Written by Katherine Fawcett of The Sea to Sky Strings Orchestra | #NoOneSucceedsAlone

Show up. Sit down.
Unlatch.
Open, remove
laugh – Pet the dog.

Tighten, rosin, tune.
Talk: kids, news, dreams, dotted eighth
notes, hair, eyeglasses, skiing.

Late-comers arrive. Apologies.
Unlatch. Open, remove, laugh –
pet the dog.
Tighten, rosin, tune.

A quick scale, a tricky
passage. Organize sheet music.
Bach first.

Spine tall, fingers poised.
Hush.

Eyes on the concertmaster.
Three, four – wait – Vivaldi
on our music stand. Apologies.
Reorganize papers. Laugh. Pet the dog.

Talk: work, love, switching to third
position for the second
movement, hot flashes, cake, school.
Hush. Eyes on the concertmaster
Three, four—

Suddenly, like flight, the room
wells, floats across the valley
like morning light –
notes breathe,
lift, fall, synchronize
sound-shapes, measured silences
harmony of waves
rolling in multiples of four, tinted
with sadness of D minor.

Out of metal wires
hollowed wooden shapes
horsehair, and friends.
Bach rises.

 

See the Sea To Sky Strings Orchestra at the 2018 Whistler Writers Festival