I’ve always wanted to do that! But taking an organ, piano, or harpsichord outdoors has always seemed like a virtual impossibility, especially when compounded by the issues of staying in tune.
Last week I took part as a continuo player in the Bay area’s Midsummer Mozart Festival. We did the Grand Mass in C minor in a variety of venues, from San Jose to Sonoma. But the most memorable for me, by far, was playing on an outdoor stage at California’s oldest vineyard, going by the nickname of “Gun Bun.” The portion of the stage where I stood to play my portativ organ was completely out in the open. I could look up and see the moon directly in front of me. But it wasn’t until we got near the end of the work, when I have a movement which I mostly tacet, that I suddenly “got it.” I looked out at the audience, some in a state of rapture, some sleeping, many somewhere in between, and I thought about what a joy it was to make music in that unusual setting – especially as an organist! But then I looked further afield (literally), to the pines and the California Live Oaks that surrounded us as it suddenly dawned on me how privileged I felt to be playing for trees! There were the living specimens which would eventually become the instruments we were playing (figuratively speaking, of course). How many concerts had those trees heard on that stage? And what effect did it have on how they grew, how they looked, how they thrived? In my own mind, I want to believe that the music, most especially when it’s Mozart, does effect other living organisms, not just us. After all, we know that various musical compositions can change the crystal structure of water, so it stands to reason that playing Mozart for California Live Oaks would benefit their lives.
So, while it’s not a dramatic shift in the ecology of the planet, in my own Transcendental way, I really loved making this connection between live music and a hillside full of people, grasses, trees, and untold wildlife.