Concert #4: The Golden March King
This was a very long week, but for a very good reason.
The director of our band has been with them for many, many years, first as a player, and then, under sudden circumstances, its director. The previous director, who was his mentor, died suddenly, and the band was put in his lap. He has since made it his own, and he is its biggest cheerleader. He will promote the band any and every chance he gets. Every band would jump at the chance to have such a director.
This year, he celebrates 50 years at the helm.
This was the week in which we chose to honor his service. We had a banquet the other night, in addition to the standard rehearsal and concert...but we had a few tricks up our sleeve, too. As did he, so we had to work around it. :)
Tuesday: Banquet
While he never served in the military, as far as I'm aware, the director has always honored the military and veterans and I believe is an honorary member of the local VFW. Therefore, when we needed a place to hold the banquet, we went there. (The other two summer banquets I've attended have been in the lower level of the concert center.) It was to run from 6-9 PM. I'd gone walking that day and definitely wanted to change clothes, so I spent the first ten minutes getting changed and freshening up. On my way back in, I ran into another flute who said there was room at what ended up being a flute table (plus one husband who tagged along). Dinner probably started about 6:30 or so; we had salad, rolls, and prime rib (which I would have thought was a roast, had I not been told), plus green beans and scalloped potatoes (neither of which is my thing, so I didn't try those). And then, dessert. I'd actually grabbed a second roll since my dinner wasn't super substantial but then I got in line for dessert, so I joked that it was my dessert appetizer...then promptly grabbed one of each thing: A brownie with nuts, a raspberry bar, and a piece of vanilla cake. I skipped the chocolate. When I got back to my table, one of the ladies went, somebody's got a sweet tooth! Yeah, little bit. :) Of the three, the raspberry bars were the best--they had slightly more filling than normal, and there was more of a berry flavor somehow. Fantastic. If I'd do it over, I'd only take one of those. You'll see why in a bit.
At about 7, they started with the speeches. The first one up was the ebullient former mayor, who I didn't realize went to high school with the director. The mayor went, see, I can't call him "doctor" (the director has a doctorate), because I remember when he was two years behind me in school! And the mayor had brought the yearbook to prove it! Heh. He then said something like, he's been a director for fifty years...he's *old*! And the way he said it just cracked everyone up. Oh, it was great. Also, he chose not to stand behind the podium because, as he put it, he wasn't tall enough to be seen over it. True--he's only five-something. Plus, he has a booming voice and didn't need a microphone. I also discovered he'd played in the band back in the day, on alto horn (which is now obsolete, at least in the States). Earlier in the evening, he was walking around greeting people and came over to me and Two-Chairs-Down, and when he finished talking with us he gave me a playful punch on the shoulder and said, nice to see you again. I'm sure he didn't know me from Adam but I found it amusing. The rest of the speeches weren't anything out of the ordinary, but I was surprised to find everything was done at 8 o'clock. Um...I thought it went 'til 9. All of a sudden people are cleaning up, folding up the tablecloths, stacking chairs, moving tables. Someone's wife had made a lovely scrapbook and a few of us were looking at that while sort of waiting to greet the director and congratulate him. There were a couple more people in front of me, the last person, when they literally started turning the lights off on us. It was 8:30. Well, guess we're leaving! Okay then. One of the last 8 or 10 people was the 90-something trumpet player. We all asked him, several times, do you need a ride? Do we need to call someone for you? He kept insisting he was fine and someone was coming. It wasn't until the next day that I heard from another band member--who is notorious for being absent-minded and not showing up to things on time--that he'd shown up around 8:45, having gone to the concert center first, and discovered only the elderly trumpet player remaining at the VFW. His ride didn't come for almost another half-hour! Well, at least someone ended up being with him. I do know that I wasn't the last one there, though I had contemplated staying with him, but I'm glad he wasn't alone after all.
