Boring music...

[lgb&dtuba]

you think the giging musican likes every piece he plays?

Oh, I just love The Chicken Dance and Ein Prosit, both of which we do many times each job. Well, at least Ein Prosit means the set is about over and it's time for another beer.

Jim Wagner

[Arkietuba]

I know where this poster is coming from. I felt the same way in high school and I thought about going to a school that played "interesting" music. I was immature.

You need to realize that it's not all about you. Yes, the band is better when it has a good tuba player, but welcome to the world of the postsecondary tuba player. I'm first chair in our top band here at UCA and we don't always play "difficult" pieces but you stick it out and try to play the crap out of it. The good thing about college bands is that you eventually get hard pieces...last year we did Prelude to the 3rd act of Lohengrin, In a Child's Garden of Dreams (tuba part goes up to an Eb above the staff with several measures of rest right before it...very fun), Rolling Thunder and some Grainger pieces. Just stick with it and make your band director's life easier, they are doing what they feel is best for the band as a whole and just b/c you're bored doesn't mean the band should play more difficult music.

[tubanerd]

I think for me the more "boring" pieces gave me more of an opportunity to listen to the rest of the band and where I fit in to make music vs playing notes. I agree with all the posts that mentioned technique/etc, but I'd add work on your listening/blending to help the ensemble more musical as a whole.

Just my $.02.

[Captain Sousie]

Sou...You've touched my asshole heart - thanks!

I do believe that's the nicest thing anybody has ever said to me. Thank you.

Sou

[tubeast]

(Tubeast pops out of dustbin...)

I agree with obove posts too... all of them!!
To be frank, that´s quite easy, ´cause most of them repeated the exact same idea over and over again.

I´m convinced Tubaguy9 got the picture two pages ago.
(retreats back into dustbin)

[windshieldbug]

I've done as much as I can to give the director the point that I want harder music.

We all bow down at your obvious excellence. But this isn't about you, it's what the band is capable of performing and learning from. And there is little fun in playing something that is not made into music by your fellow musicians.

Music is not about the reproduction of a score. Music is about listening. Listening while performing. Trained seals can repeat patterns. So can Geico cavepeople, or computers. Becoming an active part of a performance, making 7 billion adjustments a second so that the product is MUSIC is the point. And having the absolute best seat in the house (for which people PAID good money) to enjoy this music. The music you listen to WHILE you're playing, and the music you listen to if you're not.

And if it's not MUSIC to you, if it's just gymnastics, then do us all a favor and take up the parallel bars instead.

[tubatom91]

currently I am playing a piece by Richard Wagner "Trauersinfonie" a funeral march starting with 31 measures of rest at a slow 4 beat it's not real exciting but I dont know about you but my band director gives me just about absolut creative freedom...which there is a fine line between artistry and a some teen with a tuba. The main thing is express dynamics more vividly .

[tubaguy9]

multiphonics?

I might actually check if that might be fine...The piece that it is, with the other parts, it may actually work. Reason is that because a lot of the parts are ('scuse the spelling) aleiatoric. Then, a lot of the brass instruments have flutter tonging written in their parts...So it might work...

And by the way, when I think I originally wrote this post, I think I was in one of those crabbier moods...so, maybe that's a part to take in consideration...

I also found this piece entertaining today, as that one of the movements of it is about the chaos of 9/11, and since our band director had said to one of the percussionists not to curse so much...I couldn't help but say that it was the people falling out of buildings...Now I sort of feel bad about that quote, but it was funny at the time...

So, I think I need to grow up...

[tubaguy9]

You just punched one of my band director buttons. You are extremely lucky I'm in a good mood or this would be an interesting flame.

Instead, here are some ideas:

1)Play with your cell phone and make sure it rings or beeps at just the right moments...we directors love that.

2)Play with your i-pod while you should be playing you instrument. For extra effect, make sure you leave one ear-bud out and turn the volume up as far as it will go.

3)Whine loudly at times when everyone else is silent about how this isn't challenging enough for you and get offended when he/she becomes annoyed with you.

4)Threaten to quit band at every available opportunity. This will surely wake the poor slob up and make them see how important you are to his/her band and how bad things will be without you.

5)Constantly pester your director to let you go and use the bathroom during this piece.

6)Make loud blats and farting noises through your horn while playing to show your displeasure with this piece and the lowly slime that is a director who would make a kid learn a boring piece *gasp*.

7)Never make the mistake of learning anything about this piece historically or otherwise. That will just make you know more about a piece you don't like and that's just wrong.

8)Never give your director the benefiet of the doubt that this might be a good piece for the band as a whole to learn something.

9)Above all, make sure never to play this song with heart and fire. That might ruin it for you and make it the jewel of the performance.

Hope these help,
Sou

Hey Sou,

By the way, I probably would have deserved every bit of the flame...

[Captain Sousie]

Hey Sou,

By the way, I probably would have deserved every bit of the flame...

