You have to understand something. The musical at my high school was, and remains, a big freaking deal. I've seen a lot of high school musicals, and played a lot of high school musicals, and been in a few, and almost none of them can even compare to ours in terms of scope, execution, budget: they put on a good show up there. There were, if I remember right, nearly 200 little girls trying out for the parts of Annie and the orphans, and there were some good ones in the bunch, not the least of which was my own Perfect Daughter. Obviously, I guess, she got the part!
I know I'm biased, I really do, but I thought she was fantastic. I was afraid I couldn't sit through it; I was absolutely worried sick for her. Would she forget her lines? Talk to fast, too slow? Too quiet? (That would have been intensely ironic!) Well, I can tell you. I hate auditions. I made a comment at some point that the only thing worse than taking an audition is waiting for your kid to go through one. I can now tell you that waiting for that first set of lines to go through is another notch worse than that. Fortunately, PD's role of Molly has the first lines of the whole show, so that got out of the way fast, and she has her first big number in Hard Knock Life, the second number of the show. I can't describe the feeling of relief that flooded over me as she did her imitation of Ms. Hannigan spot on.
And just to show that my bias isn't overwhelming, I wasn't the only one that thought this about her. The folks behind me had been to see the show the night before with the other cast, and had a lot of nice things to say about PD's chemistry with the cast, and her timing in delivering punchlines. And I have to point this out. When I went to give her flowers after the show, the little beast was surrounded by admirers seeking her autograph. The thing about this was that she's usually got pretty good handwriting, but was scrawling out "MOLLY" on all the programs she was offered in a much scratchier hand. I asked her about it, and she said, "Well, Molly never got to go to school!" That blew my mind.
It was a lot of effort (mostly by Mother of PD, again!) but I think the results were worth it.
Oh, and a bunch of other people were in it, too, and many of them were pretty good!
Showing posts with label concert review. Show all posts
Showing posts with label concert review. Show all posts
5.04.2010
5.02.2010
Concert Review: Three Rivers Community Band Festival
So on Saturday, May 1st, I had the delightful experience of participating in the Three Rivers Community Band Festival for the fourth year, and my second year being a part of the "Festival Band". I wrote about this last week, and I'm pleased to report that I only messed up half of my vibraphone line, but believe I got the important bits right at least. The recording will reveal just how terrible I really was, so I'm not sure I want to listen to it.
I must say that our band really performed nicely; we rocked Equus, and even though a couple of parts were off a little bit, I don't think anyone noticed and the rest of us were counting like fiends so we were able to recover without a missed step. The Treasurer said that he thought we sounded excellent, although we were lacking a little spirit in Silverado, but I, for one, was chop-exhausted by that time.
I spent the morning rehearsing with Denis Colwell, Professor of Music at Carnegie Mellon University and former conductor of the River City Brass Band, and the rest of the Festival Band. This was quite an experience. Professor Colwell was very relaxed with us; instead of directing us on every little piece of the music, he let the band do its thing and find its sound. We rehearsed large chunks of music rather than tiny pieces, and the best part of the morning was when he told the baritone section "Miss notes if you have to, just give me the feel of the line". They didn't miss the notes, and we got the feel. Amazing what a few words can do!
The other guest bands sounded great, of course. We had the Youngstown Community Concert Band in attendance, and they were a treat. Their sound was very good and solid, and they had a gutsy brass section. I talked with a few of their members afterwards, and they were all very excited to be there, and "it was only an hour and a half drive!" They've got stamina, that's for sure. The Community Band South played Shostakovich's Festive Overture, which always gives me fond memories of cruising down Route 161 in Columbus, Ohio, with the windows rolled down and the music blasting. The West Hills Symphonic Band played a piece I had never heard before, Morning, Noon, and Night in Vienna by von Suppé, which was a charming overture to a stage comedy with humorous melodic lines. Of course, there was much more music than this, but I present only the highlights... you should have been there if you wanted the whole show!
There are always CDs produced of the Festival, so in a few months when they're finally produced, perhaps we will be able to post some excerpts.