Wednesday: Rehearsal
The director's family members had come in from out of town for the celebration, and one of his granddaughters was going to sing the national anthem instead of us playing it. It was...shaky, in part because it was a little high for her, but we adjusted the key and it seemed like it would be fine. Meanwhile, before rehearsal started, her little brother kept hanging around his grandpa, and it was super cute. You can tell he adores his grandfather, and they probably don't get to see each other much since they live in Virginia. I so wanted a picture of the two of them together but it didn't happen.
The assistant director has been planning a surprise for quite some time, but the director, intentionally or not, nearly sabotaged it. You see, we had a song commissioned for the occasion, and we were going to surprise him with it at the concert. However, we needed to rehearse it first. We ran through it last week during the rehearsal, and while we somehow got the director to leave, he ended up driving back and hanging out in the parking lot to listen, according to his daughter (who plays in the band). So, this time, after we went through his portion of the show, we worked on one of the songs we're taking to Texas while we waited for him to vacate. His daughter made him call her, from his home phone several miles away, to assure us he'd made it there this time. Then, once we got the all-clear, the assistant director got a call, which was kind of funny--when he answered, he greeted the band member calling, who must have said, "Who's this?" because the AD went, you called me! The AD then asked where he was, and in the dark behind him, several members in the setup noticed arms waving near a tree. Aha. Band director and special guest, come on down.
The person who wrote the piece has known the director for something like 35 years (he joked, since I was two!), and he was honored to be the composer of the commissioned piece. As our director loves marches, it was a march, and it was done in the style of several well-known march writers, including Sousa. Even people who don't know music know Sousa. He's everywhere, and he's the director's favorite march writer. The composer was in town not only to help present the piece, but also to conduct it, so that's part of why the director had to leave the premises. And, well, the composer also hadn't heard the piece live, so it was exciting for him, too.
After rehearsal, we were told that there was cake left over from the banquet, and it was not coming home with the band manager again, so eat it! And we did. By the time I was all packed up and I got to the kitchen, there was one piece left...and a raspberry square! I scooped that sucker up. When I looked around, everyone remaining in the concert center was eating cake--what a fun, impromptu party--so it's not like I had to leave the piece for anyone. Except, as it turned out, a former band member was visiting for the concert and sitting in with us, and he hadn't gotten any cake at all. His buddy had come over to grab him the slice just as I was about to take it. Since the piece was on the large side, we decided to cut it in half, which worked out. So, yeah, I had cake at nearly 9:30 that night. Not a great thing, and I was kind of buzzed on the way home, but it was such a fun atmosphere that it was really enjoyable overall.
(And then I got home...but that's another story. Let's just say my parents didn't have as enjoyable an evening. I'll tell you later.)
Thursday: Concert
I'd ran some errands on Wednesday--ooh, right, I finally used up the last two of my Christmas gift cards. My special moment was at Joann, where I had a $25 EGC and my total? Was $25.03. How awesome was that? Anyway. I'd run errands because the weather was iffy, and it was iffy again Thursday, but I still went walking. Right after I finished and was about to sit and read my paper at a picnic bench, it started dribbling. Eventually it poured. But it rained in some fashion for quiet a while, and I was sitting there hoping it would get it over with in the afternoon so that the evening would be dry. While it did rain again after I got to the concert center, it held off during the concert and we got everything in. Phew!
The commissioned march was tough, particularly toward the end. I really wanted to practice it but couldn't, exactly, given that the director was wandering about. So was his grandson, in this bright blue top, so you couldn't miss him among our uniforms. Alas, I was never quick enough with my camera to snap him up on the podium. We got started normally, but when it came to the national anthem, since we weren't playing, we had to stand. This was weird for us, to the point we almost forgot that's what you're supposed to do! We also started singing along, which I think helped bolster his granddaughter's confidence (she's only 11 and going into 7th grade), and she sounded better that day. The emcee ended up introducing all the family members who were there, though she skipped his wife--who not only is in the band, but who sits directly behind the emcee to boot. The emcee went, I was going to mention her later! Which she did, but not until the very end of the concert.
