Alumni Band 2011
I'll just cut this here...I know it will get long.
For whatever reason, the people in charge of this have never been great about getting back to me to let me know, yes, we got your RSVP and know you're coming; this year, instead of personal email addresses, the letter said to contact the alumni office instead. I'm not surprised, and yet I still didn't hear anything. Ah well.
I ended up leaving somewhat early because I needed gas; boy, am I glad I don't get gas at Kirk and Butterfield. Here I was upset that I didn't get gas Saturday night, when the station by my house had it at $3.89; it went up to $3.99, which was the standard at the two other gas stations I passed during the first leg of the trip. But at Kirk and Butterfield? $4.35. Holy gas gouging, Batman. Down the road at 56 and 59? $3.99. Yeah, okay, Kirk/Farnsworth is a tollway exit, but so is 59. That...just did not make me happy. But onwards.
I hate driving through downtown Naperville, but to get to the level of the parking deck I wanted to be on, I kind of had to. (That parking deck is kind of weird; you enter the lowest level from one street, and the other two levels from a second.) Thankfully, I remembered a cut-through area that would let me bypass downtown, especially since it was rush hour, and now I know a better way to get there. I still have to go through downtown when I leave, but later at night it's not so bad.
After arriving (note: remember to try *both* doors when attempting to enter the building), I saw that a few others had already arrived, all of whom I knew to some degree; Larry, the director, was there as well. I told him I'd been practicing "Stars and Stripes Forever" since I knew he liked to end with that piece. He said, we're not doing it. The way he said it made me think he was kidding, but no, he stopped. The others felt bad for me, but that's okay.
People trickled in; originally dinner was to be at 5:30 (it was probably 5:15 by the time I got down there), but it was more like 5:45 or even 6 before we started. Five tables, each seating six, had been set up, but there were so few of us there that we ended up sticking two tables adjacent to each other and we all sat together. There were roughly a dozen of us there. The rundown of who I can remember (and unfortunately I don't know everyone's names, nor did I get a picture this time):
--Tom, '75, trombone; he was easily the oldest person there, but I know him because he helped out with the band when I was a freshman
--Dave, '99, French horn; we go way back. We had band and choir together, we briefly worked together, he taught out here for close to a decade. I see him in the grocery store sometimes.
--Me, '99, flute and piccolo
--Jen, '01, percussion; one of the instigators
--Lisa, '03, flute; the other of the instigators (though this year they recruited Dave to help)
--Steve, '04, alto sax
--Brian, '05, bassoon
--Chris, '10, trumpet
--There were several others whose names I didn't really catch; I know one percussionist was Fumi, from the mid- to late '00s (I think she was at the last alumni band); there were these two girls from the same time frame who played clarinet and alto sax; and one clarinet player who graduated last year whom I totally recognize but completely forgot his name. I'll have to dig out an old program to see if that will jog my memory. There might have been one or two others, but I don't recall; some people came late to dinner.
So, before I go on, there's a couple of important things I want to mention that probably mean nothing to most of you, but it's good for me to recall:
--Tom was the one to tell me that the patriarch of the music store I worked at (he taught lessons there in recent years) passed away last year. I had no idea. He'd been in ill health, but I hadn't seen any articles or obituaries. Worse, it was just over a year ago, so now all the online obituaries are archived; I'll have to go to the library to read them or something. I just feel bad that I did nothing for the family; I wish I'd known.
--Dave confirmed the death of my high school chemistry teacher.
--Dave also mentioned that next year will be the last years of both my high school band director and my college choir director, and that the band director will be having a farewell concert around Memorial Day next year. So, those of you around who know my high school friends who aren't on here (think people like Aaron and Heather), please pass the word on--they'll have an alumni band, like what they did for Mr. Stiers. I think that will be pretty awesome.
Dinner was okay. It was serve yourself, and the alumni person had to go, okay, food's over there. There was salad, some sort of vegetable lasagna looking thing that I didn't have, plain noodles, cream sauce (no), chicken breasts (no), breadsticks, and cookies. I was the first to grab food and sat down at a corner of a table; Dave, Tom, Steve, and Chris ended up by me, with Larry close enough to join in the conversation. Not sure how I ended up with all these guys, but whatever. (That clarinet player ended up on the other side of Dave, which is why I can't believe I don't remember his name; guess it's because I couldn't see his name tag.) During this whole time, we told all sorts of stories and asked questions of each other. Two of the memorable stories involved Steve, who found a crawfish in his kitchen, and Dave, who as an RA had a resident with a parrot in his room. That resident would marry my choir tour roommate (and he came up in conversation because he was one of the chaperones last year when I worked on the farm).
