Concert #5: Party like it's 1865
The postponement of our Fourth of July concert meant we are skipping concert 6, which was the dance one. That one actually seemed like fun--it included the Chicken Dance, no joke. Oh well. As AD2 would tell us, we have one concert all lined up for next year already! She's good at making lemonade out of lemons.
This also meant a second shot at practicing for concert 5, and given the difficulty of playing 1812, that wasn't a bad thing. This would be an altered concert; we would not have the choir as scheduled. This meant two pieces were cut entirely, and a third was switched from a choral version to a strictly band version. They were hesitant to sing with us had we gone ahead last week in the middle of the air quality issues, and then not enough of them were able to make it for this week. That's fair. We had band members who couldn't make it as well, so it is what it is. We were still able to get the cannons, which was what we cared about--1812 just isn't the same without them. However, they were only "blue" cannons. They're all run by reenactors, and there's usually both Union and Confederate ones, but this year with the rescheduling only the Union cannons could make it. Fun fact, two of the cannons really were from the Civil War.
I actually had guests come to this concert! Look at me, having audience members I know at two of these concerts so far this year. I'd talked this concert up to my parents enough that they both came. Dad has never been to a Regular Band concert, ever, so this was a huge deal. But, I mean, cannons. It's a total experience. I'd been outside talking to big clarinet B for a bit before the concert, and when I went to go inside, I turned around and there they were. What timing. They'd brought their own chairs and were asking where I'd be standing for Stars & Stripes Forever; they based their seating spot on that, not taking into consideration if they'd be able to see me the entire rest of the time, oops. I had to lean way forward in my seat to spot them while onstage since they were so far off to the side.
We had a microphone issue right at the start, so that sound guy C had to come running from the back of the seating area up to the emcee in her chair, only to discover her mic simply wasn't on and just needed the switch flipped. Mom told me later, oh, that's why the emcee said, "I could've done that!" There were a few other snafus, including with the second to the last song (we eventually just started playing, it was taking that long), but for the most part it wasn't too bad. (Sound guy C would make me laugh later, as during 1812 I caught him holding his sound tablet in one hand and his phone recording the cannons in the other.)
At rehearsal on Wednesday night, we found out that this was the last concert for C the young clarinet player. She's been with us since high school, having been an AD2 student, and she went on to NCC and was one of the drum majors for the past couple years, so we were mildly acquainted. She even came over to talk to me after rehearsal as I'd just been talking to her in recent weeks, confirming that she'd graduated, and she hadn't mentioned that she was moving out of the area; she's going to Baltimore, I believe. Oh, wow; good luck! She's hoping to make it back for at least one football game in the fall.
There was also a pre-concert situation with the trumpets. Understand that there was some sort of smart comment made by one of them Wednesday night regarding 1812, to where I turned around and said, and now the cannons will be facing the trumpet section! Then on Thursday, before the concert, AD2 is explaining how parts of the concert will go, including S&SF.
AD2: The piccolos will come up front, and then the brass.
P the trumpet player: *With* the piccolos?
AD2: That's two, P.
Band, collectively: Ooooooooh!
(Traditionally, the first time through the final strain, it's just the piccolos at the front of the stage. The brasses come up front the second time through. The vast majority of our band members are aware that this is what's to happen; P was just being a smartass, which is his normal state of being. But yeah...time and place, man. Time and place. That's why the band was amused at him being called out. It's kind of about time, to be truthful.)
This was a demanding piccolo show, with multiple marches; the picc player told me to play a few extra things, partly to prep for our duet and S&SF, partly to give her a rest, especially after 1812 (it's long and goes high), and in one song's case, because there honestly should've been a second piccolo part. We didn't rehearse it that way, in part because we didn't rehearse it at all this past Wednesday, so I was going into that one cold instrument-wise, but it actually sounded fine and I've now marked it as a second piccolo part. DB even showed me her part, which had 2nd picc cues in it. Well then, look at that. Oh, and not only did the picc player have the obbligato in S&SF, she also had one in our second piece of the night. She took some liberties with it as the tempo was a little faster than she or I would have liked it and she had to drop some notes to stay with it. I mean, nobody outside of the flute section would really know that's what happened, and she got through it. I know I was kind of thankful I didn't have to play it at that tempo; a tick or two down would've been much better. It was almost a little frantic at the tempo the director took.