I must say that our band really performed nicely; we rocked Equus, and even though a couple of parts were off a little bit, I don't think anyone noticed and the rest of us were counting like fiends so we were able to recover without a missed step. The Treasurer said that he thought we sounded excellent, although we were lacking a little spirit in Silverado, but I, for one, was chop-exhausted by that time.
I spent the morning rehearsing with Denis Colwell, Professor of Music at Carnegie Mellon University and former conductor of the River City Brass Band, and the rest of the Festival Band. This was quite an experience. Professor Colwell was very relaxed with us; instead of directing us on every little piece of the music, he let the band do its thing and find its sound. We rehearsed large chunks of music rather than tiny pieces, and the best part of the morning was when he told the baritone section "Miss notes if you have to, just give me the feel of the line". They didn't miss the notes, and we got the feel. Amazing what a few words can do!
The other guest bands sounded great, of course. We had the Youngstown Community Concert Band in attendance, and they were a treat. Their sound was very good and solid, and they had a gutsy brass section. I talked with a few of their members afterwards, and they were all very excited to be there, and "it was only an hour and a half drive!" They've got stamina, that's for sure. The Community Band South played Shostakovich's Festive Overture, which always gives me fond memories of cruising down Route 161 in Columbus, Ohio, with the windows rolled down and the music blasting. The West Hills Symphonic Band played a piece I had never heard before, Morning, Noon, and Night in Vienna by von Suppé, which was a charming overture to a stage comedy with humorous melodic lines. Of course, there was much more music than this, but I present only the highlights... you should have been there if you wanted the whole show!
There are always CDs produced of the Festival, so in a few months when they're finally produced, perhaps we will be able to post some excerpts.
11.13.2009
Concert Review: Rodef Shalom
So in trying to figure out what to post this week, I realized that I had forgotten to write a review of the AWCB's yearly benefit concert for a local food pantry. And thus, you have my post for the week.
For this gig, I was lacking my usual stand partner (::coughbloggingpartnertoocough::), so I got the pleasure of sharing a stand with Trombone Andy (named thus to differentiate him from the 200 other people named Andy in the band). Aside from the awkwardness that comes with having someone not understand the inside jokes written as musical annotations, it was an excellent experience to play next to him, and I would do it again! As for the performance, in all it went extremely well -- plus we managed to raise a sizable donation of canned goods for the food pantry, which is the ultimate goal. The only musical complaint that I heard was "the saxophones were too loud", but this is a pretty standard complaint when it comes to saxophones... wait, did I type that in public?
The concert was set inside a social hall in a Jewish temple in an upscale neighborhood, and even though there is no stage or traditional concert lighting, most people in the band agree that this is one of our favorite places to play. The audience sits relatively close to us, we all have amazingly cushy chairs, and the acoustics are incredible. Combine all that with free cookies after the show and you've got a bunch of happy musicians.
Musical highlights: the trumpet section nailing the opening of Shostakovich's Festive Overture as the first sounds of the concert, an incredible solo horn performance in the Rondo from one of Strauss's horn concertos, the trombone section generally not failing at playing swing style licks, and the narrator for the piece A Nation's Strength forgetting (I think) that he was supposed to narrate during the piece and not just read the poem beforehand and walk away. Oh well -- it was a nice poem, and the music could stand on its own.
Did I mention that we played Shostakovich? \o/
For this gig, I was lacking my usual stand partner (::coughbloggingpartnertoocough::), so I got the pleasure of sharing a stand with Trombone Andy (named thus to differentiate him from the 200 other people named Andy in the band). Aside from the awkwardness that comes with having someone not understand the inside jokes written as musical annotations, it was an excellent experience to play next to him, and I would do it again! As for the performance, in all it went extremely well -- plus we managed to raise a sizable donation of canned goods for the food pantry, which is the ultimate goal. The only musical complaint that I heard was "the saxophones were too loud", but this is a pretty standard complaint when it comes to saxophones... wait, did I type that in public?