I think it was around 6:40 that we were taken into the band room to warm up for a few minutes, and while walking back there some of the current band members were walking past. I asked which girls remembered the doily dresses, and how jealous are you of the new dresses, and Jen mentioned she wanted a doily dress to make a pillow out of it. (Basically, our dresses back then were black with this white design on the front that resembled a doily. Larry loved them; I think he picked them out himself. The girls, not so much. They got new dresses in recent years that are solid black.) Later, one of the more current girls came up to me to talk dresses, and she mentioned having a hemming party. For whatever reason, the new dresses are like eight feet long. I remember that from when we got new choir dresses.
It was probably 7 when we went onstage to rehearse our song, "The Hobbit," from de Meij's "Lord of the Rings" Symphony. (I've also played "Gandalf" from it.) I was a little frightened to be playing it, because I remember the runs, but aside from a few measures the song is perfectly playable. I'd played piccolo last time, but I was sitting next to flutists; that ended up being perfectly fine. The piccolo player was great and did a much better job than I could have done sightreading, so it was a relief in a way not to have to play with her. I'd forgotten how long a piece it is; when one of my stand partners flipped the page, there were still two more pages of music to play. Oh, dear. The girls were great with helping me realize where I was (the page turn involved multiple measures of rest, and they turned so quickly I didn't see how many measures I needed to count) and also turning the stand to make sure I could see. They also complimented me on how well I'd played. Again, aside from the runs (where I played the first and middle notes...a far cry from when Larry had to yell at me for taking them too fast back in the day), it wasn't too hard.
The concert was at 8, and to start the alumni sat in the audience. Since I wasn't playing piccolo, I'd put that and my flute stand away; it was kind of nice not to have to worry about two instruments. The chamber group played a new piece that they're hoping to record for the composer; the only disappointment was that two of the ten players weren't listed in the program. Then came the Alma Mater (Larry does love to make the band sing) and "Mars" from Holst's "The Planets," which led to a story. While we were still on stage after the rehearsal, Larry started telling stories about the band from days of yore, and he began mentioning the places we used to practice in before the new fine arts center was built. I'd asked him earlier what the band was playing and he'd mentioned "Mars," so when he got to the old library basement that felt like it was 100F, I said, you mentioned you're playing "Mars," right? Mimi (first chair flute) fell asleep during "Mars" because the flutes had so many measures of rest at the beginning. (I was bad. I interrupted him twice while he was talking. It didn't help that I was sitting first chair, essentially; he probably doesn't miss me there.)
After "Mars" was the concerto concert winner, a bassoonist; basically, the top musicians battle it out to play a piece with the band at the concert. She played a movement from von Weber's "Hungarian Fantasy," which was really good and, honestly, a little amusing, the way low notes would pop out every so often. Then came "Africa: Ceremony, Song, and Ritual," which I've also played; I'd forgotten about the piccolo solos in that piece. It was unusual and fun, and there's a percussive instrument that I remember they bought specifically for this piece, so when it got played I almost had to laugh at the memory. I don't know what it's called, but it produces this funky sound.
There was a break here, where the band officers introduced the graduating seniors. There were maybe a dozen, which was amazing, because they were just a small part of the band. There's like 70-80 people in the band now. One girl who was up with the group--I recognized her as one of the piccolo players from past concerts--was not in the standard band uniform; she must be student-teaching or something this term. (There was at least one other graduate who wasn't at the concert for whatever reason.) Since she wasn't in band, she wasn't counted when they ordered bouquets, so the guy next to her handed her his bouquet, which I thought was nice.
After that Larry brought the alumni on stage, but before our song he recognized the outstanding upperclassman, a percussionist; she was part of the chamber group. Funny how when Dave and I graduated, there were three people recognized (including the two of us), but Larry's whittled it down to one person. I don't know if that's good or bad. Most years when I was there, it was a two-person deal. We played; it was fine. This was the first time I'd gotten a glimpse of the score, which was huge. It was at least a foot and a half tall. Holy cow.
I didn't end up sticking around after the concert. I said goodbye to a few people in the band room, including Larry, and that was basically it. It was around 9:30 by that point and I was tired. I was surprised that mom came and found me after I'd gotten home, though that was in part to check on the bird. I lock her up when I leave for a while, and mom had let her out for a bit, but put her away after finding Kirby in her crabby corner and thinking Kirby had died. No, really, that's normal for her. I also got complimented on my outfit, which was a surprise. I'd had to base my outfit around what pants I could fit into, which was a pair of black slacks, plus I had to compensate for the coolish weather. I ended up in a shirt that I haven't worn in years because it doesn't look good by itself, but when put underneath my lacy pink button-down shirt it actually looked pretty good. Aha. The under-shirt has this sparkly design on the front that makes it look fancy, but the material is pretty thin, which is why I can't really wear it on its own anymore. I was thrilled to be able to wear it at all, much less to something like this. All in all, it was a decent night.