This was likely the swan song for our official piccolo duet. The setup for this started last week, when the Eb clarinet player wanted to go over tuning for one of the songs in the medley, The Yellow Rose of Texas. It's actually a quartet, with the three of us and one of the clarinets, but the Eb player didn't know where she should tune to--the piccs were high to her, and the Bb clarinet was low. This week, we called AD2 over to give us a listen to see what she thought, and since the Eb clarinet was closer in tessitura to the piccs, AD2 said to tune to us. As she started to leave, the picc player asked if perhaps this piece would be retired after this year, and while AD2 didn't officially say yes, she did concede that there's probably some songs within the medley that we shouldn't be playing any more and we should probably enjoy this while we can. This resulted in a high-five between the two of us. The picc player loathes this medley, especially for the Fourth of July, since it's based on the Civil War. In fact, this was how we discovered there were only the blues for the cannons, and no grays, because at the end of the piece we usually have a couple of the reenactors come up and shake hands, and we couldn't this year. Oh well. We'll get to party like it's 1865, knowing we probably are done with this piece.
We did our salute to the Armed Forces, and then came 1812. I have to say, under AD2's direction, this was probably the best we'd ever played it. There was nuance and dynamics (or at least more of them) and it was sweeping and lovely. It's amazing what happens when you actually work on a piece and have musicians who pay attention to your conducting. Yes, she did things differently than the director; that's what she does. She puts her interpretation of it on the stage. Given that this is one of the biggest pieces of the year, I think she was a tiny bit nervous, like I think I saw her hand shaking a little as she started. No worries, though. It was fantastic. It's so funny how the cannons are different sizes and have different booms because of that; you could really tell the bigger ones when they got shot off (that's not a cannon; *THIS* is a cannon, basically). The gal who helps coordinate the cannon blasts is a former band member and I know her mom; she happened to walk by as I was talking to my parents beforehand, so I got to introduce them. It just so happens that my parents sat in front of a tree, which was where cannon gal was stationed to be able to watch the band and give the instructions to blast the cannons, which are next to the building and not really in our view. Mom stayed in her chair and when she'd hear cannon gal say something, she'd know to cover her ears. My father, however, was all distracted by the cannons and ended up over there taking videos of it. Thanks, dad. :P He got a video of the test firings prior to the concert, then got some from during the show. The firings are so loud you physically see people jump when they go off, plus it set off car alarms in the parking lot. I couldn't hear them on stage but they're happening in the video. There was also a police car blocking that part of the lot so civilian cars didn't drive past there for safety reasons; could you imagine? And, one of the coolest parts of the evening came when I actually heard the church bells ringing. This is something coordinated by the fire department, I believe, since people have to be stationed at several different local churches. I can only recall hearing the band's chimes go off in the past, not the church bells themselves, likely because we're just that loud that we usually drown them out. Not this time. I actually got goosebumps upon hearing them. It was magnificent, and when we finished and the crowd gave us a standing ovation, it felt completely justified. Nice job, AD2. And then we had all the cannoneers come up front, and then they even came up on stage, so that was a big production. They seem pretty cool and we're always glad to have them.
After that was when the choir pieces were planned, but again we revised that part of the show. Cutting a couple pieces was not that big of a deal, though my fun came when the picc player told me I would be playing her picc part on God Bless America, our last piece before S&SF (and this was the one where the emcee's mic didn't work and ultimately we just started playing--I think most people know this one, particularly in our audience). Then came the finale, and it doesn't matter how many times I play the obbligato for S&SF, I always get nervous about it. I did kind of blank toward the end, too, so it was nice that there were two of us there. It ended up okay, and the picc player said she didn't notice anything was amiss, so that was good. The director even turned around, put hands on our shoulders, and told us nice job after it was over. I even had two complete strangers come up and tell me that too, including one person who started off by saying, as a flute and piccolo player... Wow, thanks! That's really gratifying. Meanwhile, my father was playing on his phone and nearly missed it, heh; mom had to tap his arm to get him to pay attention. He did record the last half of the solo through the end of the song.
I did get to talk to my parents afterward and they really enjoyed the show. Mom especially enjoyed the bake sale and she even brought something home. (When I eventually got home, she offered whatever it was to me--uh, I'm good, thanks--and proceeded to pull something out of the fridge and started eating it. I thought it was the bake sale item and it looked like she was just eating a bunch of whipped cream. It ended up being leftover coleslaw from the holiday, heh. What, it was dark.) I then had to go back onstage to put my stuff away, and I saw the director's grandson after and told him I was glad he was able to make it back to play 1812. This was the first time he was really old enough to play it with us, and he said he was glad to be here too, even if he couldn't quite get all of it. I'm curious to see if he'll still come up and play with us now that his grandpa is retiring, though I think grandma will still be a full-on participant. The grandson did join us last week for that rehearsal so that was another reason the postponement was a bummer. Meanwhile, his mom started talking to me about the show; she was sitting by some people who'd never been to this concert and they were so impressed with what we do. I had to smile as she kept throwing "y'alls" in there. She's been down in the Nashville area for probably 20 years and she's acclimated speech-wise, that's for sure. I have a feeling we'll be seeing them again at the end of the summer.
