I hear they keep sheep in the window (a.k.a. Concert Review: Ligonier)

I should note that I am typing this on my laptop from the passenger’s seat in Jon’s car.

With that out of the way, allow me to give you a report of our concert tonight in Ligonier, PA. This is probably the farthest that any of us travels to do a concert, but there’s definitely a reason that we do so. The crowd was phenomenal. (Case and point: we’re standing at the end taking the applause, and some guy in the back starts shouting “YAY TROMBONES!” This gets my approval every time.)

We had an unusual setup for the trombone section tonight with the thirds sitting behind the firsts and the seconds. It was a delight to actually hear the third part instead of having it get mixed with the tubas and euphoniums all the time. Jon calls the experience “like being in a warm insulated cocoon, surrounded by all three parts”. I think he’s a little tired, but I’m not going to question, because he’s behind the wheel.

Jon also reports that he was having a battle with the key of C, particularly the whole “B” idea. I, personally, was just having issues seeing. It was a cloudy, overcast evening, which played havoc with the page on the far side of the stand for me. I think I only missed about a third of the notes, however.

As much as both of us hate playing the march “Them Basses” by composer G.H…. something. The music is in the trunk, and I’m not going to crawl back there and find it. Anyway, we both hate that piece, but tonight we kicked it old school. There’s nothing like a bunch of low brass playing the melody and ignoring pretty much everything around them.

But seriously- what's this all about?



And now we’ve just passed a drive-in movie theater that had gerbils on the screen. I think I fear for my life, so this is Lauren, signing off from… somewhere east of Pittsburgh.