Crash ride

This evening I was at a concert at Oxford Town Hall with the John Radcliffe Hospital Orchestra. As I watched a consultant cardiologist conduct the first piece, I wondered how, if a member of the audience fell ill, the orchestra would decide which of them would go to help. Then it occurred to me that since most audiences at amateur concerts are performers’ friends, probably a good third of the audience was also health professionals. I suddenly felt very, very safe.

In the second half, singing Carmina Burana which has some brilliant and utterly uninhibited loud bits, I happened to be very close to the orchestra’s percussion section. We were consumed by clangs, crashes, booms, reverberations. The floor vibrated. It was totally exhilarating. Given the slightest hint of a chance I’d have picked up the biggest drumsticks and joined in like a child with saucepans and wooden spoons.