Over the years, I’ve been to many concerts, in many places around the world. From rock bands in dingy clubs to opera in a 2000-year old amphitheatre. One thing I’ve remarked on, especially in some of the nicer halls, is the psychological divide between the floor and the stage. In a lot of these places, you can take a backstage tour, and usually you end up on the stage at some point. I did that at Carnegie Hall years ago. But that doesn’t really count. Crossing that line between audience and performer can be a very difficult process. But once in a while, you do it and it hits you like a ton of bricks.
I’ve been to many concerts at the Glenn Gould Studio at the CBC in Toronto. It’s a wonderful hall – a live concert hall designed as a recording studio. From solo piano to symphony orchestra, it always sounds good. Unfortunately, I’ve never had my original compositions played there before...until last night. But not in the way I always expected my music to debut at the GGS. Last night, our rock band, The Castor Troys, took to the stage as part of the Ontario Public Service (OPS) annual Govfest. Nick, our drummer works for the Ministry of the Environment, so he decided to enter us. Our preliminary round was last week at Lee’s Palace in Toronto (which was a great show unto itself). The organizers had us come out to the finale at the GGS to lay it down, and close the evening with a rock show.
So at 10pm, the four of us crossed that line from audience to performer and took to the Glenn Gould Studio stage for a short 5-song set.
First impression: that stage is huge! It’s nice to have room to move around and not have to worry about knocking into someone or something, having cables stepped on, spilling the water pitcher, etc. We played well, the sound was good, and the audience was enthusiastic.
To be fair, our songs aren’t “my” music – our songwriting is a collaborative effort. In fact, one of the songs in our set last night demonstrated to me very clearly just how much lyrics and a good melody can elevate a song from good to stellar. But for the purposes of striking things off the bucket list, there’s enough of my input in there to place the check mark.
To return to my original point, I always take time to reflect on who’s been on that stage before me. In this case, it’s not rock bands I’ve looked up to. It’s composers. I remember several years ago watching George Crumb being interviewed on stage there. After the interview, before the concert, I approached him to autograph my program. He was leaving to head out to the lobby, and just by chance we ended up having a few minutes to talk on the way to the lobby. Considering he’s one of only a few composers to have had a direct influence on my music, this was a pretty big moment. That autographed program is now framed on the wall outside my studio.
So while I still hope to hear my “other” music (I always use that term interchangeably!) played there at some point, I can finally say I’ve had my music onstage at the Gould!
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