stage deportment

[tbn.al]

Just finished a performance of Tchaik 1 with a photographer snapping pics behind us with a LOUD shutter. He didn't have sense enough to wait until the soft places were past. We will have shutters clicking all over the recording. The audience had to have heard it. Stupid, stupid, stupid!

[averagejoe]

"The air in our lungs is very moist, and there is moisture in the air. When warm humid air is run through cold tubing, the moisture condenses and pools in the tubes."

Likewise when you buzz a mouthpiece or clean out the condensed green chocolate cake vapor from inside? Hey I'm new around here. What do I know?

R "Whatever he says, me too" BG

There is definitely some spit in the horn after playing, I just don't think that it is the majority.

More in line with the original post, I am always annoyed when those who set up the stage place chairs directly behind chairs in other rows. This happened to me in a concert yesterday. I set my chair in an optimal place for our sound check and mini rehearsal before the concert. Another ensemble had their pre-concert rehearsal thing right after us. They moved all of the chairs and when I came out for the concert I had very little space to even set my horn sideways on my lap, and the seat in front of me was directly between mine and the director. The seat happened to be occupied by a tall person. I moved as much as I could but my neighbors could only move so much. I had to work very hard to see the conductor throughout the concert.

[Rick Denney]

Rick,
The trick to being a fat man wearing white tie/tails is to wear the size that REALLY fits (and not the size that one WISHES were the right size).

Dan Aykroyd wasn't fat. And it didn't seem to me that Belushi's clothes were tight. That wasn't what made them the Blues Brothers.

Rick "not needing to go into it further" Denney

[Rick Denney]

I'm amazed here...I think averagejoe is correct and Rick Denney is full of spit! Never seen it before and won't see it again.

The stuff that makes the air in your lungs moist isn't a heck of a lot different from the stuff your saliva glands secrete into your mouth or the stuff that your mucous membranes secrete into your nasal passages. In fact, it may be worse in the gross-out department. When I breathe on my mirror, it's not steam from a hot shower I see.

Point is, people don't believe us when we say it's "condensation" and not "saliva".

Rick "the moisture has to come from somewhere" Denney

[Rick Denney]

It ain't the resopnsibility of the offending, troublemakeing, or incompetent party either !

Naw. Just because a cop doesn't pull me over for cutting someone off on the freeway doesn't make it not rude or illegal. It should not take any great wisdom to understand what is appropriate, and they should not put their fellow volunteers or their employer in the position of having to enforce such common sense.

Rick "who has never been in a group that didn't have a well-stated and often written policy on performance dress" Denney

[Rick Denney]

Rick,
First you used that word "should" , then you sugest that they "should" not put their fellow volunteers or their employer in
the position..............THAT THEY VOLUNTEERED FOR (or get paid to do).

Please understand that the word "should" means little after the fact . "I wasn't supposed to hit you, but what you goin' to do about it ?" -Richard Pryer
BTW: few of us can say what you said in your signature.

You're right--should means little after the fact. But finger pointing happens after the fact, and blaming the dress-code cop is finger-pointing.

It is not the fault of the dress-code cops in the organization that people don't dress appropriately. It is a shame that an adult group (and college students keep begging to be thought of as adults) would even need a dress-code cop.

And I don't know how you have found groups that don't have a clear policy. It's written into the contract for professional groups, and it gets asked and discussed frequently in amateur groups, even by those who have been in the group for years. The pro gigs I've had usually spent only slightly less time on that topic than on when we were supposed to be present for work. I've been in over a dozen volunteer music ensembles in my life, ranging from orchestras to beer-tent bands, and every one of them has dress-code discussions frequently, usually before every concert. Many have organized costume purchases. All of them that provided information for new members have spelled the usual dress code out. In my current band, the dress code is on every concert information sheet distributed to musicians weeks before the performance.

If I got called to sub with a group, I would always be prepared to ask, but I've rarely had to. If I got called so late that asking was impossible, I would wear a conservative black suit with a long tie and a white shirt, and bring a bow tie. If it turns out to be casual, I can always shed the coat and tie. Ditto any church gig. But again, I've never been in a position where I had to guess--maybe I've been lucky in 40 years of tuba playing. Showing up underdressed would be a sure way to never get another invite. And for women, I can't imagine anyone who performs music not having a conservative black stage dress that they can wear with black stockings and low-heeled shoes.

So, I'm not buying it that the required dress code for any group is a mystery or that ignorance of it has much justification.

Rick "recognizing that stated policies are not always heard policies, because many do not listen" Denney

[Donn]

the moisture has to come from somewhere

Sure, actually from a variety of places. I suppose my moisture primarily comes from the municipal water supply, which as I recall is alpine runoff from a reservoir on the Tolt River, via the western slope of the Cascade mountains. But small amounts from other sources, of course, via beer, grapefruit, vegetables, etc. Maybe a tiny amount from other people, if I inhale a lot in close proximity.

In the context of the water we get for drinking, cooking, etc., the source of water matters a lot, since it will carry dissolved minerals and other impurities that affect its taste and healthfulness. But after it has gone through a vapor phase, water is water, doesn't really matter to me where it came from unless it somehow carries other elements along (I could see vapor condensed from a drunk would possibly have some ethanol in it, but I can survive small amounts of ethanol.)