This also meant a second shot at practicing for concert 5, and given the difficulty of playing 1812, that wasn't a bad thing. This would be an altered concert; we would not have the choir as scheduled. This meant two pieces were cut entirely, and a third was switched from a choral version to a strictly band version. They were hesitant to sing with us had we gone ahead last week in the middle of the air quality issues, and then not enough of them were able to make it for this week. That's fair. We had band members who couldn't make it as well, so it is what it is. We were still able to get the cannons, which was what we cared about--1812 just isn't the same without them. However, they were only "blue" cannons. They're all run by reenactors, and there's usually both Union and Confederate ones, but this year with the rescheduling only the Union cannons could make it. Fun fact, two of the cannons really were from the Civil War.
I actually had guests come to this concert! Look at me, having audience members I know at two of these concerts so far this year. I'd talked this concert up to my parents enough that they both came. Dad has never been to a Regular Band concert, ever, so this was a huge deal. But, I mean, cannons. It's a total experience. I'd been outside talking to big clarinet B for a bit before the concert, and when I went to go inside, I turned around and there they were. What timing. They'd brought their own chairs and were asking where I'd be standing for Stars & Stripes Forever; they based their seating spot on that, not taking into consideration if they'd be able to see me the entire rest of the time, oops. I had to lean way forward in my seat to spot them while onstage since they were so far off to the side.
We had a microphone issue right at the start, so that sound guy C had to come running from the back of the seating area up to the emcee in her chair, only to discover her mic simply wasn't on and just needed the switch flipped. Mom told me later, oh, that's why the emcee said, "I could've done that!" There were a few other snafus, including with the second to the last song (we eventually just started playing, it was taking that long), but for the most part it wasn't too bad. (Sound guy C would make me laugh later, as during 1812 I caught him holding his sound tablet in one hand and his phone recording the cannons in the other.)
At rehearsal on Wednesday night, we found out that this was the last concert for C the young clarinet player. She's been with us since high school, having been an AD2 student, and she went on to NCC and was one of the drum majors for the past couple years, so we were mildly acquainted. She even came over to talk to me after rehearsal as I'd just been talking to her in recent weeks, confirming that she'd graduated, and she hadn't mentioned that she was moving out of the area; she's going to Baltimore, I believe. Oh, wow; good luck! She's hoping to make it back for at least one football game in the fall.
There was also a pre-concert situation with the trumpets. Understand that there was some sort of smart comment made by one of them Wednesday night regarding 1812, to where I turned around and said, and now the cannons will be facing the trumpet section! Then on Thursday, before the concert, AD2 is explaining how parts of the concert will go, including S&SF.
AD2: The piccolos will come up front, and then the brass.
P the trumpet player: *With* the piccolos?
AD2: That's two, P.
Band, collectively: Ooooooooh!
(Traditionally, the first time through the final strain, it's just the piccolos at the front of the stage. The brasses come up front the second time through. The vast majority of our band members are aware that this is what's to happen; P was just being a smartass, which is his normal state of being. But yeah...time and place, man. Time and place. That's why the band was amused at him being called out. It's kind of about time, to be truthful.)
This was a demanding piccolo show, with multiple marches; the picc player told me to play a few extra things, partly to prep for our duet and S&SF, partly to give her a rest, especially after 1812 (it's long and goes high), and in one song's case, because there honestly should've been a second piccolo part. We didn't rehearse it that way, in part because we didn't rehearse it at all this past Wednesday, so I was going into that one cold instrument-wise, but it actually sounded fine and I've now marked it as a second piccolo part. DB even showed me her part, which had 2nd picc cues in it. Well then, look at that. Oh, and not only did the picc player have the obbligato in S&SF, she also had one in our second piece of the night. She took some liberties with it as the tempo was a little faster than she or I would have liked it and she had to drop some notes to stay with it. I mean, nobody outside of the flute section would really know that's what happened, and she got through it. I know I was kind of thankful I didn't have to play it at that tempo; a tick or two down would've been much better. It was almost a little frantic at the tempo the director took.