For whatever reason, the people in charge of this have never been great about getting back to me to let me know, yes, we got your RSVP and know you're coming; this year, instead of personal email addresses, the letter said to contact the alumni office instead. I'm not surprised, and yet I still didn't hear anything. Ah well.
I ended up leaving somewhat early because I needed gas; boy, am I glad I don't get gas at Kirk and Butterfield. Here I was upset that I didn't get gas Saturday night, when the station by my house had it at $3.89; it went up to $3.99, which was the standard at the two other gas stations I passed during the first leg of the trip. But at Kirk and Butterfield? $4.35. Holy gas gouging, Batman. Down the road at 56 and 59? $3.99. Yeah, okay, Kirk/Farnsworth is a tollway exit, but so is 59. That...just did not make me happy. But onwards.
I hate driving through downtown Naperville, but to get to the level of the parking deck I wanted to be on, I kind of had to. (That parking deck is kind of weird; you enter the lowest level from one street, and the other two levels from a second.) Thankfully, I remembered a cut-through area that would let me bypass downtown, especially since it was rush hour, and now I know a better way to get there. I still have to go through downtown when I leave, but later at night it's not so bad.
After arriving (note: remember to try *both* doors when attempting to enter the building), I saw that a few others had already arrived, all of whom I knew to some degree; Larry, the director, was there as well. I told him I'd been practicing "Stars and Stripes Forever" since I knew he liked to end with that piece. He said, we're not doing it. The way he said it made me think he was kidding, but no, he stopped. The others felt bad for me, but that's okay.
People trickled in; originally dinner was to be at 5:30 (it was probably 5:15 by the time I got down there), but it was more like 5:45 or even 6 before we started. Five tables, each seating six, had been set up, but there were so few of us there that we ended up sticking two tables adjacent to each other and we all sat together. There were roughly a dozen of us there. The rundown of who I can remember (and unfortunately I don't know everyone's names, nor did I get a picture this time):
--Tom, '75, trombone; he was easily the oldest person there, but I know him because he helped out with the band when I was a freshman
--Dave, '99, French horn; we go way back. We had band and choir together, we briefly worked together, he taught out here for close to a decade. I see him in the grocery store sometimes.
--Me, '99, flute and piccolo
--Jen, '01, percussion; one of the instigators
--Lisa, '03, flute; the other of the instigators (though this year they recruited Dave to help)
--Steve, '04, alto sax
--Brian, '05, bassoon
--Chris, '10, trumpet
--There were several others whose names I didn't really catch; I know one percussionist was Fumi, from the mid- to late '00s (I think she was at the last alumni band); there were these two girls from the same time frame who played clarinet and alto sax; and one clarinet player who graduated last year whom I totally recognize but completely forgot his name. I'll have to dig out an old program to see if that will jog my memory. There might have been one or two others, but I don't recall; some people came late to dinner.
So, before I go on, there's a couple of important things I want to mention that probably mean nothing to most of you, but it's good for me to recall:
--Tom was the one to tell me that the patriarch of the music store I worked at (he taught lessons there in recent years) passed away last year. I had no idea. He'd been in ill health, but I hadn't seen any articles or obituaries. Worse, it was just over a year ago, so now all the online obituaries are archived; I'll have to go to the library to read them or something. I just feel bad that I did nothing for the family; I wish I'd known.
--Dave confirmed the death of my high school chemistry teacher.
--Dave also mentioned that next year will be the last years of both my high school band director and my college choir director, and that the band director will be having a farewell concert around Memorial Day next year. So, those of you around who know my high school friends who aren't on here (think people like Aaron and Heather), please pass the word on--they'll have an alumni band, like what they did for Mr. Stiers. I think that will be pretty awesome.
Dinner was okay. It was serve yourself, and the alumni person had to go, okay, food's over there. There was salad, some sort of vegetable lasagna looking thing that I didn't have, plain noodles, cream sauce (no), chicken breasts (no), breadsticks, and cookies. I was the first to grab food and sat down at a corner of a table; Dave, Tom, Steve, and Chris ended up by me, with Larry close enough to join in the conversation. Not sure how I ended up with all these guys, but whatever. (That clarinet player ended up on the other side of Dave, which is why I can't believe I don't remember his name; guess it's because I couldn't see his name tag.) During this whole time, we told all sorts of stories and asked questions of each other. Two of the memorable stories involved Steve, who found a crawfish in his kitchen, and Dave, who as an RA had a resident with a parrot in his room. That resident would marry my choir tour roommate (and he came up in conversation because he was one of the chaperones last year when I worked on the farm).
