Sound waves

Spring is concert season in our school district. It's not enough for each school to have its own groups perform; all the schools across the entire district have to get together. Twice. The first round is all orchestras, and the second is all types of music ensembles: choirs, orchestras, and bands.

It is quite something to see so many students massed together and making music. It's impressive to hear an orchestra of over seventy middle school kids (strings only at this age, too; no brass or woodwinds or percussion). The drawback is that the only space large enough to fit them all is a gym. The acoustics are awful. The sound moves across the cavernous room and bounces back, and suddenly nothing is quite in sync any longer. This was too much for most of the elementary students to overcome; only those with a good view of the conductor could keep going. I watched two boys - probably 10 years old - in the back row of the violin section slow their playing, then stop, look at each other, put their bows down, and shrug in agreement: they had no idea where they were in the piece. The middle school students managed fairly well, even all the way through the 1812 Overture - but if your seat was near the top of the gym, as ours was, it was not easy to follow, especially in the less rhythmic parts. For the kids, it was exciting to play with and for so many people at once. Son went from being the only bass in his school orchestra to playing as one of nine. It was nice not to have to strain to hear the bass part.

Son is the sixth bass player (counting from the left) standing in the back row. No, it's not you - the photo is blurry; I had to turn the flash off and I can't manually set the shutter speed on this camera.