Enjoying orchestra

In the early days of CI activation, I remember hearing a radio stunt asking listeners to call in and sing the tune of the most annoying song of all time.



We got the ‘Super Mario Brothers’ theme song. (It is in my head as I type this.)


We got ‘This is the song that never ends’.


We got '500 Miles' by The Proclaimers.


But I fail to understand how we didn’t get … (drumroll) … the VB (Victoria Bitter) music. Groan.


OK, it might have more to do with the fact that this beer has the least class of all Australian beers so the song also has a certain stigma attached. But it’s also the song, OK? It’s the song. It’s just an annoying little piece of music that won’t get out of my head.


This is because Jase started whistling it ever since we bought tickets to see a performance by the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra.


Apparently connecting a beer commercial (*shudders*) with the dignified Melbourne Symphony Orchestra was perfectly acceptable because 1) they were going to be performing ‘sporting scores’ and the VB music features heavily during cricket season so they Just Might Play It and, 2) because the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra were responsible for producing a (pretty clever, I’ll admit) version of this song played with no other instruments than the beer bottles themselves. (You can view it here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pUru7nSyKxQ)


The little melody was annoying all right. But I was so thrilled that Jase agreed to come and listen to the orchestra in the first place that I decided against threatening to mute him if he continued to whistle it. Besides, I could block it out with the Super Mario theme in the meantime. :-)




I'd never been to a performance by the MSO before.

I was excited the minute I first heard about the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra's 'Sporting scores' show. An orchestra performing AFL club songs? And other 'giants' like Chariots of Fire and event the score from the Rocky movies? LOL. This was going to be fun!

What an innovative way to use Melbourne's sports-obsessed culture to leverage the arts scene and make music, well, fun! And they sure know their audience, I'll give them that. Why else would they run two separate performances to make sure we could all fit in the event around our sporting commitments! Yay!

Yes, I leapt at the chance to do something that I wouldn't have done while I was deaf. But I'll admit, it was also a bit of a 'bionic experiment’. Orchestral music can be very difficult to appreciate with CIs. So many instruments, so many upper ranges, so many layers. But I decided to take a chance on this event for a few reasons. First, because I was bound to recognise most songs that they played, and that would give my brain an advantage right from the outset. Second, because most of what they were going to be playing is what I’d call ‘popular’ rather than traditional classical music, so the compositions were going to be much simpler. Third, because these first two factors meant this event was likely to be a great introduction for orchestral music in general. Fourth, because … well because I’m welcoming any form of music with open ears (bad pun, sorry!), no matter how poor it might sound!

I did have to give myself a pep talk before walking in to the concert hall though. (Stop. Breathe. There is every possibility that you will walk in there tonight and want to walk straight out because the music sounds awful at that sort of volume. There is every possibility that this night could end in tears if you start becoming frustrated because you don’t recognise a single thing.)

I'm happy to report that I loved it.

And not just because I got to yell out 'yellow and black' within the confines of Hamer Hall instead of the MCG, I promise. (Though that alone would have made the night worthwhile, even if I hadn't been able to hear much else!)

I used a neck loop to activate the telecoil and this worked a treat. The conductor, Anthony Ingliss, was very entertaining with all his sporting stories and on-stage shenanigans. We saw him wear eight different football singlets at one point, tearing each one off as the AFL club song changed. We saw him sporting Ian Thorpe's famous wetsuit ('honestly, do you know any other conductor in the world who would do this?'). We even saw him proudly donning a t-shirt with the slogan 'Holder of the Ashes' and invoke a chuckle from the audience instead of a booing sound. (Very brave, Mr Ingliss, very brave!)

I was thrilled I could understand him because he really did add a whole other dimension to the show. I've previously struggled with people talking through microphones, as I blogged about after my theatre experience. But the telecoil seemed to remove all the tinniness and it really did work a treat.

So … the music itself?

I was delighted to discover I could recognise the melodies, that was the first thing I noticed. If the song was familiar, I recognised it. If the song was new, I’m pretty sure I still walked away with a good perception of how the tune goes. The various instruments? Well, I was sitting closest to the violins, and so for me, they overpowered most of the others. I could hear the snare drum very clearly, and definitely the brass section as well. Also the cellos. Being able to see which instruments were being played during each song was actually a huge help for me. Much easier than listening to a digital music track and having to guess.

I was able to put the remote away and just enjoy the show. I glanced up at the beautiful ceiling and remembered the time I heard a jazz band playing at this same venue, and was blown away by the acoustics of the place. Was that same sensation missing? Yes it was. I decided to try and focus on that a bit, for the purpose of relaying the information back to my new friends at the Bionic Ear Institute. Otherwise, I would not bother comparing this to natural hearing. But yes, the music sounded a bit distant. I was hearing it, but I was not feeling it within. I guess this is where timbre is important. I realised I could feel the seat and floor vibrating though, with the deepness of the cellos, and that helped me to connect to the music a bit more. I shrugged. Sure, the music might not produce a chill anymore, but it was still fun and enjoyable. Feeling the vibrations seemed to add another dimension … make up for the usual warmth missing from the brass and stringed instruments.

By the end of the show, I'd changed my mind, because two things happened that allowed me to feel the music and that did indeed produce a 'chill'.

First, the tenor came out. Voices. Now those we hear well. Yep. As his voice boomed out around the concert hall during the finale of 'Nessun Dorma' it brought tears to my eyes. (My second CI moment to evoke happy tears, and again, one related to music.)

The second moment was far more interesting because the structure of the piece makes it a wonderful song for somebody who hears bionically. The song was Ravel's Bolero.

This song is based on the same short little melody, repeated over and over again. The only thing that changes is the number of instruments supporting it. The song strengthens as the number of musical instruments is increased, but that familiar melody never changes. (You can read more about the structure of this piece here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bol%C3%A9ro#Music)

Basically, for us, the brain has a chance to 'warm up' to the piece. And the end result for me was a much warmer-sounding song.

The MSO played this beautifully, beginning with only a few musicians on stage, and re-introducing them one or two at a time. (They each returned to their place dressed in full sporting attire. This prompted a comment from the conductor: 'this must be the first time the audience is dressed better than the orchestra!')

This was easily my favourite part of the whole evening. I initially wasn't sure why I was so captivated by this piece, why it was the first time the instruments themselves really came alive for me. But, when I recalled one of the studies the Bionic Ear Institute are working on at the moment, I put it down to the structure of the piece, the way it builds up. The brain can cope far better with instruments being introduced slowly. Especially over a sustained, repetitive melody.

Thank you to the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra for a fun night … and a bit of further insight, for me anyway, into music appreciation with cochlear implants. Thanks also to the MSO for not playing the VB song. And … best of all … for getting Jase to stop whistling the VB song and whistle Bolero instead. ;-)

You rock!!!