Orbit

noun

1. The curved path of a celestial object or spacecraft around a star, planet, or moon, especially a periodic elliptical revolution.

2. A sphere of activity, interest, or application.

We join a band or a choir or an orchestra. We find community. We find each other. We enter into an orbit….. around the activity, around our fellow musicians. The pull is real, it is valuable, it is beautiful. The shared experiences become cherished memories, become anchors in our lives, and we dock with each other once or twice a week, making beautiful sounds, striving to be better for each other, for the music, for the composers, for our audiences.

And then in mere moments it is all taken away. An announcement is made. A season comes to an abrupt end. No solutions present themselves, no quick remedies, no sense when the wait will be over. We long for our companions, for the music, for normalcy, for art, for the magic that happens when we are together. We see our friends on screens, though we long to shake hands, to embrace, to feel the vibrations emanating from voices, reeds, mouthpieces, strings, percussion in close proximity. We are apart. Our vision, two-dimensional.

But the orbits remain. They are more distant, but they are every bit as real. We feel we can almost reach right through the screens. We know that one day we will be together again. For the moment, we must trust the forces which bind us…. Invisible, faint - but real, true.

Orbits - a sphere of musical activity. Of shared artistic interest. Of the application of hard, loving work. This work is dedicated to all the musicians who have waited so long to sing and play together again.

Available directly from Sean Ivory - contact me for more details.

An arrangement of Wexford Carol for wind ensemble commissioned by the St. Olaf Band, Timothy Mahr, director. Also available in a version for brass octet. Available at MusicSpoke.

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