Fancy Band: Home of the dedicated
I had a reminder to myself to talk to Dr. K and W as soon as I could once I got to band on Thursday. Both were there soon after I arrived, so great, I can talk to both of them at once. Except W was already talking with oboe T, who sounded like she had her own potential scheduling issue, so I had to wait. Dr. K was at the little workstation behind his conducting podium setting up the metronome...ugh...and I said I needed to talk to him about something. He went, everything okay? I said, I don't know yet. And then someone came up to talk to him, so now W was free but Dr. K was not. Finally I could speak with them both, and I let them know about my jury duty and how, if it's on Thursday, I'll have to come straight from St. Charles and it would be cutting it close. W understood; she said she knew that ride since she does it every week. Turns out she lives out this way, but closer to 47. Oh wow; who knew?
I also noticed something was up with B. Her right wrist was all wrapped up! It wasn't quite in a cast, but looked like a firm Ace bandage, if that makes sense. Slightly later she would hold up the hair on her forehead to display a bandage there as well. Oh goodness, what happened? Just before band started, Dr. K was talking with her and telling her he admired her dedication, but she didn't have to be here. It sounded like B thought we were recording tonight, and one of the pieces we're still focusing on from the last cycle includes a piccolo solo, so she's integral to that--but not if she should be resting. She lives in the city, too, so it's not like it's a quick drive. We thanked her for coming and sent her home, so she didn't participate in the rehearsal proper. Eventually I asked L what had happened; B had fallen out of bed early that morning. Wait, it just happened today?! Holy cow. She'd broken her wrist and had multiple stitches in her head. Oh my goodness. Yes, please go home and rest!
On to rehearsal. We started off with the armed forces song, and we have a couple veterans in the group. Flute L is one; a guy named Jack is the other. I wouldn't normally flat-out name someone, but there's a story involved. Dr. K asked if Jack would be the narrator for part of the armed forces piece, and Jack said sure. When we got to the part of the song that has the narration, Dr. K wanted some of the sections to play softer, which led to an awkward phrasing of what he wanted. (I forget exactly how it was phrased, but it was something like this.)
Dr. K: Okay [section], I want you to cut down in forces. It needs to be quieter here. Take Jack off anyway since he's speaking...
*commence tittering among the band*
Dr. K is slightly annoyed and notices a particular oboe player joining in the tittering.
Dr. K: *scolding fashion* Professor T...
Me, calling him out: Don't even act like you wouldn't have laughed at that.
(Believe me, he has demonstrated that he has the sense of humor of a 12-year-old boy.)
Dr. K: Yeah, I questioned it as soon as it came out of my mouth.
The band calmed down shortly after and rehearsal among the adults resumed. But yeah, he was glad the room was full of adults and not, say, high school students.
One thing that Dr. K mentioned was having a video playing during the armed forces piece that included pictures of service members. We appear to only have the two band members who served; they were in the same National Guard unit and know each other well. The pictures have now been opened up to family members. Dr. K's dad was in the Air Force, but before that he was actually in another branch, I think he said the Navy, and Dr. K's mom has a picture of him from when he very first joined the military. Dr. K said his dad is now 77 so it'll be special to have that picture up, and it would be nice to have pictures of the service members who will be in our audience, like parents and spouses and people like that. I asked how far back we could go with that, because my grandfather was in the Navy, but he won't be in the audience because he's dead. He said grandparents could be included and it would be neat to see different generations of service members in the video. (I emailed him today to ask him, the next time he emails the band, to let us know where to send the pictures. I found two of them for my grandfather--his full class picture from Great Lakes, and a zoomed-in version of that.)
Before band started, I ran into trombone D. I was glad to see they were still alive. D looked at me funny, but I reminded them of how they were going to sing Happy Birthday at karaoke in honor of trombone P, which trombone P did *not* want to have happen, and D said, I decided to back down and be a good friend; I didn't do it. Good. Keeping the peace is a good thing.
Next month is the big music conference downtown, and Dr. K was asking if anyone was going. There's a large contingent of summer band people who are performing on the first day, so between them and the band directors Dr. K thought it might be nice to hang out one night. Yes, well, the rest of us will just be at home that night.
