The life lessons of classical music: we need each other to play a symphony | Letter

2026-01-29 - 17:51

Responding to an article by James Murphy, Chris Scarlett writes that his amateur orchestra provides a great collective experience It’s wonderful to read such a robust defence of classical music (Classical music brings us joy and meaning. In this time of doom and gloom, we need to talk about that, 26 January). As one of “the infantry” playing in and helping to run an amateur orchestra in my city, I wholeheartedly agree with James Murphy’s view that striving with others to give the best possible performance embeds our humanity and connection to each other. It also teaches us something invaluable and increasingly hard to find. And that is that we can only make this kind of music with others and not by ourselves alone. We need each other to play a symphony. We have to work together, listen to each other, follow each other, stay connected. We put the “me” to one side and become an “us”. It’s one of the best collaborative and collective experiences we have available. Continue reading...