The concert was set inside a social hall in a Jewish temple in an upscale neighborhood, and even though there is no stage or traditional concert lighting, most people in the band agree that this is one of our favorite places to play. The audience sits relatively close to us, we all have amazingly cushy chairs, and the acoustics are incredible. Combine all that with free cookies after the show and you've got a bunch of happy musicians.
Musical highlights: the trumpet section nailing the opening of Shostakovich's Festive Overture as the first sounds of the concert, an incredible solo horn performance in the Rondo from one of Strauss's horn concertos, the trombone section generally not failing at playing swing style licks, and the narrator for the piece A Nation's Strength forgetting (I think) that he was supposed to narrate during the piece and not just read the poem beforehand and walk away. Oh well -- it was a nice poem, and the music could stand on its own.
Did I mention that we played Shostakovich? \o/
9.04.2009
Mini concert review and post-concert strangeness
So the AWCB had this gig on Monday at Friendship Village, which is a retirement community in the suburbs. I'm pretty sure the band outnumbered the audience, and it felt kind of like playing inside of a cardboard box, but they were definitely a receptive audience and we chose just the right music for them. (Playing selections from Annie was a much better choice than, say, Hazo's Ride.)
After the gig, we collected a small number of people to go out for fries and pie. Jon and I first met The Treasurer (loving nickname for a sectionmate) at a local restaurant and proceeded to sit down and order, not knowing how many would be joining us. We sat at a booth, with Jon and I sitting next to each other on one side, and The Treasurer sitting on the other side.
The waitress came over, took our orders, and then looked directly at Jon and asked "Will this be one check or two?"
...I have, apparently, been ruled out as a potential bill-payer by virtue of my gender and my seating location. I wonder if the waitress would have asked the same question if Jon and The Treasurer had been sitting on the same side.
Nevermind that the next time the waitress came by, Jon was making a completely facetious remark starting with "So I was at this strip club..."
Also, is that Mussorgsky I hear behind the cute kitten video?:
After the gig, we collected a small number of people to go out for fries and pie. Jon and I first met The Treasurer (loving nickname for a sectionmate) at a local restaurant and proceeded to sit down and order, not knowing how many would be joining us. We sat at a booth, with Jon and I sitting next to each other on one side, and The Treasurer sitting on the other side.
The waitress came over, took our orders, and then looked directly at Jon and asked "Will this be one check or two?"
...I have, apparently, been ruled out as a potential bill-payer by virtue of my gender and my seating location. I wonder if the waitress would have asked the same question if Jon and The Treasurer had been sitting on the same side.
Nevermind that the next time the waitress came by, Jon was making a completely facetious remark starting with "So I was at this strip club..."
Also, is that Mussorgsky I hear behind the cute kitten video?:
8.09.2009
Verbal hijinks (or: Concert Review: Crafton)
So Thursday the AWCB played a concert in Crafton, a suburb out west of the city. The concert was well-attended and in an intimate park setting with the audience close to the band and a baseball game going on in the distance. The weather was also absolutely gorgeous.
The venue left something to be desired for a band, though. It was almost like a disembodied piece of a warehouse, with anti-anti-glare stage lighting on either side. (We say anti-anti-glare because the lights pierced both of our anti-glare glasses coatings.) The lighting was distracting and the acoustics were bizarre – Lauren confessed that she could only hear Jon when he was playing above C; anything in the staff was completely inaudible to her, sitting about two feet away from him. Jon confessed to never really listening to anybody, but quickly retracted that in light of Lauren's previous post, and said he could barely hear Lauren and the horn player right in front of him.
The concert – what we could hear of it, anyway – sounded good, with some nice playing on all accounts. The trombone section boasted two amazing verbal solos. One was pre-arranged – a solo “scream” part in an arrangement of Phantom of the Opera that fell to Lauren tonight because no one else would do it. Before the concert, she whispered to Jon, “I was practicing the scream in the car on the way here. I figure it has about a 50/50 chance of coming out as either blood-curdling… or tentacle rape.” (Dear reader, please don’t Google “tentacle rape” if you don’t know what it is. Just take our word for it that it’s not in any possible way an appropriate scream for Phantom.)
