Regular Band: Crankypants and tuning
Back to Regular Band! The small ensemble had a rehearsal last week, but that wasn't discussed at all; this was the first real, full-on rehearsal for everyone. As usual, it was great to be back with everyone and get to chat. The Eb clarinet player and I got into a deep discussion for a good 10-15 minutes before rehearsal, to where I was sitting in the piccolo player's chair all that time, until she showed up and I had to move. Well, at least I warmed it up for her! She is having a medical procedure next Monday and we'll see if she makes it to rehearsal. She said if she did make it, she might just sit and not play. (I mean...I'm totally up for playing piccolo just in case, FYI...) She also said something about, when I'm queen... I don't recall what came after that, but the Eb player went, wait, did you just say "when I'm queen"??? So part of me wants to make her a little crown so she can be queen.
Our directors have decided that this will be the year of impeccable tuning, starting this week. And...it wasn't. But that's okay; we're to work on it. AD2 is trying to get us into each other's sound, primarily if we're a high voice, we need to get into and blend with the lower voices. I will say, the picc player got called out a couple times for her tuning. It's weird because she keeps her tuner on her stand much of the time, clipped onto her instrument, yet she's still so out of tune a lot. I don't know how often I should tell her that, because it would be like every time we play. I don't want to seem like I'm picking on her. It's so funny how sometimes I'm totally decisive about things and others I'm wishy-washy.
For example: The march. We're doing a march we've done before, under the Director Emeritus, and while we're doing the public domain version of it and not the Sousa version we'd been playing, at least the flute part isn't egregiously different; in fact, my part looks identical. Phew. But DE and his lack of hearing let some things slide here over the years, and in this piece that would be the rhythm. Mind you, I've been practicing this music since our last concert, so I know how it's supposed to go. The upper woodwinds have these pick-up 16th notes going into a quarter note as part of the main melody, quick little blips going into the downbeats. The other musicians, primarily the entire clarinet section, were playing them like 8th notes. The first time that happened, I kind of said something, loud enough that a few people around me should have heard. The second time, it still happened, and I got cranky. I raised my hand and exasperatedly said something to AD2, who looked a little taken aback but did say something to address the group, and after that it was better. This is what happens when I'm tense and stressed and haven't gotten much sleep. I have no patience for incorrectness.
The rest of rehearsal was better. We're doing another folk piece, and it's one near and dear to ADB's heart--it was commissioned by his college band director, and I'm strongly guessing ADB was in the band that premiered this piece. He has a wealth of knowledge about it and literally sent us a whole Power Point-type presentation about it. Very interesting. This piece has a sequel, and I played part of the sequel as *my* first piece in college. Being Eastern European, there are a number of funky rhythms and such, plus an asymmetrical meter, so it'll be a challenge, but it seems like fun. ADB, being a percussionist, took our timpani player to task. This is not uncommon; ADB is very picky but also a high-level player. He told the guy, I speak from experience; don't look at your music, but memorize it in X section and look at me. ADB would be the visual cue for the band; the timpani player would be the aural cue. Good. Some of us need that. Weirdly, for all the preparation I'd put into this piece, I felt less ready to play it when we got into it than I did all the stuff in Fancy Band. Not sure how that worked but I guess the actual tempo is a lot faster than I've been practicing it and that threw me off, perhaps? Maybe I just need to listen to the reference recordings a few more times. That's ADB's suggestion as well.
We pretty much just dipped our toes into the music, but the one other piece that sticks out is the other one that has an asymmetrical part, which is sort of a medley of patriotic songs, think from the 1700s. We have "Yankee Doodle" in 7/8. Counting that part was really awkward, so AD2 told the band, play everything as 8th notes. If you have quarter notes, convert them to two 8ths. This really helped people figure out where the music should fall into place. I might want to mention that to director A in Fancy Band for the hard section of her one tune. Anyway, if the picc player isn't able to be there next week, this is the one piece I'd want to play; I have the part and I've been practicing it as part of keeping up my piccolo chops. So...yeah, I can do it. And it also has a major piccolo solo in a couple places (thank you, prevalence of fifes back then).
After rehearsal, I stuck around talking to trumpet J, who wasn't at Fancy Band rehearsal last week; he was down in Florida for the big circus band jamboree. He joked that he brought the average age of the band down--it is not a young crowd that does this. I'd been hoping to talk to AD2 to apologize for being cranky earlier (I'd mellowed out soon enough) but didn't see her around. I used the washroom and started the arduous task of bundling up against the cold, and while doing that out in the lobby I heard her coming up from downstairs. Great, I'd get my chance. I had to follow her back into the band room to get her attention, and I did apologize, and she went, yeah, that was full-on cranky, but it came from a place of caring, and don't apologize for caring. Phew. I appreciated hearing that. She's so good at being unruffled. You can tell when she's really upset because she sort of pauses before she speaks, but I don't see her getting mad and that's pretty amazing, coming from someone whose emotions sometimes get the best of her. I was glad to finally get going home, though--Monday and Tuesday were rough since I was so exhausted. Today was better.
