Despite the inclement weather which prevented a few members from attending last night we still got a lot done. It was great to see Scott return to our sax section and Dusty making his debut on bass trombone together with Carl on keyboards!
Our concert is but a few short weeks away and I’m getting excited about the program that will be presented, it will take all of us to make it happen in whatever role you can be in but the most important one is bums on seats…as a band member or as an audience…let’s fill the room!
The two biggest issues discussed and highlighted last night were 1; intonation, we need to be on top of our own tuning but also remain aware of how we fit into the section… don’t be afraid to alter your tuning if you feel it may be wrong…. We proved this with the same section of Irish tune played untuned, then self tuned which even the band agreed was better and the finally with a tuner and tuned ensemble which sounded even better. And 2; balance, I will be trying a relocation of the horn section over near the alto saxes next week as they get lost in front of the baritones who then raise the volume of their playing because they can’t hear themselves, this passes back to the trombones and of course that whole side of the band increases its tonal density….the clarinet side of the band then increases their volume to compete and the cycle continues until we are all fighting each other, by moving the horns across I hope to embed their sound through the band more and also help the lower brass sections to hear what else is happening across the band…as Harold said the watch word is “listen” listen to yourself, listen to others listen to what is being played.
Murray