I love classical music and so it's no surprise that I frequent orchestra performances at the Kennedy Center. A creature of habit, I sit in a certain section of the music hall, enjoy the familiarity of surroundings, and feel any tension disappear as the performance gets underway. Perfect.
But at a recent show, there were no seats available in my favorite section so I wound up sitting in the second row of the orchestra level, knowing the sound wouldn't be as good and that I would be very/too close to the stage.
However, once I found my seat I became taken with this new bird's eye view. The musicians were just feet away from me as they organized themselves, tuned their instruments, and set up their music sheets in anticipation of the performance soon to begin. I watched them with interest. I felt like an insider.
Almost immediately, one of the cellists caught my attention.
He had a kind of artsy, mostly black canvas bag hanging from the neck of his cello, resting between the cello and his body, discretely hidden from general view. I never would have seen it from my usual seat. (See picture, shown above.)
I wondered what was in that bag, why he would need or want it hanging there. When I later googled "accessories for cellos" I only found mostly large items such as a case, strings, bow, and endpin rests. But rosin and polishers were also listed. Maybe he carried rosin, I don't know, or maybe he carried a snack, breath mints, or cigarettes!
For whatever reason, this quirky bag of the musician captured my attention and provided a new light on the show. I normally think of an orchestra as a group, a literal synthesis of individuals working together. But while the whole of the orchestra is definitely greater than the sum of its parts, the parts are interesting and can be charming in their own right if we look through that lens too.