What, no Broadway Curtain Time?


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Posted by Rick Denney on February 14, 2001 at 01:00:42:

As many of you know, I play in the Loudoun Concert Band, under the baton of Gil Corella (tuba player in the Air Force Band, for those who don't know). If that wasn't pressure enough, the associate conductor is also a tuba player, but plays tympani in the band, and sings the right notes to me every time I miss one during our reading sessions (fortunately, he's a good singer). So, I have two college-trained and pro-qualified tuba players around me.

Then I find out that the two good high-school kids that share the section with me are otherwise engaged on the night of the next concert, one in activities corresponding to professional interests, and the other in a high-profile social gathering with females of the opposite sex. I told them their priorities were out of whack, and they laughed like I was making a joke.

So, at rehearsal tonight, I look on the stand, and what do I see? Eternal Father, the Reed First Suite, Chester, An American in Paris (the hard one), the American Rhapsodies, and four or five other tunes along those lines. The easy one was Barnum and Bailey's Favorite. Big-boy stuff; all of it. And I'm It for this concert--anybody arm-twisted into filling out the section will be in a supporting role. Yikes!

Yup, there's gonna be some time spent in that woodshed! And I could not be more excited. This is the way it's supposed to be: Music so good that it compels we mediocre amateurs to work our butts off--not because we are scared, but because it's so fun and challenging.

So, Gil tells me after the rehearsal that the tuba solo in An American in Paris is audition material for the military bands. Yikes!

Rick "pulling on the long pants" Denney


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