friend from random passerby. We eventually had to physically hunt down the rest of our party and usher them back to our picnic blanket. In the future, we will probably use unique balloons and flags to signal our location to members of our group.
By the time we had accrued our posse, the concert was about to begin. Immediately, I noticed that we were way too far from the stage to see the conductor (usually the best part). At times, if I craned my neck in the right direction, I could make out the conductor and see him waving his arms around. Most of the night, unfortunately, my view was obstructed instead by an obnoxious group of people sitting up- no, standing in front who decided to have a full-on garden party during the concert. They would constantly stand up and stroll over to where the food was located, load their plates slowly (like painfully slowly) or stuffed their faces and then casually walk away and sit down again. Maybe I am a bit uptight, but everyone behind them were sitting on the ground or in chairs at a reasonable height. There was really no need to stand up and move about so frequently.
The concert itself was great. I was surprised by how the most of the crowd was quiet and attentive during hour and a half concert. Unfortunately, with a bunch of friends at my side, I was only partially able to enjoy the music. Rather than focusing on the minute details of the piece, I could only half-listen due to the commotion from my friends. Surprisingly, this did not really bother me too much. The experience itself was enough for me. I got to spend some much needed time with my friends and relax. Even though the music was secondary, I did get to enjoy the NY Philharmonic and fully listened to at least Tchaikovsky’s Romeo and Juliet, which happens to be one of my favorites!