Our message to the Universe.

[MineralMan]

4. That was always the best part of playing.

Making music with others is amazing, especially if everyone in whatever group you're with is trying for the same goals. I played for eight years with a woodwind quintet. We formed because we were friends who played, and really just for the fun of playing music. We ended up being a group that played for dozens of wedding receptions and chamber performances.

All five of us were semi-professional musicians, meaning that we were advanced amateurs who could earn a little money performing. We all played with various orchestras from time to time. Our friendship with each other really helped in building the group effect of performing. We talked about the music, arrived at performance goals and then worked toward them.

We rehearsed together for a few hours each week, trying to develop a seamless expression for the group for the music we were preparing. One of the reasons we got so many gigs was that we truly enjoyed playing and that tended to make the group sound better than the sum of the individual performances.

I do miss that, these days. I'm no longer part of any musical groups, unfortunately. It's a great thing to do, really.