This was likely the swan song for our official piccolo duet. The setup for this started last week, when the Eb clarinet player wanted to go over tuning for one of the songs in the medley, The Yellow Rose of Texas. It's actually a quartet, with the three of us and one of the clarinets, but the Eb player didn't know where she should tune to--the piccs were high to her, and the Bb clarinet was low. This week, we called AD2 over to give us a listen to see what she thought, and since the Eb clarinet was closer in tessitura to the piccs, AD2 said to tune to us. As she started to leave, the picc player asked if perhaps this piece would be retired after this year, and while AD2 didn't officially say yes, she did concede that there's probably some songs within the medley that we shouldn't be playing any more and we should probably enjoy this while we can. This resulted in a high-five between the two of us. The picc player loathes this medley, especially for the Fourth of July, since it's based on the Civil War. In fact, this was how we discovered there were only the blues for the cannons, and no grays, because at the end of the piece we usually have a couple of the reenactors come up and shake hands, and we couldn't this year. Oh well. We'll get to party like it's 1865, knowing we probably are done with this piece.
We did our salute to the Armed Forces, and then came 1812. I have to say, under AD2's direction, this was probably the best we'd ever played it. There was nuance and dynamics (or at least more of them) and it was sweeping and lovely. It's amazing what happens when you actually work on a piece and have musicians who pay attention to your conducting. Yes, she did things differently than the director; that's what she does. She puts her interpretation of it on the stage. Given that this is one of the biggest pieces of the year, I think she was a tiny bit nervous, like I think I saw her hand shaking a little as she started. No worries, though. It was fantastic. It's so funny how the cannons are different sizes and have different booms because of that; you could really tell the bigger ones when they got shot off (that's not a cannon; *THIS* is a cannon, basically). The gal who helps coordinate the cannon blasts is a former band member and I know her mom; she happened to walk by as I was talking to my parents beforehand, so I got to introduce them. It just so happens that my parents sat in front of a tree, which was where cannon gal was stationed to be able to watch the band and give the instructions to blast the cannons, which are next to the building and not really in our view. Mom stayed in her chair and when she'd hear cannon gal say something, she'd know to cover her ears. My father, however, was all distracted by the cannons and ended up over there taking videos of it. Thanks, dad. :P He got a video of the test firings prior to the concert, then got some from during the show. The firings are so loud you physically see people jump when they go off, plus it set off car alarms in the parking lot. I couldn't hear them on stage but they're happening in the video. There was also a police car blocking that part of the lot so civilian cars didn't drive past there for safety reasons; could you imagine? And, one of the coolest parts of the evening came when I actually heard the church bells ringing. This is something coordinated by the fire department, I believe, since people have to be stationed at several different local churches. I can only recall hearing the band's chimes go off in the past, not the church bells themselves, likely because we're just that loud that we usually drown them out. Not this time. I actually got goosebumps upon hearing them. It was magnificent, and when we finished and the crowd gave us a standing ovation, it felt completely justified. Nice job, AD2. And then we had all the cannoneers come up front, and then they even came up on stage, so that was a big production. They seem pretty cool and we're always glad to have them.
After that was when the choir pieces were planned, but again we revised that part of the show. Cutting a couple pieces was not that big of a deal, though my fun came when the picc player told me I would be playing her picc part on God Bless America, our last piece before S&SF (and this was the one where the emcee's mic didn't work and ultimately we just started playing--I think most people know this one, particularly in our audience). Then came the finale, and it doesn't matter how many times I play the obbligato for S&SF, I always get nervous about it. I did kind of blank toward the end, too, so it was nice that there were two of us there. It ended up okay, and the picc player said she didn't notice anything was amiss, so that was good. The director even turned around, put hands on our shoulders, and told us nice job after it was over. I even had two complete strangers come up and tell me that too, including one person who started off by saying, as a flute and piccolo player... Wow, thanks! That's really gratifying. Meanwhile, my father was playing on his phone and nearly missed it, heh; mom had to tap his arm to get him to pay attention. He did record the last half of the solo through the end of the song.
I did get to talk to my parents afterward and they really enjoyed the show. Mom especially enjoyed the bake sale and she even brought something home. (When I eventually got home, she offered whatever it was to me--uh, I'm good, thanks--and proceeded to pull something out of the fridge and started eating it. I thought it was the bake sale item and it looked like she was just eating a bunch of whipped cream. It ended up being leftover coleslaw from the holiday, heh. What, it was dark.) I then had to go back onstage to put my stuff away, and I saw the director's grandson after and told him I was glad he was able to make it back to play 1812. This was the first time he was really old enough to play it with us, and he said he was glad to be here too, even if he couldn't quite get all of it. I'm curious to see if he'll still come up and play with us now that his grandpa is retiring, though I think grandma will still be a full-on participant. The grandson did join us last week for that rehearsal so that was another reason the postponement was a bummer. Meanwhile, his mom started talking to me about the show; she was sitting by some people who'd never been to this concert and they were so impressed with what we do. I had to smile as she kept throwing "y'alls" in there. She's been down in the Nashville area for probably 20 years and she's acclimated speech-wise, that's for sure. I have a feeling we'll be seeing them again at the end of the summer.