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This past Friday evening my wife and I attended a concert by the Marine Band in Springfield, Mass. As expected, they did an absolutely amazing job. Messrs. Gates, Holtz and Mergen were outstanding in the tuba section. The program was a good mix of really nice transcriptions (Stephen Bulla's arrangement of music from 'Catch Me if You Can' was particularly enjoyable) and Sousa marches (I've always liked 'Manhattan Beach' and 'Stars and Stripes Forever' was simply amazing [especially the piccolo section- my wife commented that that was the best picc section she had ever heard]) and the Menin 'Canzona' which is always nice. The only minor gripe I had, is I would have liked to hear 'Hammersmith'. Thanks, guys, excellent job (as usual) and Semper Fi!

I went to their concert today in New Haven; it was a completely different program, performed magnificently. They must have a ton of charts prepared for the tour.
I was pleased to see a former student of mine who is now their sound technician. What a nice gig! -He didn't even have to wear a monkey suit like the rest of them.

Thanks, guys. Bill, it was great to meet you, thanks for stopping by. It's good to meet people out here, and talk some shop once in a while.

We've got three programs that we rotate while we're on the road. At the halfway point of tour, we packed most of that music away, and pulled out three mostly new programs. Holst's "Hammersmith" was on the first half of tour, "First Suite in Eb" is on the second half, etc. The solos and some of the marches and encores are the same, of course. The music from "Catch Me If You Can" isn't going anywhere. That's a super chart.

Evan Sonderegger is on his first tour as audio engineer. He joined the band last year. He's got one of the hardest gigs out here, actually. He's at each concert site long before any of us, getting all the gear set up, and he's tearing down long after we're gone. Best of all, he gets to figure out how he's going to mic us when we're on a high school auditorium stage surrounded by acres of black velvet curtains. He's earning his keep out here, making us sound good.

This is the second time this tour that the piccolos got props on TubeNet.

Tom Holtz wrote:This is the second time this tour that the piccolos got props on TubeNet.

And until you go running up to the front of the band with your Eb Helicon to upstage the piccolos for the solo in Stars and Stripes, I suspect they'll get much more props. It's time you put them back in their place, Tom - we're all counting on you to right this tragic wrong. Sure, I know what you're thinking - that would go over like a lead balloon. But did that stop Nick Cannon in "Drumline"? Hell No. Think of the kids, Tom. Think of the kids.

Tom Holtz wrote:Thanks, guys. Bill, it was great to meet you, thanks for stopping by. It's good to meet people out here, and talk some shop once in a while.

This is the second time this tour that the piccolos got props on TubeNet.

Thank you, Tom. I still think we all need to get "Hello, my screen name is..." badges for when we run into each other in the non-cyber world.

Also, if a picc section deserves props, I will give them their props, despite the fact that they are piccolos! But I will have to second Kingrob76- it would be way friggin' cool for the tuba section to totally upstage the piccs at a concert, although why do I suspect this would result in an Article 32 hearing.

The helicon doesn't come out unless it's dixieland. Okay, I'll use it for Ives. Dixieland or Ives. That's it.

There's a piccolo solo in Stars and Stripes?

Tom Holtz wrote:The helicon doesn't come out unless it's dixieland. Okay, I'll use it for Ives. Dixieland or Ives. That's it.

There's a piccolo solo in Stars and Stripes?

Hogwash. I've seen you play that thing for 18,000 people without a hint of Dixieland OR Ives. And they were all singing "Tom Holtz, we're all behind you, raise high your Helicon....."

Ok, maybe that was a *bit* too inside.

Tom Holtz wrote:The helicon doesn't come out unless it's dixieland. Okay, I'll use it for Ives. Dixieland or Ives. That's it.

There's a piccolo solo in Stars and Stripes?

Whadda 'bout polkas? Surely for polkas!