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many notes listened to
Apr. 22nd, 2024 02:27 pmA big UMS ushering weekend -- two different concerts from the Philadelphia Orchestra.
Saturday night was Florence Price 4th Symphony (I prefer her 3d, but the 4th is pretty good) and Rachmaninoff 2nd. Very well done, and a nearly full house.
Sunday was an even fuller house with fewer ushers, so the balcony head put me in the seating area! Usually Sunday afternoon concerts are lightly attended, but this one featured the Choral Union (a community chorale society), so there were a lot of people there to see their friends/family members sing.
I usually hand out programs and do traffic control in the balcony lobby -- pointing patrons to the door providing the most direct access to their seats -- but AH wanted fast/accurate/clear/(friendly) in the seating space. It takes me a few minutes to get used to the steep seating on the balcony at Hill Auditorium. Yesterday we were so understaffed with ushers that we were advised to point people to their seats rather than walking them down, but I did have a couple of sets of older patrons who I did walk down to their seats. One pair was really apologetic about it, but I told them that we'd rather walk them to their seats than have them fall or freeze on the steps. Those steps are really steep and it's a long way down; and even though it's not at all likely that someone falling on the balcony steps would fall over the front rail, it can still be an uncomfortable look.
also on Sunday was a handbell performance at church, with bonus acolyting. The church has changed the traffic pattern for acolyting since the last time I did it, but I figured it out. :) (It was a change they've done before, so it wasn't hard to figure out -- some pastors want the chancel rail and some don't.)
Saturday night was Florence Price 4th Symphony (I prefer her 3d, but the 4th is pretty good) and Rachmaninoff 2nd. Very well done, and a nearly full house.
Sunday was an even fuller house with fewer ushers, so the balcony head put me in the seating area! Usually Sunday afternoon concerts are lightly attended, but this one featured the Choral Union (a community chorale society), so there were a lot of people there to see their friends/family members sing.
I usually hand out programs and do traffic control in the balcony lobby -- pointing patrons to the door providing the most direct access to their seats -- but AH wanted fast/accurate/clear/(friendly) in the seating space. It takes me a few minutes to get used to the steep seating on the balcony at Hill Auditorium. Yesterday we were so understaffed with ushers that we were advised to point people to their seats rather than walking them down, but I did have a couple of sets of older patrons who I did walk down to their seats. One pair was really apologetic about it, but I told them that we'd rather walk them to their seats than have them fall or freeze on the steps. Those steps are really steep and it's a long way down; and even though it's not at all likely that someone falling on the balcony steps would fall over the front rail, it can still be an uncomfortable look.
also on Sunday was a handbell performance at church, with bonus acolyting. The church has changed the traffic pattern for acolyting since the last time I did it, but I figured it out. :) (It was a change they've done before, so it wasn't hard to figure out -- some pastors want the chancel rail and some don't.)
