Concert #1 - The piccolo show
The summer concert season is here! Wild that it's time for that. The first concert is always interesting, getting back in the summer swing of things.
I was playing piccolo this week, meaning I was in a different seat. The flute that usually sits next to me got moved, too. Our section leader is having work done--AGAIN--and this year I think had her knee replaced, or operated on, or something. I swear, the minute I joined the flute choir, her body started breaking down. Every year it's something else. So, with her gone for an indefinite amount of time, Flute 6 got bumped up to second chair, and Flute 2 is sitting first chair. This has apparently happened in the past, though I don't recall it; Flute 6 at one point had been the section leader, and she's a very good flute player, but her family moved out of state for a number of years and she had to start at the bottom again when she re-joined. Bummer. But that's how it works in the band currently.
With it being summer, we welcomed back some people, mainly college students who only play with us for the summer. One's a trumpet player, another's an alto sax. We also had a new French horn player--they're multiplying back there--who recently graduated from college. The director was welcoming people back and introducing them to the band, and when he finished, I pointed out a very important returnee--our flute section member who's been off on her own medical leave. She has cancer. She's been gone for quite some time but was up for coming back this summer. She's easy to point out as she has no hair currently. Many people warmly greeted her, which was really nice to see. The people in this band are so kind in many ways. And she and I had a conversation, too, which is funny because she and I have barely ever talked, but then again we don't normally sit near each other. If I play picc, she's right behind me.
We had some special guests with this concert, a number of scholarship winners. There are the general 8th grade winners, one from each eligible school in town (the two main public school districts, which have something like 8 or 9 middle schools between them, plus several private schools, about a dozen total), and they get money to use toward music camps or equipment or what have you. The director, however, decided to start his own scholarship, and this is for a local graduating senior who is looking to go into music education. I guess he was talking to a lawyer about establishing something like that when he died, to continue his legacy, and the lawyer went, why not start it now so you can see some of these winners? He took that to heart and they started a committee back in February or so. The committee met before band a couple times, so I could hear them discussing a few things; I think they picked a winner in March, or at least had all the applications in by then. Pretty cool. This girl is a bassoon player and she seems like a sweet girl--yep, she sat behind me, too. Everything was happening near me this week!
Our lead oboe player had a birthday this past week, and her boss got her some cute things--oboe earrings and a sequined tote bag. She also wore a sequined shirt when she arrived for the concert on Thursday (before changing into the uniform, mind you), and even though I was practicing, when I saw sparkles out of the corner of my eye, I knew she'd arrived. We're both 12-year-old girls at heart and I told her we should start a club. Our other oboe player had been a high school intern whom we kept on. I asked her if she'd been to one of our summer concerts; she hadn't. It's quite the experience, especially the first time. She seemed pretty impressed by the door when it lifted up, plus it's pretty cool when it opens and there's a bunch of people out there waiting for us. That's really gratifying, honestly. Especially given that, when they did the raffle, they said they'd given away all of the numbered programs--1,000 of them. Wow. That doesn't always happen. Better, they called out the lowest raffle number I believe I've heard--4! The director, standing by us at the time, joked that he had number 5. I said to the oboes, well, that's what you get for getting here late! Heh. The lead oboe then said that she was going to grab one of the numbered programs (plain ones get put on our stands) and pretend that she won the raffle one day, or else rig the drawing. That would be pretty funny, actually.
I have to say, I was bummed after the raffle. It was later in the concert than usual owing to the scholarship winners, since we had to introduce them, get them seated, and play a couple songs with them. Then came the raffle...and people blatantly leaving afterward. No! There's seriously only three more songs! Why are you leaving? Also, my solo was the song right after the raffle, so of course I had a horse in that race. ;) Here's the thing about the solo--I had no idea, prior to Wednesday's rehearsal, just how much of the first part of the piece was all piccolo. The flute part has the cues written in, so you can follow along (or play if there's no piccolo), but there are little interjections within each phrase so, at least in my case, I was more concentrating on the counting than what all was going on in the solo. I mean, I knew it was mainly piccolo. I didn't realize that it's pretty much just picc for the first third of the song. It's a medley with three separate parts and it opens with the piccolo one, following the introduction. So, the first iteration? Piccolo and a snare drum. Second iteration? Clarinets, maybe some other reeds join it. Third? Back to just snare. Fourth? Back to reeds. And then there's a key change, and until I looked at the flute part, I didn't realize that they don't play for another 8-16 bars. Holy cow! Like...if I couldn't play for some reason, they really couldn't do the song. That's scary and amazing. The rehearsal went well, and at the concert I was able to get through the first, main part of the solo without any issues...until the second to last note, no kidding. I had a couple squeaks at times, more Wednesday than Thursday, but one snuck out right then. Oh well. Overall, it still went well, and a number of people complimented me on it, which is always nice to hear. It meant the most from Flute 2 & 6, since I really respect them. Flute 6 specifically walked over to me before the concert to say she really enjoyed my playing and my tone. Even the first assistant director told me nice job, and he doesn't normally do that with me. So, yay.
All in all, it had been a pretty good day, even work-wise... and then I found my car. Not the best ending I could have had, but up until about 9:10, life had been pretty good. And we'd even finished early--we didn't have as much music owing to everything, so the concert didn't last as long as normal. I guess on the bright side, at least it wasn't a concert that went long. That would have made my post-concert excitement worse. Oh, gosh, I nearly forgot another positive moment. There's an audience member who watches us faithfully, and it was her 90th birthday, so our emcee gave her a special shout-out. The woman stood and waved while the crowd cheered. And then, next thing we know, someone is handing her a cupcake with a lit candle on it. How sweet is that! Those of us who could see that thought it was pretty awesome. Yeah, our crowd is special.
