NewsWorks.org: 'Jeri Lynn Johnson invites teenagers onto the podium to lead her Black Pearl Chamber Orchestra into a wailing heap.'

[Jeri Lynn Johnson, music director of the Black Pearl Chamber Orchestra, leads a rehearsal at the High School of the Future. (Lindsay Lazarski/WHYY)]

News Works

March 31, 2012 

By Peter Crimmins 

Video by Lindsay Lazarski [2:12]

When an orchestra is working the way it should, the music sounds effortless. Notes just pour off the stage as though there were no other way for them to exist.  When an orchestra is not working, it sounds like a train wreck.

Jeri Lynn Johnson invites teenagers onto the podium to lead her Black Pearl Chamber Orchestra into a wailing heap. As part of the organization's education mission, young people can have their first stab at conducting

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"It's a lot harder than just waving your arms around," said Johnson. She instructs her musicians to follow the lead of the young conductor exactly, even if that lead breaks down. Inevitably, the rhythm goes off and strings collide with winds. The kids learn instantly, viscerally, how important it is for an orchestra to work together, under a steady wand.

They also learn what it feels like -- just for few fleeting seconds -- to own an orchestra.  The Black Pearl Chamber Orchestra has a strong populist mission. The musicians come from a range of races and backgrounds so audiences new to classical music can relate to the action on stage.