I think it was around 6:40 that we were taken into the band room to warm up for a few minutes, and while walking back there some of the current band members were walking past. I asked which girls remembered the doily dresses, and how jealous are you of the new dresses, and Jen mentioned she wanted a doily dress to make a pillow out of it. (Basically, our dresses back then were black with this white design on the front that resembled a doily. Larry loved them; I think he picked them out himself. The girls, not so much. They got new dresses in recent years that are solid black.) Later, one of the more current girls came up to me to talk dresses, and she mentioned having a hemming party. For whatever reason, the new dresses are like eight feet long. I remember that from when we got new choir dresses.
It was probably 7 when we went onstage to rehearse our song, "The Hobbit," from de Meij's "Lord of the Rings" Symphony. (I've also played "Gandalf" from it.) I was a little frightened to be playing it, because I remember the runs, but aside from a few measures the song is perfectly playable. I'd played piccolo last time, but I was sitting next to flutists; that ended up being perfectly fine. The piccolo player was great and did a much better job than I could have done sightreading, so it was a relief in a way not to have to play with her. I'd forgotten how long a piece it is; when one of my stand partners flipped the page, there were still two more pages of music to play. Oh, dear. The girls were great with helping me realize where I was (the page turn involved multiple measures of rest, and they turned so quickly I didn't see how many measures I needed to count) and also turning the stand to make sure I could see. They also complimented me on how well I'd played. Again, aside from the runs (where I played the first and middle notes...a far cry from when Larry had to yell at me for taking them too fast back in the day), it wasn't too hard.
The concert was at 8, and to start the alumni sat in the audience. Since I wasn't playing piccolo, I'd put that and my flute stand away; it was kind of nice not to have to worry about two instruments. The chamber group played a new piece that they're hoping to record for the composer; the only disappointment was that two of the ten players weren't listed in the program. Then came the Alma Mater (Larry does love to make the band sing) and "Mars" from Holst's "The Planets," which led to a story. While we were still on stage after the rehearsal, Larry started telling stories about the band from days of yore, and he began mentioning the places we used to practice in before the new fine arts center was built. I'd asked him earlier what the band was playing and he'd mentioned "Mars," so when he got to the old library basement that felt like it was 100F, I said, you mentioned you're playing "Mars," right? Mimi (first chair flute) fell asleep during "Mars" because the flutes had so many measures of rest at the beginning. (I was bad. I interrupted him twice while he was talking. It didn't help that I was sitting first chair, essentially; he probably doesn't miss me there.)
After "Mars" was the concerto concert winner, a bassoonist; basically, the top musicians battle it out to play a piece with the band at the concert. She played a movement from von Weber's "Hungarian Fantasy," which was really good and, honestly, a little amusing, the way low notes would pop out every so often. Then came "Africa: Ceremony, Song, and Ritual," which I've also played; I'd forgotten about the piccolo solos in that piece. It was unusual and fun, and there's a percussive instrument that I remember they bought specifically for this piece, so when it got played I almost had to laugh at the memory. I don't know what it's called, but it produces this funky sound.
There was a break here, where the band officers introduced the graduating seniors. There were maybe a dozen, which was amazing, because they were just a small part of the band. There's like 70-80 people in the band now. One girl who was up with the group--I recognized her as one of the piccolo players from past concerts--was not in the standard band uniform; she must be student-teaching or something this term. (There was at least one other graduate who wasn't at the concert for whatever reason.) Since she wasn't in band, she wasn't counted when they ordered bouquets, so the guy next to her handed her his bouquet, which I thought was nice.
After that Larry brought the alumni on stage, but before our song he recognized the outstanding upperclassman, a percussionist; she was part of the chamber group. Funny how when Dave and I graduated, there were three people recognized (including the two of us), but Larry's whittled it down to one person. I don't know if that's good or bad. Most years when I was there, it was a two-person deal. We played; it was fine. This was the first time I'd gotten a glimpse of the score, which was huge. It was at least a foot and a half tall. Holy cow.
I didn't end up sticking around after the concert. I said goodbye to a few people in the band room, including Larry, and that was basically it. It was around 9:30 by that point and I was tired. I was surprised that mom came and found me after I'd gotten home, though that was in part to check on the bird. I lock her up when I leave for a while, and mom had let her out for a bit, but put her away after finding Kirby in her crabby corner and thinking Kirby had died. No, really, that's normal for her. I also got complimented on my outfit, which was a surprise. I'd had to base my outfit around what pants I could fit into, which was a pair of black slacks, plus I had to compensate for the coolish weather. I ended up in a shirt that I haven't worn in years because it doesn't look good by itself, but when put underneath my lacy pink button-down shirt it actually looked pretty good. Aha. The under-shirt has this sparkly design on the front that makes it look fancy, but the material is pretty thin, which is why I can't really wear it on its own anymore. I was thrilled to be able to wear it at all, much less to something like this. All in all, it was a decent night.