Nope, you wouldn't. You have shown more maturity, grace, and professionalism (I can't spell today!!) than many people I have known, including myself. Please accept my apologies for the overly sarcastic tone of the post and take it as a list of things that have been done to myself and other band/choir directors I have known.

When I was in HS I had some times when my attitude got the best of me. One time in particular, I was told what a dumbass I had been by a respected musician in town and got a lot of good advice from a few others. The whole experience made me a better player and a better person.

...So, I think I need to grow up...

That's what we're all in the process of doing, but some of us don't like to admit it.

Double ditto on that one too. It sometimes takes an exchange like this one to remind me though.

I hope this post is clearer to you than it is to me.

Good luck,
Sou

[sloan]

Sorry to say this, but . . .

If you are bored then your personal standards are too low.

Damn! I was just about to post those exact words.

Except that...I see no reason to be "sorry".

[Rick Denney]

Ah, you guys.

The next time your community band director programs Symphony of Sitcoms, you tell me that music can't be boring.

It can surely be bad.

I'd rather play musical whole notes than bad music (and have made that choice on many occasions). I'm in my current band because the conductor puts together programs of great music.

Nothing is more difficult than playing dreadful music. And it's out there.

Now, if I'm paid to sit and play in the pit orchestra for the Chicago roadshow, I'll do what it takes to avoid boredom. That's professionalism. Furthermore, nobody will EVER know that I had to take extra steps to avoid boredom. But if the music wasn't boring, the notion of doing what it takes to avoid boredom would have never occurred to me.

So, Wade, I would modify your statement, and say: If we can't make ourselves interested in how musically and perfectly we play boring music, then maybe we are pursuing the wrong line.

Rick "who is never bored by great music, even during the tacets" Denney

[sloan]

Ever notice that - the better the music, the more tacet measures there are in the tuba part? Now...why is that?

[tofu]

-

[Wyvern]

Ever notice that - the better the music, the more tacet measures there are in the tuba part? Now...why is that?

It's a bit like "absence makes the heart grow stronger". If the tuba is used sparingly, then the impact when we do eventually enter is all the greater.

The better composers know that the tuba is quite a potent sound, so use it only when required, thus the tacet measures in the better music.

[TubaRay]

I have to agree with Rick in his above post. My comments on this topic have been made from the standpoint of a less than interesting tuba part. The quality of the music itself is another issue. Notice that I say the quality of the music and not the difficulty. We all often play very easy parts. We may, or may not, play them well, but we play them all the same. It is when the music is itself inferior that it is very difficult to stay interested.

Rick's reference to Symphony of Sitcoms(which I have not had the a pleasure of having performed) is a good point in that it reminds us of music that in musical terms is equivalent to a boring topic of conversation. One can participate in such a conversation and contribute intelligently to it, but that doesn't mean that it will be an interesting time in that person's life. I have been part of a concert band where the selection of music has often been made where the choices were considered almost entirely on whether or not the audience would enjoy it. I agree that the audience should be considered, but I don't believe the ensemble members can be ignored completely. It is possible to satisfy both the audience and the player.

Wade has pointed out how the player has an obligation to himself that needs to be brought to the rehearsal or performance. That obligation is to keep himself interested. If the player fails at this, he will lose some or all of his interest. I don't believe that to be a good thing. He also passes up perfectly good practice time.

This is a good time to bring up a distinction which should help to explain what I am attempting to communicate. There is practice time and there is rehearsal time. Practice time is the time spent on developing one's skills to perform. Rehearsal time is time spent preparing the music. I will admit that these are my own definitions. It is my belief that rehearsal time can contain some practice. When I am playing oopah parts which are generally not that hard, that is a time I can also practice my attacks, works on improving my sound, etc. This is where this all relates back to the original topic.
If the music is either so not challenging or so musically uninteresting, this is an excellent time for me to emphasis that practice technique in the middle of a rehearsal. Once again, I hope I have been able to succesfully articulate what I am trying to say. There are some excellent points being brought out in this topic. I tend to agree with what has been said.

[tubatooter1940]

Is it possible that, like movies, some music is so bad that it's good?

[Chuck(G)]

(Old Philip Glass joke)

I had a recording of Philip Glass that lasted 4 hours before I noticed that the needle was stuck...

[tubaguy9]

Heck, if something is just plain-ol' bad-boring (to which R.D. refers), there is one sure-fire rehearsal technique:

Start coughing. Don't stop. Get worse. Set your instrument down and leave the rehearsal area until the conductor/music director moves on to the next piece.

Sadly, in the piece I was sort of complaining about, that's the only song we're playing...

[tubaguy9]

Ever notice that - the better the music, the more tacet measures there are in the tuba part? Now...why is that?

It's a bit like "absence makes the heart grow stronger". If the tuba is used sparingly, then the impact when we do eventually enter is all the greater.

The better composers know that the tuba is quite a potent sound, so use it only when required, thus the tacet measures in the better music.

But the ones who truly know the tuba entertains them a bit more...



cough, cough, Richard Wagner