Pas De Deux

We're the conductor of a community orchestra, and right now we're guiding them through a performance of Tchaikovsky for a fundraiser concert. It's our job to give the different elements of the orchestra their cues, basically by looking at them; which means, of course, that we can't look at anything without consequences.

For the most part, it's just a matter of looking ahead in the score and knowing when to turn your gaze at someone or something. Some people will go ahead, albeit a little raggedly, without your prompting; but a few others will just do nothing, resulting in their part being left out of the ensemble or, in one disastrous case, the entire piece coming to an abrupt end. Also, one of the musicians manages to fall asleep partway through the piece and of course we can't wake him up ourselves because we're busy here being the centre of attention.

I have to say, I found the bit with the sleeping musician to be one of those fairly obvious puzzles that still manage to be thoroughly satisfying once solved.

One thing I appreciated very much here was how the author took the time to imagine personalities and lives for the various orchestra members. It's just a couple of sentences each, but it gave the experience a lot more depth and interest than it otherwise would have had.

Also, we end on breakfast, which apparently is English muffins with ham and egg and Hollandaise sauce (I do believe that describes Eggs Benedict) and Darjeeling tea. All right, game, you are what you eat. You are something a little more than the sum of your parts.