Edited the next morning to clarify a few points.

I did it again. Bought a clarinet on eBay. I can't possibly pretend I need another one -- I have three soprano clarinets already, and I've only used one of them the past several months. This one I bought pretty much out of curiosity. It's a Mazzeo system clarinet; I've never seen one in the ( Read more... )

Kenny's current favorite CD is "Flood" by They Might Be Giants. I've heard him singing about wanting a prosthetic forehead on his real head, and he knows a lot of the lyrics to "Birdhouse In Your Soul", but his favorite is "Istanbul (Not Constantinople ( Read more... )

At last night's concert I was the third clarinet section. Jeff was the second clarinet section ( Read more... )

1. I thought the TR147 had been discontinued by the beginning of 2005, which made for a bit of a puzzle since later TR147s have 2-part serial numbers like 032005 1XX. That first part certainly looks like a date, but I thought March 2005 was too late. (I'm told the numbers were stamped at the Chinese factory where the parts are made.) Now someone ( Read more... )

Tonight's concert went pretty well. We played Program B, omitting "Gloriana" (trombone soloist was away), including our first performance of "Slava!", and putting "In Storm and Sunshine" after the Holst (a mistake on our director's part, though it made sense given that otherwise the omission of "Gloriana" would have put two marches in a row ( Read more... )

Last Tuesday the band played in Apulia Station. Program A, but with "Triple B Rag" instead of "Fortress". Heather and Kenny attended. I played the Ridenour clarinet, which seemed to work fine.

This afternoon the Binghamton Morris Men dance in Binghamton, for once -- a couple of nursing homes, I think.

So we played indoors again, in a church in South Onondaga, in a space more suited to a woodwind quintet than a band. We didn't outnumber the audience by much ( Read more... )

Splitting hairs here, tonight was the second performance but the first concert by the LaFayette Concert Band since I joined. We were due to play outdoors at the LaFayette Library, but after watching the lightning approaching we moved it to the elementary school cafetorium. Turns out the rain and electrical activity stayed away, but I suspect we ( Read more... )

I've played my first performance with the LaFayette (NY) Concert Band. For three months we've been rehearsing a folder full of music; on Monday morning we played... none of it. We sat alongside the route of the LaFayette Memorial Day parade and sight-read marches. Without a conductor -- he was sitting back in the trumpet section. His main ( Read more... )

Here's what the LaFayette Concert Band will be playing and when. (More or less. Some dates are still uncertain, and I'm sort of guessing which date has which program. Also, there will be revisions to the programs.)
DateTimePlaceProgramNotes Mon 28 May9:00 amLaFayetteMarchesMemorial Day parade. We sit and play music, they march past us. All ( Read more... )