Posted by Joe Baker on December 10, 2002 at 14:01:02:
I was musing on some "Lessons for performance" that I've learned down through the years, and on the fact that I wish I had learned them earlier. I'm not talking about tuba-specific lessons. In fact, I'm not necessarily even talking about MUSIC specific lessons, but just those little things that you need to do or not do to make the presentation to your audience complete. I wondered if some people would want to share some of those lessons. I'll kick it off with this one:
RULE 1: EVERY SONG IS MY FAVORITE SONG. I see posts from players, many of them in the military, who have played "Stars and Stripes, Forever" so many times that they are sick of it. I haven't gotten to play it enough to suit me, let alone get sick of it, but in my other life (as a singer) the members of my church have fallen in love with a song a sang a year or so ago, and now I have to sing it CONSTANTLY (to the point I never get to sing anything else there), so I can relate.
Considering that context, I (and a few zillion other Americans) have seen something tremendously classy in recent weeks. I speak of Lee Greenwood, singing "God Bless the U.S.A." The guy must sing that song more than ANYONE ever played SASF, and each time I see him he is compelling in his delivery, like he just learned that song. Now, that's one of those love it or hate it songs, and I hope this won't digress into an argument over the merit of the song; that's not the point. The point is that he is a fantastic example of what it means to be a performer. I saw him on a news-talk show last week, where he was trying to promote a new Christmas album, but they wanted 'the song' instead, so he sang it, and did so with great conviction. He has his "game face" on every time he sings it, and when he's asked if he's tired of it he never lets on that he is - even though he's got to be. He's not unique. The army guys that play SASF are just as professional, if not as visible. But by being so visible, the lesson jumped out at me.
Joe Baker, who has others, if someone doesn't mention them first.