Opinion: The Orchestra as a civic institution

An orchestra, of course, is a musical institution. It exists to make music, at the highest artistic level possible, in a way that is meaningful for both its audience and musicians. This core truth is the source of the power an orchestra has to fulfill its purpose and make a difference in the community it serves.

But to really understand the connection between an orchestra and its community, we need to ask why we care about music to begin with. It is because the love, enjoyment, and need for music are deeply embedded in human beings. Evolutionary biologists and neuroscientists can theorize and debate what music is and why it exists, but Confucius tells us a simple but profound truth: music produces a kind of pleasure that human nature cannot do without. Plato pushed this even deeper, recognizing music’s unmatched power to penetrate and move the human soul. The best proof of this is not listening to a world-class musician or orchestra, but going to a youth orchestra concert, or watching a children’s chorus perform, or seeing preschoolers playing a xylophone, harp, or violin for the first time.

Music serves a human need, whether for beauty, meaning, joy, excitement, creative expression, consolation, or human connection. Each of us can experience that need differently, but we are all the better for having music in our lives. A community without access to robust and meaningful musical experiences is therefore being deprived of something important, something that is very much a necessity, not a luxury.

These observations apply to all music, not just to the music an orchestra makes. So how is this relevant to the idea of the orchestra as a civic institution?

Since music serves a human need, and since orchestras are very good at making music, we can then ask, how best can an orchestra help serve those needs, and are there specific or unique aspects of an orchestra, both as a music-making entity and as an organization, that position it to fill certain needs especially well? Asking these kinds of questions broadens and sharpens an orchestra’s perspective by placing the community’s needs at the center of its focus.

For example, a community benefits from having an orchestra that plays wonderful music in its concert hall, but a community also needs music in its schools, neighborhoods, youth programs, social support and healthcare systems, and at community events and celebrations. It needs community-driven collaborations that harness the impact music can have in people’s lives.

When an orchestra becomes present throughout its community in meaningful and authentic ways, the results are transformational. The orchestra no longer simply belongs to the audience in its concert hall; it belongs to the whole community. Any child, parent, teacher, or community organization can say, “That’s my orchestra.” When those words are spoken, something very important has happened.

Through community-centered relationships and partnerships, an orchestra can create a wide range of musical entry points, pathways, and destinations for all to enjoy. It learns to fulfill its music-making mission in new and important ways. It comes to understand more broadly the human needs that music can address, opening more possibilities for meaning, relevance, and impact. In this way, an orchestra becomes a civic institution as much as a musical institution. Or, to put it more accurately, it becomes a civic institution because it has come to understand the full power it has as a musical institution. 

David Prentiss is president and CEO of the New Bedford Symphony Orchestra.