We do a raffle in the middle of the concert, where a different local business is spotlighted and the raffle winners get gift cards to them as prizes. In honor of the anniversary, the normal $25 gift cards were bumped up to $50. Also, the grandson got to pull some of the numbers. He cracked us up, because he got up there and pulled the microphone right down to his height, and he called out those numbers like he's done it all his life. Then, when the numbers he pulled didn't elicit a reaction, he started going, going once, going twice... This had happened to the previous number-puller, from the sponsor business, but in his case there actually was a winner; the little guy just couldn't see him. He's eight. I admired his spunk.
It was around that time that the big surprises came out. Not only did we put a plaque on the front of the building, along with other honorary plaques, but we explained the commissioned piece and the composer came out. Let me tell you, the director was in shock. The AD set him up with a stand and an oversized copy of the score so he could follow along. The look on his face was priceless. You can bet I pulled out my camera and got a picture. I'll have to see how it turned out because that might be one to send along to the people who run the band's Facebook page. (There are already a bunch of pictures there, but not that look of surprise. It was amazing.) The director was so thrilled that, at the end of the concert, he told the band to stay put and asked the audience to stick around, because he wanted a chance to conduct his new piece--and he told us not to turn it in with the rest of the music, because it's coming to Texas with us. :) Here's the thing: The song isn't easy, especially at the end. The other songs we played last night were not the easiest ones ever. We were exhausted by the end of it. The piccolo player, back in duty, told me she'd left her lips at the trio that last time. Oh, man, I know what you mean. I told her, did I thank you for coming back this week? She laughed, but my goodness, there were a bunch of high notes on this concert. My jaw hurt, and I was just on flute. Piccolo takes a tighter embouchure and it can really wear you out playing stuff like that, high and fast and lots of tonguing. But it went really well, and I know he was happy, even if I didn't get a chance to really talk to him afterward. I was just thrilled to be a part of it, because something like this doesn't happen every day. And, by the way, since we'd first run through it last week, that meant I was the inaugural piccolo player for the commissioned song. I may not have played it at the concert, but I played it first. ;)
The director of our band has been with them for many, many years, first as a player, and then, under sudden circumstances, its director. The previous director, who was his mentor, died suddenly, and the band was put in his lap. He has since made it his own, and he is its biggest cheerleader. He will promote the band any and every chance he gets. Every band would jump at the chance to have such a director.
This year, he celebrates 50 years at the helm.
This was the week in which we chose to honor his service. We had a banquet the other night, in addition to the standard rehearsal and concert...but we had a few tricks up our sleeve, too. As did he, so we had to work around it. :)
Tuesday: Banquet
While he never served in the military, as far as I'm aware, the director has always honored the military and veterans and I believe is an honorary member of the local VFW. Therefore, when we needed a place to hold the banquet, we went there. (The other two summer banquets I've attended have been in the lower level of the concert center.) It was to run from 6-9 PM. I'd gone walking that day and definitely wanted to change clothes, so I spent the first ten minutes getting changed and freshening up. On my way back in, I ran into another flute who said there was room at what ended up being a flute table (plus one husband who tagged along). Dinner probably started about 6:30 or so; we had salad, rolls, and prime rib (which I would have thought was a roast, had I not been told), plus green beans and scalloped potatoes (neither of which is my thing, so I didn't try those). And then, dessert. I'd actually grabbed a second roll since my dinner wasn't super substantial but then I got in line for dessert, so I joked that it was my dessert appetizer...then promptly grabbed one of each thing: A brownie with nuts, a raspberry bar, and a piece of vanilla cake. I skipped the chocolate. When I got back to my table, one of the ladies went, somebody's got a sweet tooth! Yeah, little bit. :) Of the three, the raspberry bars were the best--they had slightly more filling than normal, and there was more of a berry flavor somehow. Fantastic. If I'd do it over, I'd only take one of those. You'll see why in a bit.
