September Gathering SummaryThank you to everyone who responded to our request for feedback on the new space. The September gathering for SMC was the first use of new space at the Wesley Methodist Church. The space itself is lovely, and the overall acoustics very impressive. Some people reported hearing issues. One had to do with hearing Annelise as she was leading the rehearsal. We are exploring a couple of options for some simple sound reinforcement. The other had to do with hearing each other. Possibly factoring into this was the fact that there are three different levels that the musicians are sitting in. Also, the chairs are much wider, which impacts how close people can sit to each other. We can experiment further with this at the next gathering. That said, others reported that they thought it was fine, and listening to the group from the back of the room, we found that it sounded okay. The following may also contribute to the complexity of the situation: We had not played together for a while, we were playing some new tunes, and so we naturally were not as tight as we will be. Also, it is well understood that many of us in the orchestra don’t hear as well as we used to. This can work in two ways: if you’re not hearing clearly, it’s harder to keep in sync. But it’s also possible that the acoustic properties of the new space allow people to hear better than before, and what people are hearing is the modest lack of synchronicity that in fact has existed all along. In this case, that provides an opportunity for us to work on that. In any case, we are now committed to the space for the coming year, so we will be seeking to make improvements in an efficient manner, without getting sidetracked into exploring complex solutions.
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