Making music together is a fundamental part of music education. Not only it opens up a diverse and expansive range of beautiful repertoire to explore, it is also the most enjoyable way to practice music. It is a joy shared between equal partners who are working together to create a thing of perfection and beauty.
Chamber music requires special skills, musically as well as socially, which differ from those required to play solo, such as:
Collaboration
Chamber Music involves working together equally, sharing opinions and striving to come together to make something beautiful. Each individual voice is important, and so is the collaboration of the voices together.
Leadership
There is no conductor! Each member of the group has to be the leader at different times to help the group come together.
Responsibility
When there is only one student to a part, there is no ability to hide and each student must be responsible for learning his or her music! With such a small ensemble, attendance and punctuality also become very important; students must be responsible for regular, faithful attendance and being on time for rehearsals and/or coaching.
Intonation
In small ensembles, students must focus and learn the skill of playing in tune.
Performance Skills
The ability to perform in front of an audience is another skill that is honed in chamber music. Control of performance nerves translates to auditions, interviews, presentations, and any type of public speaking.
Making music together is a great combination of playing music and spending time with friends!