The first concert choice I picked our normal seating, and then luckily realized the sale was to sit anywhere in the hall. My next two picks were as close to the front as I could manage. In fact, one concert was literally front row, centre (AA, seats 26 and 27). Wow!
Sitting right up front was an entirely different experience. It was the first time I could complain about the conductor cutting off my view of the orchestra. From that vantage we couldn't see the brass or percussion sections and missed cymbals, and timpani. But what a view of first violin! While we couldn't see the pianist, we had quite the view of the piano.What was amazing was the difference in sound. Cellos and violins distinct. The tones of the piano just above. Sound is vibration and I could literally feel the music in the air around me. What an incredible experience to literally feel the music of romantic composers.
For What Makes It Great, we weren't quite up front, but we were close enough to see the spit in the air when the conductor and host made his pronouncements. Being able to watch the clarinetist so closely, emptying his instrument and changing reeds, was fascinating.
For the Mozart Double Concerto with TSO’s Concertmaster and Principal Viola as soloists, we were back in the cheap seats. I pulled out the binoculars in my purse so I could see their faces. The sound was beautiful, but definitely blended and mixed by the time it reached the balconies.
I will definitely be watching for more seat sales!
- A European Romance (C1, Row AA, seats 26 and 27) February
- What Makes it Great? (C4, Row D, Seat 4) January
- Essential Mozart (C5, Row D12 and 13) January
- Bravissimo! (Mezzanine Front, Centre Mezzanine 4) December
....
postscript February 17
Reading the book, This is Your Brain on Music, by Daniel Levitan, gave me a bit more insight into why I was experiencing the sound so differently right up front. While I could sometimes feel the vibration of the sounds (especially the piano as it was almost overtop of us), it was the difference in spatial location and reverberation that was having such a profound effect on my experience. Because I was close to the stage I could hear the instruments more individually (spatial location = where the sound is coming from).
"Reverberation refers to the perception of how distant the source is from us in combination with how large a room or hall the music is in; often referred to as "echo" by laypeople, it is the quality that distinguishes the spaciousness of singing in a large concert hall from the sound of sining in your shower. It has an underappreciated role in communicating emotion and creating an overall pleasing sound." (p. 16)
postscript February 17
Reading the book, This is Your Brain on Music, by Daniel Levitan, gave me a bit more insight into why I was experiencing the sound so differently right up front. While I could sometimes feel the vibration of the sounds (especially the piano as it was almost overtop of us), it was the difference in spatial location and reverberation that was having such a profound effect on my experience. Because I was close to the stage I could hear the instruments more individually (spatial location = where the sound is coming from).
"Reverberation refers to the perception of how distant the source is from us in combination with how large a room or hall the music is in; often referred to as "echo" by laypeople, it is the quality that distinguishes the spaciousness of singing in a large concert hall from the sound of sining in your shower. It has an underappreciated role in communicating emotion and creating an overall pleasing sound." (p. 16)
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