Work carried out during the
Master’s Degree in Management of Cultural and Creative Industries
Universidad Europea Miguel de Cervantes, 2020-2021
Subject “Theoretical Foundations of the Cultural and Creative Industries”.
Spanish Mark: 10
Reduced text (without the theoretical-academic part)
Special Christmas 2023 entry, in 6 parts
As if out of nowhere, unexpectedly, our trumpeter heard a little voice calling out to him. “Hey, trumpeter, stop philosophizing and concentrate on playing.” Our trumpeter could not believe his ears. None of his companions went, and the maestro even less. “Hi, trumpeter, over here in front.”
He couldn’t believe what he was seeing: on his music stand, in front of his very eyes, was a treble clef talking to him. The treble clef had emerged from the stave and was watching him with its own big eyes. “Trumpeter, listen to me and concentrate. Or else, you won’t last long in this orchestra.” That couldn’t be real. He rubbed his eyes to see if this hallucination would disappear, but nothing did. There was still a treble clef sitting at his music stand, giving him orders. “That’s the least I need,” he thought. “Lad, if you want to last in this orchestra, leave philosophy aside; we work here. Full stop and ball. OK? That said, with all my love,” the treble clef insisted again with an air of irony.
At this moment, rage gripped our trumpeter. That couldn’t be real. He rubbed his eyes to see if this hallucination would disappear, but nothing did. There was still a treble clef sitting at his music stand, giving him orders. “That’s the least I need,” he thought, “Lad, if you want to last in this orchestra, leave philosophy aside; we work here. Full stop. End of story. OK? That said, with all my love,” the treble clef insisted again with an air of irony. “And who do you think you are?” the trumpet player shouted at it. “Can you tell me what that’s all about, since you know so much? What I see here doesn’t make any sense at all. Can you tell me what it’s all for?”
“If you have a moment, I’ll explain,” replied the treble clef.
“Didn’t you just tell me that I should concentrate, and now you want to explain something to me? How’d it go?” replied the trumpeter.
“Touché,” said the treble clef, “but if you hope to know, you’ll have to listen to me. And don’t fool yourself. You’ll die if you don’t understand, if you don’t know, and if you don’t assimilate. You will listen to me, yes or no; I can see it in your eyes,” said the treble clef, who cared little for her own incongruity, laughing.
“I can’t believe it,” replied the trumpet player, at the same time as he felt this restlessness that had always led him to read, to ask, to pry, to know. He was lost; in this orchestra, he would not last a week for a treble clef, the one that pretended to know the answers to life’s most complex questions. “Da bin ich nun, ich alter Tor und bin so klug als wie zuvor”, he had to admit to himself. He had to recognize himself. The trumpeter knew that he would not resist the offer of the treble clef, even if it cost him his position in the orchestra. “What difference does it make here? Apparently, they are all dead already or will be very soon when they have smoked their time,” he thought when he accepted the treble clef proposal.
“I’m going to explain to you first where orchestras come from.” The treble clef began his speech with an air of grandeur. “As a good musician, you will know that the term ‘orchestra’ comes from Greek and means ‘place of dance’. The first definition of an orchestra dates from the 5th century BC, …” and he couldn’t finish his sentence.
“And because of this ‘blablá’ you are preventing me from continuing the rehearsal?” our trumpeter interrupted, somewhat annoyed. “Don’t be impatient,” replied the treble clef with one of its suspicious little smiles on his face. “Orchestras, understood as a large group of musicians playing together, take us back to the 16th century, even though they were not to be constituted in the organized form we know today until the 17th century.”
“Let’s see, bloke, what am I supposed to call you? You don’t think they didn’t teach us that at the conservatory?”, the trumpeter interrupted it again.
“My name is Don Clave De Sol, at your service. I thought that was clear from the beginning. And yes, I sometimes doubt that in today’s conservatories they learn with the same rigor as before.”
“Go on, to the point, your worship, Don Clave de Sol,” blurted out the trumpeter, interrupting the Clave de Sol again. “This impatience is curious for a musician and for a philosophically interested mind like yours,” scoffed the treble clef. “You’d better keep listening to me. Each thing in its own time. Each question in its time. Each answer in its own time.
“Dear God,” thinks our hero, “what a stiff he is”.
He followed the treble clef with his explanations. We don’t really know how long he had been talking when he fell silent.
“Hey, Mister Trumpet, are you listening to me?” challenged the treble clef. “What do you think? Do you really want to keep on boring me with this nonsense?” replied our protagonist musician angrily.
“OK, let’s focus then on the main characteristics of an orchestra as we understand it today,” continued the treble clef haughtily. “To define the characteristics of an orchestra, we have to look at the differ … .”
“If he doesn’t stop talking soon, I’m going to scream,” thought the trumpeter.
“But let’s see, don’t you want to explain to me the meaning of what I see here among my new colleagues in this supposedly formidable National Orchestra?” he asked, which elicited a little smile from the treble clef, “Grapes ripen with time,” he replied.
Certainly, the trumpeter had forgotten the rehearsal, the maestro and his companions completely. He was as if in a trance, captivated by a chattering treble clef. Is it time for its medication or mine?, he thought.
“… Over the centuries, it was, as I have already mentioned, Beethoven who gave his own definition of an orchestra, having in his time larger halls and spaces that required an adaptation of the instrumental timbres. But wind instruments had to wait until the invention of pistons to take on their deserved prominence. But you know that, Mr. Trumpet.”
“Damn you, don’t you call me Mister Trumpet. Finish your sermon regarding the characteristics of orchestras because, as I see, you won’t stop and get to the point of the question at hand until you’ve made your pretty speech here before me. As if I’m not the musician, and you’re an inkblot on my score,” resigned our hero of the tale.
“Okay, let’s leave it here. Although, for the record, I’ve already told you that I don’t trust the modern teaching of the conservatories of this kingdom at all.”
“I can’t believe it! You’re really going to get me out of this speech, are you? For sure?” said the trumpeter with a great sigh of relief.
“I’m not going to get you out of the speech, I’m going to lead you now to the big question that has been tormenting you since you came into this room,” replied the treble clef. “Well, let’s define, well, what based on this knowledge we want to find out. What is the exact question? You will know that if we ask the wrong question, we may get unsatisfactory answers.”
“I wish to know what an orchestra is for. What this orchestra is for.”
… To be continued on 24th of December …
Nicole Martín Medina
Las Palmas de Gran Canaria
Christmas 2023
(Original Spanish/Translations Deepl/ Revision NMM)
*****
The tale is also available in
Spanish (original): https://nicolemartinmedina.com/para-que-sirve-una-orquesta-parte-2/
German: https://nicolemartinmedina.com/de/wozu-ist-ein-orchester-da-teil-2/
*****
Footnote:
[1] Goethe, Johann Wolfgang v. (1808). – “Faust 1”
(Translation: “Here I am now, old fool, and I am as clever as before.”)
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