Mater's the matter
I have a concert tomorrow, and as we have a guest conductor, we had a dress rehearsal last night in addition to our regular Monday evening rehearsal. Our GC was a director at a well-known university and had taught our assistant director. In honor of him, the AD wanted to play what amounts to an alma mater-type song, though it's a march. Okay, fine; what's another march to this band. Except, being an alma mater-type song, there are words. He wanted us to sing to the GC during the first time through the trio.
Well, there's like four people in the entire band who know the words and music to this song. Considering there's about 100 members to the band, that's a really sad amount. One of my fellow flute members was kind enough to pass out the lyrics to our section, which was totally awesome, except we don't have the melody. One of the signatures of marches is that, at the trio, the flutes typically play something doodle-y. Think of "Stars and Stripes Forever" and the famous piccolo solo--that occurs during the trio. So, we have the words, but we have no idea how it goes. Frankly, this bugged me. I went searching for the song online and managed to find a copy of the first cornet part, which does in fact have the melody at the trio (and probably the whole song, if we're being honest). I was able to match up the song to the lyrics and ended up writing it out, then rewriting it because things were sort of smushed. When I got to band last night, I showed it to the director and asked, do you think the band would appreciate this? He said, yes, go make 60 copies. I passed out approximately one per stand, so there were a few copies left over. Some people were appreciative, but nearly an equal amount went, so I have to sing now? Heh, no; at least you can follow along, though! Consider that a portion of the band went to rival schools; they really don't want to sing for it. But, well, there are maybe two people playing during the first time through the trio--I think one trombone and a drum--so for the piece to sound good, more people need to sing.
We did not go through it last night--it's supposed to be a surprise for the GC--but I think it's easy enough that we may be able to do it in one take, or perhaps we'll run through it during the sound check before the concert. There's one spot where things didn't quite match up, but oh well; that's what you get when someone who didn't go to the school is transcribing the piece. But I think it'll be fine. And at least we'll stand a fighting chance with it.
Well, there's like four people in the entire band who know the words and music to this song. Considering there's about 100 members to the band, that's a really sad amount. One of my fellow flute members was kind enough to pass out the lyrics to our section, which was totally awesome, except we don't have the melody. One of the signatures of marches is that, at the trio, the flutes typically play something doodle-y. Think of "Stars and Stripes Forever" and the famous piccolo solo--that occurs during the trio. So, we have the words, but we have no idea how it goes. Frankly, this bugged me. I went searching for the song online and managed to find a copy of the first cornet part, which does in fact have the melody at the trio (and probably the whole song, if we're being honest). I was able to match up the song to the lyrics and ended up writing it out, then rewriting it because things were sort of smushed. When I got to band last night, I showed it to the director and asked, do you think the band would appreciate this? He said, yes, go make 60 copies. I passed out approximately one per stand, so there were a few copies left over. Some people were appreciative, but nearly an equal amount went, so I have to sing now? Heh, no; at least you can follow along, though! Consider that a portion of the band went to rival schools; they really don't want to sing for it. But, well, there are maybe two people playing during the first time through the trio--I think one trombone and a drum--so for the piece to sound good, more people need to sing.
We did not go through it last night--it's supposed to be a surprise for the GC--but I think it's easy enough that we may be able to do it in one take, or perhaps we'll run through it during the sound check before the concert. There's one spot where things didn't quite match up, but oh well; that's what you get when someone who didn't go to the school is transcribing the piece. But I think it'll be fine. And at least we'll stand a fighting chance with it.