Ensembles

Good music. Our opinions of it vary. I tend to flit around different genres of music, liking bits and pieces of them rather than identifying with just one type. Lately, I’ve had a thing for live performances by large ensembles, where pianos join banjos, join guitars, join instruments I don’t recognize, join multiple voices and a thousand individual performance blend together into one.

I watch these videos, from three different songs I’ve been obsessed with lately, and wish, even more than usual, that I had some teeny bit of musical talent. I’ve always wished I could sing, but am well aware that a tune is something I will never carry. It blows my mind that these people come together – some bring lyrics, some melodies – and somehow a song is born. I can’t imagine what that creative process is like.

As I watch these musicians, all performing in their own element and seemingly so accessible, I feel grateful that, even though none of mine are musical, I have my own ensembles, just as we all do. For most of us, our jobs and relationships involve working together in broad and intricate ways, each offering subtle support or a staring role as needed. Think about how your team of coworkers or family operates. No one outside of that group knows the rhythm, the pacing, the characters like you do. In a sense, we’re all creating music every day. Or maybe that’s just really wishful thinking from a girl whose violin teacher told her music would never be her thing. And she was right. I was awful.

So while few of us will ever get to own a spot in a group of musicians, at least most of will know the feeling of offering our abilities to a group and working in unison to doing something bigger with them.

Ensemble Obsession #1

Bon Iver – Skinny Love

Please give it a chance. Wait till about 2:15 for it to really kick in. Plus, you’ll also see a guy in the crowd rocking out big time, flanked by a girl who looks ready to jump every guy in the band.
I told you to be patient
I told you to be fine
I told you to be balanced
I told you to be kind
In the morning I’ll be with you
But it will be a different “kind”
I’ll be holding all the tickets
And you’ll be owning all the fines

Ensemble Obsession #2
The Dinner Belles – Til the Dawn

Again, give it a bit. I think it’s so awesome that the little girl you see gets to grow up in an evironment where performances like this are her norm.
You can go your whole life singing things you didn’t mean…
I would rather be alone than be in love you
But that is something I could never do

Ensemble Obsession #3

The Morning Benders – Excuses

As always, give it some time. This is a slew of people working together to create one song. I love the mass effort. The singers voice reminds me of something from the 1950s.
And I made an excuse
And you found another way to tell the truth
I put no one else above us
We’ll still be best friends when all turns to dust

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