We took a break at one point and a bunch of us went to the bathroom. Someone pointed out how flute C is still wearing flip-flops. Since I sit next to her, it's something I notice every week. She works from home and is holding out as long as possible before wearing regular shoes, though when she's gone outside recently it's been a bit of a shock. I do notice that she keeps her toes polished and told her they always look cute. She said she hates ugly feet and as soon as her polish chips, she's gotta replace it. Understood. I was the same way for a while--I kept my toenails polished, but I haven't done that in a long time. Somewhat related, and I don't think I mentioned it: Last week or two weeks ago, C started talking about food and mentioned having seen an ad about a Domino's emergency pizza. She was hungry enough that she started looking it up. She brought it up to Dr. K even, who pointed back at the trombone section and said, we saw that too! Where did we see that ad? It sounded like during a class, he was looking up something on YouTube and the Domino's ad was what played prior to what they were watching. Alas, no Domino's pizza appeared that night, but I think C probably got Domino's on the way home. Or maybe Taco Bell. That got brought up too.
Christmas Festival keeps making me laugh. Not only am I cuing in the chimes in the one section, but both NBH and L are making little hand gestures for when the chimes should be playing too. Watching us all make a similar movement as we're counting rests is pretty amusing. Alas, I was also sad, too, because this piece has a cute piccolo part that I love and with no B there, it didn't get played. :(
We spent probably 2 hours on this cycle's music, then we got to work on the two pieces from the last cycle. A fair amount of bottle players had tossed their original bottles and had to bring new ones, and they needed cork stoppers, so before band started Dr. K was tossing them out to the clarinets--you get a cork! And you get a cork! Yes, you make a good Oprah. But we started with the passacaglia, since the bottle section of the other piece (what we were focusing on) doesn't involve everybody and people were able to be dismissed. With B gone, her solo section was a little empty; Dr. K announced that it would only be bassoon there tonight (they have a soli together). One of the younger French horn players raised her hand and said she wasn't at the recording session, so did it make a difference without her there? Dr. K said, yes. The player took it to mean that it was better with her missing and said she'd lay out. We had to correct her--no, no, with you missing, it was bad. There were so many people missing from the recording session that it sounded empty; *that's* why we have to record this part again. Please play!
I mentioned that at the start of band, Dr. K had been setting up the metronome on the computer. He has it play through the speakers in the room so we can all hear it, but between the buzz of the monitors and the loud beeping, it's pretty annoying even if it's necessary. When part of the band cleared out--people who weren't on the first cycle were allowed to leave--the buzzing of the monitors was really annoying and I asked him if he could turn them off. Dr. K obliged, much to the relief of the band. Several other people were about to ask the same question.
During the early part of rehearsal, one of the doors to the room had been propped open, and several people kept popping their heads in to see what was going on. One time, this guy came and stood and watched for a few minutes, but it was right when Dr. K was getting cross with the trombone section, which kept talking every time the band stopped playing and he was getting annoyed with them. (Trombone D came up and apologized for that, and the trombones were better afterward. See, nipping things in the bud is a good thing.) Once we hit a break, I said to Dr. K, can we shut the door to keep out the randos? He went, yes, we can shut the door, but they're faculty. One was my department chair--I said, oh, I thought I recognized her--and the guy is our drum set instructor. I said, that's all fine and dandy, but it's distracting. (He didn't mind because he wants people to see what we're doing and get them excited for the music we're playing.) Then, during the bottle piece, trombone R had been dismissed since he doesn't play in that section, so he was moving things around and had gone to the stage to get a stand rack for clean-up purposes. He then slowly--slo-o-o-o-owly--brought in the rack as we were playing, and the way he brought it in was almost comical. I couldn't help but laugh, which annoyed Dr. K; he was like, focus! Okay, well, R is in my line of sight. Perhaps we should reinstate the rule that nobody enters the room if there is music actively being played. We talked about this after band, and I did apologize for laughing, but I also said that some of us are easily distracted. Dr. K said he might start putting up the signs he used to have on the doors that did say not to enter if we're playing.