At about 7, they started with the speeches. The first one up was the ebullient former mayor, who I didn't realize went to high school with the director. The mayor went, see, I can't call him "doctor" (the director has a doctorate), because I remember when he was two years behind me in school! And the mayor had brought the yearbook to prove it! Heh. He then said something like, he's been a director for fifty years...he's *old*! And the way he said it just cracked everyone up. Oh, it was great. Also, he chose not to stand behind the podium because, as he put it, he wasn't tall enough to be seen over it. True--he's only five-something. Plus, he has a booming voice and didn't need a microphone. I also discovered he'd played in the band back in the day, on alto horn (which is now obsolete, at least in the States). Earlier in the evening, he was walking around greeting people and came over to me and Two-Chairs-Down, and when he finished talking with us he gave me a playful punch on the shoulder and said, nice to see you again. I'm sure he didn't know me from Adam but I found it amusing. The rest of the speeches weren't anything out of the ordinary, but I was surprised to find everything was done at 8 o'clock. Um...I thought it went 'til 9. All of a sudden people are cleaning up, folding up the tablecloths, stacking chairs, moving tables. Someone's wife had made a lovely scrapbook and a few of us were looking at that while sort of waiting to greet the director and congratulate him. There were a couple more people in front of me, the last person, when they literally started turning the lights off on us. It was 8:30. Well, guess we're leaving! Okay then. One of the last 8 or 10 people was the 90-something trumpet player. We all asked him, several times, do you need a ride? Do we need to call someone for you? He kept insisting he was fine and someone was coming. It wasn't until the next day that I heard from another band member--who is notorious for being absent-minded and not showing up to things on time--that he'd shown up around 8:45, having gone to the concert center first, and discovered only the elderly trumpet player remaining at the VFW. His ride didn't come for almost another half-hour! Well, at least someone ended up being with him. I do know that I wasn't the last one there, though I had contemplated staying with him, but I'm glad he wasn't alone after all.
Wednesday: Rehearsal
The director's family members had come in from out of town for the celebration, and one of his granddaughters was going to sing the national anthem instead of us playing it. It was...shaky, in part because it was a little high for her, but we adjusted the key and it seemed like it would be fine. Meanwhile, before rehearsal started, her little brother kept hanging around his grandpa, and it was super cute. You can tell he adores his grandfather, and they probably don't get to see each other much since they live in Virginia. I so wanted a picture of the two of them together but it didn't happen.
The assistant director has been planning a surprise for quite some time, but the director, intentionally or not, nearly sabotaged it. You see, we had a song commissioned for the occasion, and we were going to surprise him with it at the concert. However, we needed to rehearse it first. We ran through it last week during the rehearsal, and while we somehow got the director to leave, he ended up driving back and hanging out in the parking lot to listen, according to his daughter (who plays in the band). So, this time, after we went through his portion of the show, we worked on one of the songs we're taking to Texas while we waited for him to vacate. His daughter made him call her, from his home phone several miles away, to assure us he'd made it there this time. Then, once we got the all-clear, the assistant director got a call, which was kind of funny--when he answered, he greeted the band member calling, who must have said, "Who's this?" because the AD went, you called me! The AD then asked where he was, and in the dark behind him, several members in the setup noticed arms waving near a tree. Aha. Band director and special guest, come on down.
The person who wrote the piece has known the director for something like 35 years (he joked, since I was two!), and he was honored to be the composer of the commissioned piece. As our director loves marches, it was a march, and it was done in the style of several well-known march writers, including Sousa. Even people who don't know music know Sousa. He's everywhere, and he's the director's favorite march writer. The composer was in town not only to help present the piece, but also to conduct it, so that's part of why the director had to leave the premises. And, well, the composer also hadn't heard the piece live, so it was exciting for him, too.
