Ignoring the "wigged out" and more

[Three Valves]

My one failure at ignoring someone was back when I was playing the Eb part in our local British style brass band. The conductor brought in someone to play snare drum who was constantly behind the beat, meaning anyone who listened to him also continually slowed down. (That same guy is a competent timpanist, so go figure.) For some reason the conductor considered ME to be the driving force of the band, and she told me she was counting on me, with my tuba part, to keep the band on the beat, instead of just getting rid of the problem. The band stopped being fun and I quit. It was too much to have to ignore that guy, listen to the band getting dragged backwards by him, stay dead on with the conductor fighting the entire band, and play my part well. I said, phooey. After a while that guy and the conductor got in a screaming match and she threw him out. Too late for me.

Everyone knows firing the drummer is always the first course of action!!

(Should be)

[MartyNeilan]

The (new - as of a couple of years ago) music director ROUTINELY chides them about this...

...not so much that they can't ~play~ the notes, but that they don't ~get~ the music, and he has to explain it to them - sometimes: phrase-by-phrase.

He lectures them that,

By the first rehearsal ALL of this music should be part of YOU, as if this is the tenth/twentieth/thirtieth time you've performed it.

To their credit, some of them have taken it to heart, and - to his credit - the ensemble now sounds like a "real" symphony orchestra.

25 years ago when I was trying to be serious about this stuff, I would go to Petelson's and get the excerpt book for that composer or better yet a pocket score and Tower Records and get a recording before the first rehearsal. That way, I was completely prepared before I sat down. Too many people I see now are truly "sight reading" a first rehearsal, even though they can go to YouTube for the recordings and IMSLP for the score - both completely free and sans travel.

[scottw]

I play in a large concert band and there is always tension as to tempo. I have figured out several potential reasons for this, but, yesterday I decided my reason number 1 was correct. There is 1 primary drummer and a couple others come and go, but the one guy stays and plays pretty much everything [possibly why everyone else eventually goes?]. I usually sit on the opposite side of the room, as far from the percussion as I can get, but yesterday, on a crowded stage, I was forced to sit directly next to him and he was all alone at the set. It was a 3-hour gig of mostly mindless background noise, so I entertained myself by trying to figure out why the tempo was all over the map, every time.Finally, I came to the conclusion that, like most bad drummers, he got himself [and the rest of the band] into trouble by simply trying to impress with his stickwork, hitting the kit as often per beat as he possibly could.He has good skills and has potential to play well, but instead of concentrating on a drummer's fundamental job--keeping solid time--he over-plays everything, with the result that the tempo goes to hell each time. I can tell you that this 3 hour gig was very frustrating because I saw and heard when it was about to happen but there was nothing I could do but hang on for a very bumpy ride. When he settled back down and just comped or he rested, things immediately improved. Until the next time! I just had to either fight it or drop out for a couple bars when it got really bad. And, there was not a bloke-sized paycheck to compensate for the agita!

[timothy42b]

The best solution: practice your rear end off and get in a better ensemble.

Second best: read up on RET, Rational Emotive Therapy, a system of cognitive psychology founded by Albert Ellis that suggests some strategies to avoid overreacting to things you can't control. It's an unusual self help program in that it can actually work. Of course it usually doesn't - but that's usually a choice.

But above all don't punish yourself by continuing to play with aggravating people/people you give the power to aggravate you.

Unless they pay really well.

[Three Valves]

Second best: read up on RET, Rational Emotive Therapy, a system of cognitive psychology founded by Albert Ellis that suggests some strategies to avoid overreacting to things you can't control. It's an unusual self help program in that it can actually work. Of course it usually doesn't - but that's usually a choice.

It's too late for Christmas but maybe I can get a copy for my wife for our anniversary...

[Leland]

What I do:

- Try to be the most solid player in the room, and try to play with the ensemble.

- Remember that it's just band.