Our directors have decided that this will be the year of impeccable tuning, starting this week. And...it wasn't. But that's okay; we're to work on it. AD2 is trying to get us into each other's sound, primarily if we're a high voice, we need to get into and blend with the lower voices. I will say, the picc player got called out a couple times for her tuning. It's weird because she keeps her tuner on her stand much of the time, clipped onto her instrument, yet she's still so out of tune a lot. I don't know how often I should tell her that, because it would be like every time we play. I don't want to seem like I'm picking on her. It's so funny how sometimes I'm totally decisive about things and others I'm wishy-washy.
For example: The march. We're doing a march we've done before, under the Director Emeritus, and while we're doing the public domain version of it and not the Sousa version we'd been playing, at least the flute part isn't egregiously different; in fact, my part looks identical. Phew. But DE and his lack of hearing let some things slide here over the years, and in this piece that would be the rhythm. Mind you, I've been practicing this music since our last concert, so I know how it's supposed to go. The upper woodwinds have these pick-up 16th notes going into a quarter note as part of the main melody, quick little blips going into the downbeats. The other musicians, primarily the entire clarinet section, were playing them like 8th notes. The first time that happened, I kind of said something, loud enough that a few people around me should have heard. The second time, it still happened, and I got cranky. I raised my hand and exasperatedly said something to AD2, who looked a little taken aback but did say something to address the group, and after that it was better. This is what happens when I'm tense and stressed and haven't gotten much sleep. I have no patience for incorrectness.
The rest of rehearsal was better. We're doing another folk piece, and it's one near and dear to ADB's heart--it was commissioned by his college band director, and I'm strongly guessing ADB was in the band that premiered this piece. He has a wealth of knowledge about it and literally sent us a whole Power Point-type presentation about it. Very interesting. This piece has a sequel, and I played part of the sequel as *my* first piece in college. Being Eastern European, there are a number of funky rhythms and such, plus an asymmetrical meter, so it'll be a challenge, but it seems like fun. ADB, being a percussionist, took our timpani player to task. This is not uncommon; ADB is very picky but also a high-level player. He told the guy, I speak from experience; don't look at your music, but memorize it in X section and look at me. ADB would be the visual cue for the band; the timpani player would be the aural cue. Good. Some of us need that. Weirdly, for all the preparation I'd put into this piece, I felt less ready to play it when we got into it than I did all the stuff in Fancy Band. Not sure how that worked but I guess the actual tempo is a lot faster than I've been practicing it and that threw me off, perhaps? Maybe I just need to listen to the reference recordings a few more times. That's ADB's suggestion as well.
We pretty much just dipped our toes into the music, but the one other piece that sticks out is the other one that has an asymmetrical part, which is sort of a medley of patriotic songs, think from the 1700s. We have "Yankee Doodle" in 7/8. Counting that part was really awkward, so AD2 told the band, play everything as 8th notes. If you have quarter notes, convert them to two 8ths. This really helped people figure out where the music should fall into place. I might want to mention that to director A in Fancy Band for the hard section of her one tune. Anyway, if the picc player isn't able to be there next week, this is the one piece I'd want to play; I have the part and I've been practicing it as part of keeping up my piccolo chops. So...yeah, I can do it. And it also has a major piccolo solo in a couple places (thank you, prevalence of fifes back then).
After rehearsal, I stuck around talking to trumpet J, who wasn't at Fancy Band rehearsal last week; he was down in Florida for the big circus band jamboree. He joked that he brought the average age of the band down--it is not a young crowd that does this. I'd been hoping to talk to AD2 to apologize for being cranky earlier (I'd mellowed out soon enough) but didn't see her around. I used the washroom and started the arduous task of bundling up against the cold, and while doing that out in the lobby I heard her coming up from downstairs. Great, I'd get my chance. I had to follow her back into the band room to get her attention, and I did apologize, and she went, yeah, that was full-on cranky, but it came from a place of caring, and don't apologize for caring. Phew. I appreciated hearing that. She's so good at being unruffled. You can tell when she's really upset because she sort of pauses before she speaks, but I don't see her getting mad and that's pretty amazing, coming from someone whose emotions sometimes get the best of her. I was glad to finally get going home, though--Monday and Tuesday were rough since I was so exhausted. Today was better.