By all accounts, the scream was indeed more blood-curdling than tentacle rape, which pleased Lauren immensely.
The other verbal solo was not pre-arranged – well, not really. If you’ve ever played the silly arrangement of tunes called Instant Concert, you know that in the middle there’s a cue for the whole band to go “Ugh!” as sort of a verbal punctuation to a line. (Unfortunately, neither of us know what tune is being played when the "ugh!" happens, so we can't explain how to look for it.) Well, the gentleman in the trombone section who we will call in the most loving way imaginable “Cantankerous Jazzer” (CJ) felt that this percussive verbalism needed “some extra texture”, so he let out with this falsetto fall that started at about two octaves above the rest of the band.
Extra texture indeed! We were lucky that we had rests after that little shenanigan, or else the first trombone line would have been nothing but a bunch of giggles.
So, all in all, it was a successful, fun concert – even if we couldn’t see or hear anything.
The venue left something to be desired for a band, though. It was almost like a disembodied piece of a warehouse, with anti-anti-glare stage lighting on either side. (We say anti-anti-glare because the lights pierced both of our anti-glare glasses coatings.) The lighting was distracting and the acoustics were bizarre – Lauren confessed that she could only hear Jon when he was playing above C; anything in the staff was completely inaudible to her, sitting about two feet away from him. Jon confessed to never really listening to anybody, but quickly retracted that in light of Lauren's previous post, and said he could barely hear Lauren and the horn player right in front of him.
The concert – what we could hear of it, anyway – sounded good, with some nice playing on all accounts. The trombone section boasted two amazing verbal solos. One was pre-arranged – a solo “scream” part in an arrangement of Phantom of the Opera that fell to Lauren tonight because no one else would do it. Before the concert, she whispered to Jon, “I was practicing the scream in the car on the way here. I figure it has about a 50/50 chance of coming out as either blood-curdling… or tentacle rape.” (Dear reader, please don’t Google “tentacle rape” if you don’t know what it is. Just take our word for it that it’s not in any possible way an appropriate scream for Phantom.)
By all accounts, the scream was indeed more blood-curdling than tentacle rape, which pleased Lauren immensely.
The other verbal solo was not pre-arranged – well, not really. If you’ve ever played the silly arrangement of tunes called Instant Concert, you know that in the middle there’s a cue for the whole band to go “Ugh!” as sort of a verbal punctuation to a line. (Unfortunately, neither of us know what tune is being played when the "ugh!" happens, so we can't explain how to look for it.) Well, the gentleman in the trombone section who we will call in the most loving way imaginable “Cantankerous Jazzer” (CJ) felt that this percussive verbalism needed “some extra texture”, so he let out with this falsetto fall that started at about two octaves above the rest of the band.
Extra texture indeed! We were lucky that we had rests after that little shenanigan, or else the first trombone line would have been nothing but a bunch of giggles.
So, all in all, it was a successful, fun concert – even if we couldn’t see or hear anything.
8.02.2009
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.
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.
7.30.2009
Concert Review: Cranberry!
The AWCB performed tonight up in Cranberry, which is on the other end of the world from where either of us lives. It was raining a little bit, which thinned the crowd some, but we got almost as many people as are in the band, and some that we didn't even recognize! Brave folks. We salute you, true fans of the band, for sitting under umbrellas to listen to a bunch of amateurs.
And now, a review of the concert in the style of a symposium, from the two authors of this blog.
Lauren: So Jon, what did you think of the concert?
Jon: I know this says bad things about me as a team player and etc., but the most prominent take home message of the concert for me was that I clammed the hell out of a part that I practiced very hard. We put together a little trombone quartet thing, and I shedded it all week, got to the concert, got consumed by a case of nerves and not wanting to let my esteemed section mates down, and completely blew it. I can play it, I know I can play it, I just... didn't. I went behind the bandstand and blew through the lick after the concert and yep, I can play it. I just... didn't. God, I'm so ashamed.