[MaryAnn]

Rick wrote:
"And for women, I can't imagine anyone who performs music not having a conservative black stage dress that they can wear with black stockings and low-heeled shoes."

Ooops. I don't own a black dress. I wear black slacks, long ones, black socks, black low-heeled shoes, and depending on what is requested, a black or white blouse.

The one group I'm playing in now has its own costume....the above, with white shirt, teal cumberbund (did I spell that right?) and teal bow tie. We all look alike, more or less.

This particular band's conductor loves to have us "in costume" sometimes. We play free concerts, often at retirement places and sometimes at churches. Some concerts we are requested to "dress Western" and there have been times when we have done other things....like the time everyone had a face mask for when we did Phantom. Whatever....while we strive for playing well, it is mostly for fun and if we take the attitude that it is for fun, it works well.

More serious groups that I've played in in the past, including professional orchestras, no way would they have asked for such dress shenanigans (probably didn't spell that right either.) But things are changing; to get audiences (some of whom have come from the "play your grad recital in flip-flops" culture) there is some loosening up going on. It's not all bad.

MA

[sloan]

since conductors, and timeliness, have been mentioned - I'll add one more:


*announcing "call" for 6:30 (for a 7:30 performance) and then having the conductor first show his face at 7:00

*and then spending 15 minutes re-doing the seating arrangement

[bort]

Or... having a 6:30 call time (for a 7:30 show) to run a doors-shut half hour rehearsal before the concert. I guarantee you, anything that's still broken at 6:30 will STILL be broken at 7:30.

[Ben]

+1 Bort

[jmerring]

or.....before all stage perfomances (ALL), a call time of 3-4 hours prior, rehearsal and a dinner break, leaving 45 minutes before getting photos taken (professional) and then getting in place and warmed up before the curtain rises.

[TubaRay]

Did Denney actually think I was referring to flip-flops? His imagination is smarter than he is.

The visual associated with that has done permanent psychological harm.

Rick "who will send you the therapy bills" Denney

"Stay between the lines" - TubaRay

I just got around to reading this, but I know what that means. I am not, however, always successful.

On the subject of flip-flops, my question would be: WHY?

[Mojo workin']

Colleagues in professional orchestras making fun of children's reactions to music/narration, etc. at a kiddie concert. They are children. You are a professional musician. Grow the f*** up. Awwwww, aren't we playing Heldenleben or Mahler 6 or Rite of Spring? You poor thing.

Colleagues in professional orchestras at a church production (Easter, Christmas) not showing reverence for the proceedings (this might have been said before), but bears repeating, as it is utterly disrespectful/cheesey/ungrateful to accept a paycheck from a church to play professionally at their service, all the while you are snickering at what they believe in.

[arpthark]

Noodling around when the tuning note is given. Also "tuning up" your major thirds, minor thirds, major seconds, etc. Tonal centers and your place in the chord are all relative - if the group is tuning to an A and you tune up your C# based on that A, it won't necessarily be in-tune in C# major tonality, and so on.

[bort]

or.....before all stage perfomances (ALL), a call time of 3-4 hours prior, rehearsal and a dinner break, leaving 45 minutes before getting photos taken (professional) and then getting in place and warmed up before the curtain rises.

Yikes! Okay, okay... now the 30 minute last minute rehearsal doesn't sound so bad!

[Bob Kolada]

Since everyone's harping on the "importance" of uniforms...

Why are women generally allowed to wear whatever when men are to be in tuxedoes and such? Tuxedoes look stupid, ties look stupid,... why can't EVERYONE look stupid together at least? Clothes are supposed to be functional, not peacock-with-a-magazine-subscription fashionable.

[Mark]

Noodling around when the tuning note is given. Also "tuning up" your major thirds, minor thirds, major seconds, etc. Tonal centers and your place in the chord are all relative - if the group is tuning to an A and you tune up your C# based on that A, it won't necessarily be in-tune in C# major tonality, and so on.

I usually play "nothing at all" when an "A" is given...even if "for the brass". If I play anything at all, it will probably be a "D".

I like to play a pedal A. It gets my chops all loose and ready to go.

[Homerun]

I prefer to ensure my tri tones are in tune. Or minor seconds.

[Biggs]

mini-poll:

If the brass and percussion sections of a symphony orchestra open up a concert with (specifically) Copland's - Fanfare for the Common Man, should they...

- tune at all?
- (If "yes", who should play the tuning note? ...the tam-tam...?? )
- tune with an A?
- tune with a Bb?
- tune with an F?

I've never performed this, but my vote would go to a trumpet playing the tuning note, on the basis of first entrance (correct?)


More importantly, your idea of the tam tuning note reminded me that, in percussion-heavy pieces (not so much this one), ensembles should tune to the infallible (or at least immovable) pitches from the percussion instruments. If you are not in tune with the glockenspiel, it is highly unlikely that the glockenspiel-er is going to take a hacksaw out of his pocket and cut his instrument down to match the strings/winds. Most pitched percussion (at least the models I've played) is tuned somewhere around A=442 to account for decay.