.Tuesday, October 1, 2013 ' 10:14 AM Y
& I'm waiting
Conduct Us
I had always thought of how we could publicise Harmoc to everyone, be it for concert, CCA exhibition/orientation or open house.
Simply sitting in formation and playing a piece wasn't enough (not that we had really tried it out) - The sounds of harmonicas are simply too soft and people won't stop by to listen. They just think, oh, it's harmonica.
If there must be a reason why we are continuing this Ensemble, it is to show people that we love this instrument, this ensemble, this music. But we are not doing enough to showcase this music. In fact, Harmonica Ensemble has always been underrated. For our concert in 2012, I tried to market the ensemble as one that people have not heard before (it's a fact). Little have known how a Harmonica Ensemble works, the types of harmonicas we play, and simply how we sound like.
Then, I came across this event shared by someone on FB,
http://improveverywhere.com/2013/09/24/conduct-us/
The full story is on the link above.
Basically, this ensemble sat on the streets of New York, with the conductor stand that says "CONDUCT US".
Being the first wasn't easy, but people eventually took turns to walk up and start conducting.
It was interesting, seeing people who have never conducted before, or even without any musical background waving the baton, the ensemble following and creating different versions of the piece.
(Even though what the ensemble can mostly do was to follow the tempo and variations in sound volume)
Lixian and I were discussing how hard it would be to do this on the streets of Singapore with all the legal restrictions in place. And it would be harder for Singaporeans to stop their feet, listen, or even walk up to the conductor stand. (although I believe there are people spontaneous enough to do so)
Then I woke up today (dreaming about harmoc?) and thought about this again. And it came to me how great a publicity stunt this was.
If our juniors are able to follow random conductors, pick an interesting piece that people know (say, Por una Cabeza - I personally like this piece a lot), set this up in school, how many students would stop by to listen and conduct?
The thing about school is, they can just set it up before morning assembly in the quad and they don't have to apply for permits. And there are more active students to help start the conducting off.
Imagine this at CCA orientation, open house or even publicising for concert.
"Come to our concert and conduct us again" - It would definitely be an interactive concert, something that involves the audience instead of making them sit in their seats throughout the 2 hours.
That said, it is up to our juniors to plan for their own concert.
And hopefully, Singapore's art scene will evolve into this someday.