Austin Huntington, cello
Coming into this past Sunday’s service, I had no previous experience with improvisation. While I was slightly nervous at first, my ultimate mindset was to free up my mind and let the music and the moment inspire my playing. This mentality was no more evident than when, after a tranquil and smooth beginning, I accidentally (at the time) added in an F sharp while everybody else was in F major still. This dissonance interrupted the previously calm exchange and while it felt wrong at the time, I decided to go with it. My thinking was to relate it to the Gospel reading, where Judas interrupts a very honorable ritual to raise the question of the necessity of using such extravagant amounts of expensive oil. This causes the ritual to pause, and while it seems like he might have a point, his intentions are not good and Jesus explains the reasoning and symbolism, effectively silencing Judas and his conniving ways. In many ways, these brief moments of dissonance in the improvisation felt like Judas asking such a pointed question, before Roger and Kent seamlessly brought everyone back into the original key and kept going with the improvisation.