Many music ensembles sponsored by the University music department exist in little, self-contained happy bubbles of their own choosing. Ensembles meet, rehearse and put on concerts at different times throughout the season, often with little awareness of what other music groups are doing. When the only collaboration between music groups on Grounds is discussing when rooms become open for practicing, it’s evident that something has to be done. Apart from the University Singers and the Charlottesville Symphony Orchestra, who often collaborate on more elaborate vocal pieces, groups from the Bluegrass Workshop to the Jazz Ensemble to the African Music and Dance Ensemble never have a chance to collaborate with each other. Groups simply cannot evolve in an innovative way without collaboration. By making an active effort to encourage musical groups on Grounds to collaborate with each other, the music department would improve both musical and cultural awareness at the University.
Creativity is frequently the result of finding synergy between two elements that may not seem to be related upon first glance. Musically, creativity is at its most potent when different styles meet, collaborate and grow from exposure to one another. Some of the grandest works of music have come from the fusion of distinct musical languages. George Gershwin’s monumental Rhapsody in Blue would have never come to fruition had Gershwin simply stuck to his orchestra and failed to listen to the jazz in the streets. Similarly, allowing musicians on Grounds in different groups to listen to one another’s styles of playing could open up brave new worlds of creativity. Holding one-time practice sessions where musicians from different backgrounds can all practice together and learn from each other would prove to be extremely fruitful grounds for collaboration and learning.
Allowing other groups to work with each other more also opens up new vistas of cultural cooperation and understanding among individuals on Grounds. The rhythms and melodies of less analyzed and listened-to music can thus flourish with renewed attention and exposure. Music, the so-called “universal language”, has always been recognized for its ability to bring individuals together. Ensembles, such as the Jazz Ensemble and the African Music and Dance Ensemble, were unheard of at the university level only a few decades ago. However, the energy and ideas conveyed through both groups have had a profound legacy in the way their background cultures have been viewed at the University.
Collaboration can only help musicians and students on Grounds discover more about the cultures of others. Just as African-American culture flourished on Grounds through music, it makes sense to continue that process by encouraging other cultural music groups to contribute to the University musical landscape. As expressions of emotions such as tremendous grief and unspeakable happiness, musical works have a way of transmitting a culture’s values that words do not often convey. Students of all cultures should have the same opportunity to showcase their cultures through music. Increasing the number of cultural music groups that collaborate with University-sponsored music groups is a powerful way to show that the University truly cares about expanding the worldviews of its students.
Performances incorporating more than one musical idiom and genre would also be more interesting for audiences and performers alike, thus creating more excitement and interest in the University music community. Collaboration requires compromise, and compromise requires change. Groups as different as the Klezmer Ensemble and the Baroque Orchestra were not originally intended to be featured together, which would make their collaboration so much more interesting to hear. Rehearsals, rather than being the staid, respectable environments that they sometimes become, would transform into laboratories of musical science, where performers of all sorts would have to learn to work together to form a product greater than the sum of their parts. Composers are always drawn to the challenge of working with a unique ensemble: allowing even temporary collaborations between groups would result in fascinatingly cross-idiomatic compositions that would challenge the composer, the directors and the musicians all.
The University, rather than shying away from that challenge, should position itself at the forefront of musical change. It should work to encourage brave performers and directors to take bold leaps and work with the variety of different musical ensembles that the University has to offer. For musicians and listeners alike, such a change would be welcome to the ears, as well as to the mind.
Eric Xu is a Viewpoint writer for The Cavalier Daily. He can be reached at e.xu@cavalierdaily.com.
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