Regular Band: Winter Concert
Finally. The emcee alluded to this, but we snuck in our winter concert under the wire--tomorrow is the first day of spring. Not that it feels like spring; today was the third straight day of cold and windy weather. I am so ready for spring, man.
I had to be at the hosting high school by 1:15, meaning I wanted to leave at 12:15; the concert wasn't until 3. Mom hemmed and hawed but ultimately came with. We got there just before 1 and I told her she could still call grandma, which she did after I left her alone. I got her to the lobby where we discovered there weren't any chairs, so I think she hung out in the bathroom for a while as nobody was there. Eventually she peeked into the auditorium and saw a few other random family members in there, so she joined us; she'd brought a couple books and had her phone so she kept herself entertained for a while. There was nothing within walking distance so she was stuck there.
Meanwhile, we got there early so we could do our sound check and figure out chairs and such for ourselves, and then at 2 we added the high school players and figured out that seating for the combined number. We'd been told to intersperse the high school players among us, so we figured out that we'd put two of the flutes in the front row and the other two in the second. We'd already been told that there was some sort of conflict and a portion of the band was at a competition downstate, so when only three flutes came out on stage, I figured, oh, the fourth must be at the competition. I was one of the people who'd had to change seats, so I went back to my old seat...and then here comes the fourth flute, with cases for a flute and a piccolo. DB went, if he plays piccolo, he should be by our piccolo player. That makes sense. I'd already changed chairs again and then had to change back, oy. And then it turned out that someone else was playing piccolo during our combined song, so when we reconvened at the concert, they ended up switching seats and here's this girl who'd sat in the front row joining us back in the second. Talk about musical chairs.
The concert itself went fine. The high school did three songs, including a Sousa march that apparently doesn't have a name. I was unaware this was a thing so that was interesting. I'd heard of, but I don't know that I've actually heard it, the second song, which is jazzy and had a great clarinet solo in it. The player even walked out to the edge of the stage to play it from memory. The third song was one I've performed a couple times and they did it very well. I kept paying close attention to the boy who had sat by me, since he was on piccolo for the first and third songs; I'd wanted to tell him nice job. And then he went to the front row. Oh well. The other interesting thing had to do with one particular audience member who was right in the front row, in front of the stage. I am guessing he has intellectual disabilities, but let me tell you, he was *very* into the high school's performance. He stood out because he literally stood out--he kept standing up at times, and given his location, you couldn't miss him. But he was conducting along with the conductor, and it seemed like he was really enjoying himself. I'm guessing his mom was sitting next to him and I could see her taking pictures of him; I had just the right angle up in the balcony area to watch this. Once onstage, he was blocked from my view by the people in the front row of the band so he wasn't distracting.
Our portion of the concert went pretty well. The director had had a moment during the rehearsal for the combined piece where he tried to hold a fermata a measure before it actually happened, but our band kept playing and the song went on okay; that did not happen during the concert. Later in the combined piece, we'd had to stop and restart during rehearsal because some of the lower voices decided to take their own tempo, not the director's, but that wasn't on him at least. Mom had made it into the auditorium by then and got to hear that piece twice; it's a medley of a musical she loves, her favorite, so she was happy about that.
Overall it was a good day. I'm so glad we won't have to worry about some of these songs any longer. Also, we don't have band for a couple of weeks, apparently; tomorrow is our board meeting, and then the rumor is next week is our spring break. Oh, wow; I could use a night off. Again, with work having a question mark looming over it, I'll probably have to work tomorrow night, so to still have a Monday night off after that, that's swell.
I had to be at the hosting high school by 1:15, meaning I wanted to leave at 12:15; the concert wasn't until 3. Mom hemmed and hawed but ultimately came with. We got there just before 1 and I told her she could still call grandma, which she did after I left her alone. I got her to the lobby where we discovered there weren't any chairs, so I think she hung out in the bathroom for a while as nobody was there. Eventually she peeked into the auditorium and saw a few other random family members in there, so she joined us; she'd brought a couple books and had her phone so she kept herself entertained for a while. There was nothing within walking distance so she was stuck there.
Meanwhile, we got there early so we could do our sound check and figure out chairs and such for ourselves, and then at 2 we added the high school players and figured out that seating for the combined number. We'd been told to intersperse the high school players among us, so we figured out that we'd put two of the flutes in the front row and the other two in the second. We'd already been told that there was some sort of conflict and a portion of the band was at a competition downstate, so when only three flutes came out on stage, I figured, oh, the fourth must be at the competition. I was one of the people who'd had to change seats, so I went back to my old seat...and then here comes the fourth flute, with cases for a flute and a piccolo. DB went, if he plays piccolo, he should be by our piccolo player. That makes sense. I'd already changed chairs again and then had to change back, oy. And then it turned out that someone else was playing piccolo during our combined song, so when we reconvened at the concert, they ended up switching seats and here's this girl who'd sat in the front row joining us back in the second. Talk about musical chairs.
The concert itself went fine. The high school did three songs, including a Sousa march that apparently doesn't have a name. I was unaware this was a thing so that was interesting. I'd heard of, but I don't know that I've actually heard it, the second song, which is jazzy and had a great clarinet solo in it. The player even walked out to the edge of the stage to play it from memory. The third song was one I've performed a couple times and they did it very well. I kept paying close attention to the boy who had sat by me, since he was on piccolo for the first and third songs; I'd wanted to tell him nice job. And then he went to the front row. Oh well. The other interesting thing had to do with one particular audience member who was right in the front row, in front of the stage. I am guessing he has intellectual disabilities, but let me tell you, he was *very* into the high school's performance. He stood out because he literally stood out--he kept standing up at times, and given his location, you couldn't miss him. But he was conducting along with the conductor, and it seemed like he was really enjoying himself. I'm guessing his mom was sitting next to him and I could see her taking pictures of him; I had just the right angle up in the balcony area to watch this. Once onstage, he was blocked from my view by the people in the front row of the band so he wasn't distracting.
Our portion of the concert went pretty well. The director had had a moment during the rehearsal for the combined piece where he tried to hold a fermata a measure before it actually happened, but our band kept playing and the song went on okay; that did not happen during the concert. Later in the combined piece, we'd had to stop and restart during rehearsal because some of the lower voices decided to take their own tempo, not the director's, but that wasn't on him at least. Mom had made it into the auditorium by then and got to hear that piece twice; it's a medley of a musical she loves, her favorite, so she was happy about that.
Overall it was a good day. I'm so glad we won't have to worry about some of these songs any longer. Also, we don't have band for a couple of weeks, apparently; tomorrow is our board meeting, and then the rumor is next week is our spring break. Oh, wow; I could use a night off. Again, with work having a question mark looming over it, I'll probably have to work tomorrow night, so to still have a Monday night off after that, that's swell.