IAS 380R Orchestra

Large Cultural Proof
Orchestre de l'Université de Poitiers

      The day that I rented my apartment there was a huge event going on at the quare in front of Hôtel de Ville. Several events, actually, one of which involved the big white doors of Hôtel de Ville being wide open. I wandered in to see what was going on, and to my utter delight, I found a small orchestra playing at the base of a huge staircase, the staircase filled from top to bottom with a choir. The performance was mediocre, which also made me happy, because I knew the chances of me being able to join were slimmer if it was really a prestigious group. At the end of the performance, I asked around and was led to a man who enthusiastically told me they were they Orchestre de l’Université de Poitiers and they would love another violinist! I told him I hadn’t brought my violin with me because I didn’t think it would get much use, but I could have my parents bring it when they came for Christmas. He said they had one on hand I could borrow until I had my own. I filled out some papers and anxiously anticipated our rehearsals every Tuesday night from 20:30 to 22:00.
    Orchestra turned out to be one of the most fulfilling adventures during my time here in Poitiers. I was instantly impressed by how warm and friendly everyone was. My brother, Kyle, ended up joining too, which was I think even better for him than it was for me, as he wasn’t working like I was and didn’t have many structured social activities. Of course it was a challenge for him to be social without speaking French, but everyone was so nice and there was usually someone in the cello section who spoke English.
    The director, Augustin, was an older, jolly man with sheet white hair and a large belly. He was always smiling and when he asked someone to play a specific section of music, he always told them it was great, before making suggestions. Definitely a very different atmosphere from the ultra competitive orchestras I’ve always been a part of. Of course the result of this laid back feeling was that people didn’t practice, including myself, and thus we never sounded very wonderful. I did miss that about my old orchestras; that chill that runs up and down your spine when you can feel the vibrations among all the string sections and you suddenly realize, “Dang. We sound good.” But I was there more for the cultural aspect.
    My stand partner, Dominique, was an older woman, maybe in her mid sixties. She was very very sweet, and also a little bossy at times, which I found a bit endearing. She would often tap our German concertmaster, Philip, on the shoulder and ask him about changing the bowings because she’d found a better way to do it. Philip was our concertmaster, and he was studying premed at the university and working on improving his French. His English turned out to be even better than his French. Cédric was assigned to drive my brother and I home to centre ville after rehearsals because the buses stopped running that late. Cédric immediately took the task to heart and offered to pick us up and take us to orchestra as well. He turned out to be one of our best friends in Poitiers, and I always looked forward to our talks with him to and from rehearsal. Cédric is 30 years old, born and raised in Poitiers. So were his parents. And their parents. And their parents..... He knows everything about Poitiers, and in the car he would often point out, “That tower there on the round about is Roman,” or this wall here was built by the Gauls.” He was always a wealth of knowledge, and I often asked him questions about grammar or conversation.
    The orchestra was comprised of about half student aged people, the other half older people from the community. It was a nice mix and everyone brought a little something extra to the group. No other activity besides church had I felt so included and welcome so quickly. Maybe that’s because those are the only two places where I’ve noticed people “tutoyer” everyone else right away. I think it promotes a sort of unity and fellowship that can’t exist as quickly while “vousvoyer”-ing.