This Sunday, I went to see the open rehearsal of Matt Bengtson and Aaron Berofsky in Becker common room. They rehearsed a piece by Haydn and I was able to hear them play the first movement in full. From watching them, there was a strong sense of communication, both with their instruments and with their words. They would play a couple measures, stop, fix things, and play it again to make sure they liked how it sounded. Being that they also were solo in their own instruments – violin, piano, cello – it was important that they were all leaders in the small group. During certain times in the piece, one instrument would dominate and have the melody over the other parts where the other instruments were harmony and background parts. Each person in the group had their own part to play and they had to step up when it was their time to shine. I’ve played in various orchestras and chamber groups in the past and know how important leadership and cohesiveness is in a musical group. In most of my experiences I have been with a teacher who guides us in the way we should be playing things so it was interesting to see these musicians decide everything on their own, but also as a group. I always love hearing live music and especially the process of practicing and perfecting a piece. This was a great experience and a nice study break for me.