We only have one more regular rehearsal to go. The following week is Thanksgiving, and the week after is our dress rehearsal with the chorus. It's at a later time than normal as some other group has the stage earlier in the evening. That's going to be a late night for me, ugh. And then our concert is that Saturday and then we're off for about a month. It's coming pretty quickly.
I also noticed something was up with B. Her right wrist was all wrapped up! It wasn't quite in a cast, but looked like a firm Ace bandage, if that makes sense. Slightly later she would hold up the hair on her forehead to display a bandage there as well. Oh goodness, what happened? Just before band started, Dr. K was talking with her and telling her he admired her dedication, but she didn't have to be here. It sounded like B thought we were recording tonight, and one of the pieces we're still focusing on from the last cycle includes a piccolo solo, so she's integral to that--but not if she should be resting. She lives in the city, too, so it's not like it's a quick drive. We thanked her for coming and sent her home, so she didn't participate in the rehearsal proper. Eventually I asked L what had happened; B had fallen out of bed early that morning. Wait, it just happened today?! Holy cow. She'd broken her wrist and had multiple stitches in her head. Oh my goodness. Yes, please go home and rest!
On to rehearsal. We started off with the armed forces song, and we have a couple veterans in the group. Flute L is one; a guy named Jack is the other. I wouldn't normally flat-out name someone, but there's a story involved. Dr. K asked if Jack would be the narrator for part of the armed forces piece, and Jack said sure. When we got to the part of the song that has the narration, Dr. K wanted some of the sections to play softer, which led to an awkward phrasing of what he wanted. (I forget exactly how it was phrased, but it was something like this.)
Dr. K: Okay [section], I want you to cut down in forces. It needs to be quieter here. Take Jack off anyway since he's speaking...
*commence tittering among the band*
Dr. K is slightly annoyed and notices a particular oboe player joining in the tittering.
Dr. K: *scolding fashion* Professor T...
Me, calling him out: Don't even act like you wouldn't have laughed at that.
(Believe me, he has demonstrated that he has the sense of humor of a 12-year-old boy.)
Dr. K: Yeah, I questioned it as soon as it came out of my mouth.
The band calmed down shortly after and rehearsal among the adults resumed. But yeah, he was glad the room was full of adults and not, say, high school students.
One thing that Dr. K mentioned was having a video playing during the armed forces piece that included pictures of service members. We appear to only have the two band members who served; they were in the same National Guard unit and know each other well. The pictures have now been opened up to family members. Dr. K's dad was in the Air Force, but before that he was actually in another branch, I think he said the Navy, and Dr. K's mom has a picture of him from when he very first joined the military. Dr. K said his dad is now 77 so it'll be special to have that picture up, and it would be nice to have pictures of the service members who will be in our audience, like parents and spouses and people like that. I asked how far back we could go with that, because my grandfather was in the Navy, but he won't be in the audience because he's dead. He said grandparents could be included and it would be neat to see different generations of service members in the video. (I emailed him today to ask him, the next time he emails the band, to let us know where to send the pictures. I found two of them for my grandfather--his full class picture from Great Lakes, and a zoomed-in version of that.)
Before band started, I ran into trombone D. I was glad to see they were still alive. D looked at me funny, but I reminded them of how they were going to sing Happy Birthday at karaoke in honor of trombone P, which trombone P did *not* want to have happen, and D said, I decided to back down and be a good friend; I didn't do it. Good. Keeping the peace is a good thing.
Next month is the big music conference downtown, and Dr. K was asking if anyone was going. There's a large contingent of summer band people who are performing on the first day, so between them and the band directors Dr. K thought it might be nice to hang out one night. Yes, well, the rest of us will just be at home that night.
