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Music

Why orchestras are sounding better than ever under social-distancing

12 September 2020

9:00 AM

12 September 2020

9:00 AM

BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, Chauhan

City Halls, Glasgow, via iPlayer

Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, Cohen, Benedetti

Royal Albert Hall, via iPlayer

Our college choirmaster had a trick that he liked to deploy when he sensed that we were phoning it in. He ordered us out of the choirstalls and positioned us at random all over the chapel. It was sadistic but effective. With nowhere to hide, there could be no quiet fudging of that awkward leap in ‘O Thou the Central Orb’, and no waiting until after a more confident neighbour had begun their note before scooping hastily (and hopefully unnoticeably) upwards to match their pitch.

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