What a turnaround rehearsal. As I said at the start, I left the week before white frustrated at the performance of phantom during rehearsal and I know many others felt the same frustration. The reason behind it is certainly not the calibre of musician we have in our band, and certainly not the effort that members put in. It is simply fatigue – we are playing this chart each week and it should have been put to bed last year, unfortunately due to postponements, it wasn’t and therefore we have battled on. This repertoire deserves a rest, but it also deserves to be performed prior to that rest to recognise all the work that you have done, which is what we will do on the 13th. The we will move on – this I promise you.
As far as general playing, last night the standard was regained, I feel, and there was some very tuneful playing even though we didn’t stop and tune as a band, which shows we are starting to listen to each other. Interestingly, at times we are still not watching the conductor and no matter what I do to gain your attention it is missed… Please ensure your stand is raised correctly and directly facing the front so you can see the director easily and follow the directions given – it’s a simple habit that yields a great response.
Thank you for all your efforts and again, let’s put phantom to bed with a great send off!
Murray