We took a break at one point and a bunch of us went to the bathroom. Someone pointed out how flute C is still wearing flip-flops. Since I sit next to her, it's something I notice every week. She works from home and is holding out as long as possible before wearing regular shoes, though when she's gone outside recently it's been a bit of a shock. I do notice that she keeps her toes polished and told her they always look cute. She said she hates ugly feet and as soon as her polish chips, she's gotta replace it. Understood. I was the same way for a while--I kept my toenails polished, but I haven't done that in a long time. Somewhat related, and I don't think I mentioned it: Last week or two weeks ago, C started talking about food and mentioned having seen an ad about a Domino's emergency pizza. She was hungry enough that she started looking it up. She brought it up to Dr. K even, who pointed back at the trombone section and said, we saw that too! Where did we see that ad? It sounded like during a class, he was looking up something on YouTube and the Domino's ad was what played prior to what they were watching. Alas, no Domino's pizza appeared that night, but I think C probably got Domino's on the way home. Or maybe Taco Bell. That got brought up too.
Christmas Festival keeps making me laugh. Not only am I cuing in the chimes in the one section, but both NBH and L are making little hand gestures for when the chimes should be playing too. Watching us all make a similar movement as we're counting rests is pretty amusing. Alas, I was also sad, too, because this piece has a cute piccolo part that I love and with no B there, it didn't get played. :(
We spent probably 2 hours on this cycle's music, then we got to work on the two pieces from the last cycle. A fair amount of bottle players had tossed their original bottles and had to bring new ones, and they needed cork stoppers, so before band started Dr. K was tossing them out to the clarinets--you get a cork! And you get a cork! Yes, you make a good Oprah. But we started with the passacaglia, since the bottle section of the other piece (what we were focusing on) doesn't involve everybody and people were able to be dismissed. With B gone, her solo section was a little empty; Dr. K announced that it would only be bassoon there tonight (they have a soli together). One of the younger French horn players raised her hand and said she wasn't at the recording session, so did it make a difference without her there? Dr. K said, yes. The player took it to mean that it was better with her missing and said she'd lay out. We had to correct her--no, no, with you missing, it was bad. There were so many people missing from the recording session that it sounded empty; *that's* why we have to record this part again. Please play!
I mentioned that at the start of band, Dr. K had been setting up the metronome on the computer. He has it play through the speakers in the room so we can all hear it, but between the buzz of the monitors and the loud beeping, it's pretty annoying even if it's necessary. When part of the band cleared out--people who weren't on the first cycle were allowed to leave--the buzzing of the monitors was really annoying and I asked him if he could turn them off. Dr. K obliged, much to the relief of the band. Several other people were about to ask the same question.
During the early part of rehearsal, one of the doors to the room had been propped open, and several people kept popping their heads in to see what was going on. One time, this guy came and stood and watched for a few minutes, but it was right when Dr. K was getting cross with the trombone section, which kept talking every time the band stopped playing and he was getting annoyed with them. (Trombone D came up and apologized for that, and the trombones were better afterward. See, nipping things in the bud is a good thing.) Once we hit a break, I said to Dr. K, can we shut the door to keep out the randos? He went, yes, we can shut the door, but they're faculty. One was my department chair--I said, oh, I thought I recognized her--and the guy is our drum set instructor. I said, that's all fine and dandy, but it's distracting. (He didn't mind because he wants people to see what we're doing and get them excited for the music we're playing.) Then, during the bottle piece, trombone R had been dismissed since he doesn't play in that section, so he was moving things around and had gone to the stage to get a stand rack for clean-up purposes. He then slowly--slo-o-o-o-owly--brought in the rack as we were playing, and the way he brought it in was almost comical. I couldn't help but laugh, which annoyed Dr. K; he was like, focus! Okay, well, R is in my line of sight. Perhaps we should reinstate the rule that nobody enters the room if there is music actively being played. We talked about this after band, and I did apologize for laughing, but I also said that some of us are easily distracted. Dr. K said he might start putting up the signs he used to have on the doors that did say not to enter if we're playing.
We only have one more regular rehearsal to go. The following week is Thanksgiving, and the week after is our dress rehearsal with the chorus. It's at a later time than normal as some other group has the stage earlier in the evening. That's going to be a late night for me, ugh. And then our concert is that Saturday and then we're off for about a month. It's coming pretty quickly.