Walking into band last night, I honestly didn’t know what to expect, the inclement weather had caused a raft of absences and I had wondered about the value of running the evening, yet we had an excellent turn out and a productive evening which just goes to show what we can do when we adopt a positive can do attitude!
Last night was also the 1 year anniversary of the cancellation of rehearsals due to the covid forced closure of our venue and rising restrictions, given that there was no way I was going to cancel again unless forced to do so!
Musically, we started to look deeper into first suite movement 1 and work on balance between sections of the ensemble, focussing on articulations. Harold worked on the last part of phantom and it’s now starting to come together, however two parts stood out…good ole dynamics …… it’s absolutely vital that we not only observe the dynamic changes but also balance between sections as we do so…. we had only one trombone but that part is still important and should be heard and to do that, we need to constantly monitor our levels and adjust accordingly. The second stand out is the need to watch the conductor…. we normally do this well but last night, there were a few cases where players Wes so head down in the music they missed the stopping! To achieve this, it’s important to have your stand correctly positioned and at the correct height so you are immediately aware of what is happening. The other part of watching occurs right at the end of phantom, the maestro wants to put in a couple of cuts which all he need do is stop, yet a few of us ploughed on through….by all means mark your scores to reflect these changes but simply watching will bring about a security and tightening of the phrase.
We will be rehearsing in the school holidays as I need to prepare us for anzac services and please check the website and gig registrations for details. Remember next week our rehearsal venue has changed to the Presbyterian church for that week only
Murray