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Grandview At Las Vegas
[triennial - points]
Concert Afterglow.
That's not to claim my playing was flawless, perfect, etc. It was error-free, as far as that goes -- I didn't get lost, didn't miscount, didn't play any wrong notes, didn't miss any key changes, meter changes, etc., played reasonably in tune, observed the dynamics in a musical way, & all that. Even when a brass-instrument player does all that stuff right, it's still possible -- likely, even -- to chip an attack (attack = musician-speak for starting the production of sound on a wind instrument -- maybe string instruments too, I don't know), also possible to crack or split a note, & to make all sorts of other unnamed miscellaneous unintended unmusical noises. The likelihood on horn (i.e., "French" horn) is higher than on trumpet, trombone, etc. In fact, playing horn is like choosing from a box of chocolates -- you never know what note you'll get. So it goes.
However that may be, none of my several miscellaneous minor mini-flubs marred the overall performance -- might not have been noticed much at all -- & all of the places in the music where my individual playing was highly exposed came out as well as I could have hoped (i.e., great).
The 1 thing that could have gone better would have been more people in the audience. It's difficult to draw a crowd around here, mainly because Washington DC & its Virginia & Maryland suburbs enjoy such an embarrassment of riches regarding quality concert experiences available virtually any night of the week. The City Of Fairfax Band, for example, has a tough time half-filling an 1,100-seat auditorium except at Christmastime, when it's apt to be SRO. By contrast, the Lakeland Concert Band down in Florida is SRO for just about every performance it puts on at the 2,300-seat Youkey Theater in the downtown Lakeland Center.
In any case, at the Cathedral Brass concert last night I didn't see anybody from TUG (other than The Chief Of Staff). Maybe some other time.
Well, it looks like my performance preparation was OK because I did not mess anything up. It was a wonderful horn-playing experience, & 24 hours after the final chord I am still in serious post-concert afterglow.
That's not to claim my playing was flawless, perfect, etc. It was error-free, as far as that goes -- I didn't get lost, didn't miscount, didn't play any wrong notes, didn't miss any key changes, meter changes, etc., played reasonably in tune, observed the dynamics in a musical way, & all that. Even when a brass-instrument player does all that stuff right, it's still possible -- likely, even -- to chip an attack (attack = musician-speak for starting the production of sound on a wind instrument -- maybe string instruments too, I don't know), also possible to crack or split a note, & to make all sorts of other unnamed miscellaneous unintended unmusical noises. The likelihood on horn (i.e., "French" horn) is higher than on trumpet, trombone, etc. In fact, playing horn is like choosing from a box of chocolates -- you never know what note you'll get. So it goes.
However that may be, none of my several miscellaneous minor mini-flubs marred the overall performance -- might not have been noticed much at all -- & all of the places in the music where my individual playing was highly exposed came out as well as I could have hoped (i.e., great).
The 1 thing that could have gone better would have been more people in the audience. It's difficult to draw a crowd around here, mainly because Washington DC & its Virginia & Maryland suburbs enjoy such an embarrassment of riches regarding quality concert experiences available virtually any night of the week. The City Of Fairfax Band, for example, has a tough time half-filling an 1,100-seat auditorium except at Christmastime, when it's apt to be SRO. By contrast, the Lakeland Concert Band down in Florida is SRO for just about every performance it puts on at the 2,300-seat Youkey Theater in the downtown Lakeland Center.
In any case, at the Cathedral Brass concert last night I didn't see anybody from TUG (other than The Chief Of Staff). Maybe some other time.
-- Alan Cole, McLean (Fairfax County), Virginia, USA.
