Re: Re: "play with proper stratigies"


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Posted by Tom Mason on October 01, 2001 at 10:41:59:

In Reply to: Re: "play with proper stratigies" posted by jlb on October 01, 2001 at 09:47:46:

This is definitly a good strategy. Most leaders who work with "on-call" pros expect the pro to have the ability to get through the selected music. The ability to play alot of notes has to be teamed with knowing the structure of various styles of music in order to produce the better sightreading pro.

An example of this pairing of abilities is manifested in the following adventure:

I first played in Al Pierson and The Guy Lombardo's Royal Canadians as a sub upright bass/tuba doubler in a concert at a medium size town in my area. I was called about two weeks in advance, and told to show up in tux and upright.

I arrived about 2 hours early, hoping to meet the leader and get his wishes on whatever we played. I knew that the group had used tuba in earlier works, and brought mine along just in case. I listened to his instructions(about 45 second's worth of what he wanted style wise), and asked him if he wanted tuba on anything. Yes was the answer, and here we went.

With no rehearsal other than warmng up on 3 or 4 tunes to get a sound check, we went into a 2 hour concert. The two things that carried me, along with the other 4 subs, was that we knew structures, and could play in any key.

That was fun, and I still get calls to play when they are in the area.

The advise about playing within the group and tuning within the group is very sound. Leaders want those who can make the group work, not someone who has their own agenda to play.

Tom


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