That was a lot of notes...
May. 21st, 2019 02:30 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jennlkand a lot of gear-hauling.
Sunday's FCB concert was fun and difficult in many ways. The venue is long and narrow, and unsuited to a concert band layout - to the point that after DC played the venue with a different group in December he said "there's no way the FCB will fit!". But they made it work. All the percussion equipment, the chairs and the stands had to be removed from the sanctuary between the rehearsal and the performance (hazard of Sunday afternoon concert in a church sanctuary). The storage space they had for us to use was in the utility space, directly under the sanctuary. It's an old cathedral-style church, built before the ADA was even proposed. The elevator is in the "new" part of the building. Everything had to be trundled from one end of the complex to the center, down the elevator, and back to under where it started. And then we had to trundle it all back out Sunday after services.
There was a piece with 'optional organ'. The church has a lovely pipe organ, and an available organist. Of course we had the organ play. :) DC says that it was probably the most difficult concert he's conducted in terms of music, and then you add in the difficulties of the venue - clarinets 25 ft to his left, percussion behind them, trombones 15 ft to his right, trumpets behind them, tubas 30 ft away, but directly in front of him ... much concentration on everyone's part. And then it rained during load-out. It had mostly stopped by the time we were unloading back at Harrison.
Did I mention that the venue is about an hour from my house? And that's best case? I left the house at 11:30 am Sunday and got back after 8.
And then we go from the sublime to the... erm... much less sublime. Harrison High School is closing as a high school at the end of the school year. The FCB has been asked to participate in the Closing Ceremonies, along with the current HHS band (all 20 of them, and a more indifferent group of HS musicians I don't think I've ever seen) and HHS band alums. Rehearsal last night was combined bands plus local alumni. It was a circus. Much running about, alumni being stupidly stubborn, HS students being inattentive, etc. There had been some hope that the FCB would be able to work on some of the music for summer (as there were only 3 rehearsals scheduled before the first summer gig), but due to the circus nature of the mass band rehearsal, it didn't happen. There will be a couple of hard rehearsals in the next few weeks.
Sunday's FCB concert was fun and difficult in many ways. The venue is long and narrow, and unsuited to a concert band layout - to the point that after DC played the venue with a different group in December he said "there's no way the FCB will fit!". But they made it work. All the percussion equipment, the chairs and the stands had to be removed from the sanctuary between the rehearsal and the performance (hazard of Sunday afternoon concert in a church sanctuary). The storage space they had for us to use was in the utility space, directly under the sanctuary. It's an old cathedral-style church, built before the ADA was even proposed. The elevator is in the "new" part of the building. Everything had to be trundled from one end of the complex to the center, down the elevator, and back to under where it started. And then we had to trundle it all back out Sunday after services.
There was a piece with 'optional organ'. The church has a lovely pipe organ, and an available organist. Of course we had the organ play. :) DC says that it was probably the most difficult concert he's conducted in terms of music, and then you add in the difficulties of the venue - clarinets 25 ft to his left, percussion behind them, trombones 15 ft to his right, trumpets behind them, tubas 30 ft away, but directly in front of him ... much concentration on everyone's part. And then it rained during load-out. It had mostly stopped by the time we were unloading back at Harrison.
Did I mention that the venue is about an hour from my house? And that's best case? I left the house at 11:30 am Sunday and got back after 8.
And then we go from the sublime to the... erm... much less sublime. Harrison High School is closing as a high school at the end of the school year. The FCB has been asked to participate in the Closing Ceremonies, along with the current HHS band (all 20 of them, and a more indifferent group of HS musicians I don't think I've ever seen) and HHS band alums. Rehearsal last night was combined bands plus local alumni. It was a circus. Much running about, alumni being stupidly stubborn, HS students being inattentive, etc. There had been some hope that the FCB would be able to work on some of the music for summer (as there were only 3 rehearsals scheduled before the first summer gig), but due to the circus nature of the mass band rehearsal, it didn't happen. There will be a couple of hard rehearsals in the next few weeks.