Lauren: The trombone ensemble piece gave me a set of nerves also -- the first I've felt in years and years. Even though my Trombone Jedi Training has been kicking in during rehearsals, all of a sudden in the performance I realized that I am the harmony line and need to tune and blend, and it caused my hands to shake. I think I did alright despite this setback (if we don't think about that high part in the shout section), but I'm an optimist by nature. (Also it wasn't as bad as Jon claims it was; some notes were missed, but who doesn't miss notes? Eh. Maybe I'm too zen. I thought it sounded great.)
Jon: Otherwise, I thought Fiesta sounded really good. Nice job by the trombones playing the pedals in the middle (i.e. not me) and on those wonderfully nasty glisses at the end. The horns did a nice job in the 3/4 pesante section right before that, too. (Funny side note: we call the section before that, the delicate part with the flutes and clarinets, the "Dance with me" section, after Princess Tutu's signature line.)
Lauren: I did alright on those pedals until I started sneezing. ::sigh::
Jon: And it's always nice to trot out Ride for something that we all know how to play and are comfortable with.
Lauren: I personally thought that the highlight of the night was the medley of tunes by Chicago. The French horns were rocking, and I observed from my place directly behind them that they were really into the music, and everyone in the band sounded like they were into that piece at that particular moment in time. Notes were clammed, rhythms were screwed up, but there's nothing like a little slide vibrato and squealing trumpets to turn a normally boring piece into a good time. Plus our audience of 18 rain-soaked people really loved it.
And we'll cut off the symposium conversation there before it devolves into something about anime and kittens. You're not ready for that yet, gentle reader.
Next concert is Ligonier, on the Square, Sunday the 2nd at 7:00. Ice cream and commentary to follow.
And now, a review of the concert in the style of a symposium, from the two authors of this blog.
Lauren: So Jon, what did you think of the concert?
Jon: I know this says bad things about me as a team player and etc., but the most prominent take home message of the concert for me was that I clammed the hell out of a part that I practiced very hard. We put together a little trombone quartet thing, and I shedded it all week, got to the concert, got consumed by a case of nerves and not wanting to let my esteemed section mates down, and completely blew it. I can play it, I know I can play it, I just... didn't. I went behind the bandstand and blew through the lick after the concert and yep, I can play it. I just... didn't. God, I'm so ashamed.
Lauren: The trombone ensemble piece gave me a set of nerves also -- the first I've felt in years and years. Even though my Trombone Jedi Training has been kicking in during rehearsals, all of a sudden in the performance I realized that I am the harmony line and need to tune and blend, and it caused my hands to shake. I think I did alright despite this setback (if we don't think about that high part in the shout section), but I'm an optimist by nature. (Also it wasn't as bad as Jon claims it was; some notes were missed, but who doesn't miss notes? Eh. Maybe I'm too zen. I thought it sounded great.)
Jon: Otherwise, I thought Fiesta sounded really good. Nice job by the trombones playing the pedals in the middle (i.e. not me) and on those wonderfully nasty glisses at the end. The horns did a nice job in the 3/4 pesante section right before that, too. (Funny side note: we call the section before that, the delicate part with the flutes and clarinets, the "Dance with me" section, after Princess Tutu's signature line.)
Lauren: I did alright on those pedals until I started sneezing. ::sigh::
Jon: And it's always nice to trot out Ride for something that we all know how to play and are comfortable with.
Lauren: I personally thought that the highlight of the night was the medley of tunes by Chicago. The French horns were rocking, and I observed from my place directly behind them that they were really into the music, and everyone in the band sounded like they were into that piece at that particular moment in time. Notes were clammed, rhythms were screwed up, but there's nothing like a little slide vibrato and squealing trumpets to turn a normally boring piece into a good time. Plus our audience of 18 rain-soaked people really loved it.
And we'll cut off the symposium conversation there before it devolves into something about anime and kittens. You're not ready for that yet, gentle reader.
Next concert is Ligonier, on the Square, Sunday the 2nd at 7:00. Ice cream and commentary to follow.
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