After rehearsal, we were told that there was cake left over from the banquet, and it was not coming home with the band manager again, so eat it! And we did. By the time I was all packed up and I got to the kitchen, there was one piece left...and a raspberry square! I scooped that sucker up. When I looked around, everyone remaining in the concert center was eating cake--what a fun, impromptu party--so it's not like I had to leave the piece for anyone. Except, as it turned out, a former band member was visiting for the concert and sitting in with us, and he hadn't gotten any cake at all. His buddy had come over to grab him the slice just as I was about to take it. Since the piece was on the large side, we decided to cut it in half, which worked out. So, yeah, I had cake at nearly 9:30 that night. Not a great thing, and I was kind of buzzed on the way home, but it was such a fun atmosphere that it was really enjoyable overall.
(And then I got home...but that's another story. Let's just say my parents didn't have as enjoyable an evening. I'll tell you later.)
Thursday: Concert
I'd ran some errands on Wednesday--ooh, right, I finally used up the last two of my Christmas gift cards. My special moment was at Joann, where I had a $25 EGC and my total? Was $25.03. How awesome was that? Anyway. I'd run errands because the weather was iffy, and it was iffy again Thursday, but I still went walking. Right after I finished and was about to sit and read my paper at a picnic bench, it started dribbling. Eventually it poured. But it rained in some fashion for quiet a while, and I was sitting there hoping it would get it over with in the afternoon so that the evening would be dry. While it did rain again after I got to the concert center, it held off during the concert and we got everything in. Phew!
The commissioned march was tough, particularly toward the end. I really wanted to practice it but couldn't, exactly, given that the director was wandering about. So was his grandson, in this bright blue top, so you couldn't miss him among our uniforms. Alas, I was never quick enough with my camera to snap him up on the podium. We got started normally, but when it came to the national anthem, since we weren't playing, we had to stand. This was weird for us, to the point we almost forgot that's what you're supposed to do! We also started singing along, which I think helped bolster his granddaughter's confidence (she's only 11 and going into 7th grade), and she sounded better that day. The emcee ended up introducing all the family members who were there, though she skipped his wife--who not only is in the band, but who sits directly behind the emcee to boot. The emcee went, I was going to mention her later! Which she did, but not until the very end of the concert.
We do a raffle in the middle of the concert, where a different local business is spotlighted and the raffle winners get gift cards to them as prizes. In honor of the anniversary, the normal $25 gift cards were bumped up to $50. Also, the grandson got to pull some of the numbers. He cracked us up, because he got up there and pulled the microphone right down to his height, and he called out those numbers like he's done it all his life. Then, when the numbers he pulled didn't elicit a reaction, he started going, going once, going twice... This had happened to the previous number-puller, from the sponsor business, but in his case there actually was a winner; the little guy just couldn't see him. He's eight. I admired his spunk.
It was around that time that the big surprises came out. Not only did we put a plaque on the front of the building, along with other honorary plaques, but we explained the commissioned piece and the composer came out. Let me tell you, the director was in shock. The AD set him up with a stand and an oversized copy of the score so he could follow along. The look on his face was priceless. You can bet I pulled out my camera and got a picture. I'll have to see how it turned out because that might be one to send along to the people who run the band's Facebook page. (There are already a bunch of pictures there, but not that look of surprise. It was amazing.) The director was so thrilled that, at the end of the concert, he told the band to stay put and asked the audience to stick around, because he wanted a chance to conduct his new piece--and he told us not to turn it in with the rest of the music, because it's coming to Texas with us. :) Here's the thing: The song isn't easy, especially at the end. The other songs we played last night were not the easiest ones ever. We were exhausted by the end of it. The piccolo player, back in duty, told me she'd left her lips at the trio that last time. Oh, man, I know what you mean. I told her, did I thank you for coming back this week? She laughed, but my goodness, there were a bunch of high notes on this concert. My jaw hurt, and I was just on flute. Piccolo takes a tighter embouchure and it can really wear you out playing stuff like that, high and fast and lots of tonguing. But it went really well, and I know he was happy, even if I didn't get a chance to really talk to him afterward. I was just thrilled to be a part of it, because something like this doesn't happen every day. And, by the way, since we'd first run through it last week, that meant I was the inaugural piccolo player for the commissioned song. I may not have played it at the concert, but I played it first. ;)