I was playing piccolo this week, meaning I was in a different seat. The flute that usually sits next to me got moved, too. Our section leader is having work done--AGAIN--and this year I think had her knee replaced, or operated on, or something. I swear, the minute I joined the flute choir, her body started breaking down. Every year it's something else. So, with her gone for an indefinite amount of time, Flute 6 got bumped up to second chair, and Flute 2 is sitting first chair. This has apparently happened in the past, though I don't recall it; Flute 6 at one point had been the section leader, and she's a very good flute player, but her family moved out of state for a number of years and she had to start at the bottom again when she re-joined. Bummer. But that's how it works in the band currently.
With it being summer, we welcomed back some people, mainly college students who only play with us for the summer. One's a trumpet player, another's an alto sax. We also had a new French horn player--they're multiplying back there--who recently graduated from college. The director was welcoming people back and introducing them to the band, and when he finished, I pointed out a very important returnee--our flute section member who's been off on her own medical leave. She has cancer. She's been gone for quite some time but was up for coming back this summer. She's easy to point out as she has no hair currently. Many people warmly greeted her, which was really nice to see. The people in this band are so kind in many ways. And she and I had a conversation, too, which is funny because she and I have barely ever talked, but then again we don't normally sit near each other. If I play picc, she's right behind me.
We had some special guests with this concert, a number of scholarship winners. There are the general 8th grade winners, one from each eligible school in town (the two main public school districts, which have something like 8 or 9 middle schools between them, plus several private schools, about a dozen total), and they get money to use toward music camps or equipment or what have you. The director, however, decided to start his own scholarship, and this is for a local graduating senior who is looking to go into music education. I guess he was talking to a lawyer about establishing something like that when he died, to continue his legacy, and the lawyer went, why not start it now so you can see some of these winners? He took that to heart and they started a committee back in February or so. The committee met before band a couple times, so I could hear them discussing a few things; I think they picked a winner in March, or at least had all the applications in by then. Pretty cool. This girl is a bassoon player and she seems like a sweet girl--yep, she sat behind me, too. Everything was happening near me this week!
Our lead oboe player had a birthday this past week, and her boss got her some cute things--oboe earrings and a sequined tote bag. She also wore a sequined shirt when she arrived for the concert on Thursday (before changing into the uniform, mind you), and even though I was practicing, when I saw sparkles out of the corner of my eye, I knew she'd arrived. We're both 12-year-old girls at heart and I told her we should start a club. Our other oboe player had been a high school intern whom we kept on. I asked her if she'd been to one of our summer concerts; she hadn't. It's quite the experience, especially the first time. She seemed pretty impressed by the door when it lifted up, plus it's pretty cool when it opens and there's a bunch of people out there waiting for us. That's really gratifying, honestly. Especially given that, when they did the raffle, they said they'd given away all of the numbered programs--1,000 of them. Wow. That doesn't always happen. Better, they called out the lowest raffle number I believe I've heard--4! The director, standing by us at the time, joked that he had number 5. I said to the oboes, well, that's what you get for getting here late! Heh. The lead oboe then said that she was going to grab one of the numbered programs (plain ones get put on our stands) and pretend that she won the raffle one day, or else rig the drawing. That would be pretty funny, actually.
I have to say, I was bummed after the raffle. It was later in the concert than usual owing to the scholarship winners, since we had to introduce them, get them seated, and play a couple songs with them. Then came the raffle...and people blatantly leaving afterward. No! There's seriously only three more songs! Why are you leaving? Also, my solo was the song right after the raffle, so of course I had a horse in that race. ;) Here's the thing about the solo--I had no idea, prior to Wednesday's rehearsal, just how much of the first part of the piece was all piccolo. The flute part has the cues written in, so you can follow along (or play if there's no piccolo), but there are little interjections within each phrase so, at least in my case, I was more concentrating on the counting than what all was going on in the solo. I mean, I knew it was mainly piccolo. I didn't realize that it's pretty much just picc for the first third of the song. It's a medley with three separate parts and it opens with the piccolo one, following the introduction. So, the first iteration? Piccolo and a snare drum. Second iteration? Clarinets, maybe some other reeds join it. Third? Back to just snare. Fourth? Back to reeds. And then there's a key change, and until I looked at the flute part, I didn't realize that they don't play for another 8-16 bars. Holy cow! Like...if I couldn't play for some reason, they really couldn't do the song. That's scary and amazing. The rehearsal went well, and at the concert I was able to get through the first, main part of the solo without any issues...until the second to last note, no kidding. I had a couple squeaks at times, more Wednesday than Thursday, but one snuck out right then. Oh well. Overall, it still went well, and a number of people complimented me on it, which is always nice to hear. It meant the most from Flute 2 & 6, since I really respect them. Flute 6 specifically walked over to me before the concert to say she really enjoyed my playing and my tone. Even the first assistant director told me nice job, and he doesn't normally do that with me. So, yay.
All in all, it had been a pretty good day, even work-wise... and then I found my car. Not the best ending I could have had, but up until about 9:10, life had been pretty good. And we'd even finished early--we didn't have as much music owing to everything, so the concert didn't last as long as normal. I guess on the bright side, at least it wasn't a concert that went long. That would have made my post-concert excitement worse. Oh, gosh, I nearly forgot another positive moment. There's an audience member who watches us faithfully, and it was her 90th birthday, so our emcee gave her a special shout-out. The woman stood and waved while the crowd cheered. And then, next thing we know, someone is handing her a cupcake with a lit candle on it. How sweet is that! Those of us who could see that thought it was pretty awesome. Yeah, our crowd is special.