wind bands - clarity of sound

[tbn.al]

For all the reasons listed before I have ceased playing with groups where there are more than one on a part. I just don't enjoy the multiple player stuff enough to make the effort. The downside is that now there are holes in the music when the only bass trombone or tuba miscounts a rest. It's even more embarrasing when I come in early. The older you get the harder it is to maintain enough mental clarity to count while ogling the viola section.

[Rick Denney]

If you, Mr. Unknown-to-me Reader, are one of those guys, Stop It. Now. And tell your friends to stop it, too.

Yes, and yes. Even if I'm the bad guy in your memory. But I find it often falls on deaf ears when I tell it to my friends.

The notion of entitlement is absolutely correct, which feeds into the notion that band members often look on musical performance as a sport rather than an art. Laying out is like admitting defeat, instead of serving art. But in a community group, enforcement really does need to come from the podium, and even that is risky in the extreme. Egos are fragile among those performing at the limit of their abilities.

Rick "thinking back to times when Rob helped out in our group, wondering if I was the guilty party on those occasions" Denney