I've seen such disasters from nothing more complicated than rearranging the chairs to accomodate the size of the stage. In our community band, the horns sit at the back, stage right, and one time the conductor decided that we should sit stage left, never having rehearsed with the trombones in our ears and out of ear-shot of the usual people around us.
He went back to the rehearsal seating for the next concert. :) One of my favorite things in choirs, both as conductor and as chorister, is to mix up the people when you're sure everyone knows their part well. It doesn't work for all things but it can be delightful when it does. I confess to never having seen an orchestra do this, though. -S- > -----Original Message----- > From: > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] > du] On Behalf Of Larry Jellison > Sent: Monday, May 22, 2006 5:10 PM > To: horn@music.memphis.edu > Subject: [Hornlist] Ear training for musical disasters > > Ensembles can correct quickly if everyone is listening. One > type of disaster is where two sides of the ensemble get out > of coordination, perhaps due to poor acoustics. > > A few weeks ago one local ensemble had the concert disaster > of two sides of the ensemble starting different pieces. This > occurred because the conductor went out of sequence on the > program, made a quiet comment to the group about what was up > (the wrong > piece) and some ensemble members did not hear. So, we had > "Blue Tango" and "With a Song In My Heart" being played > simultaneously. It sounded surprisingly good. > It took a while for the conductor to get everyone to stop, as > the trumpets really enjoyed doing the melody of With a Song > In My Heart and didn't want to quit. > Finally, when quiet arrived, the conductor turned around and > lectured the audience about how the American composer, > Charles Ives, composed music like this. This was for an > audience that probably never heard of Charles Ives. > > Rehearsals now have the trumpets pulling this gag on the > conductor on some number in the rehearsal. > Mistakes are slow to be forgotten. This one, maybe, never. > > This group has had even worse disasters, though. Last year, > the group did a "music at the movies" concert-- not all of > the video, to be shown on a large theater screen, had been > pre-screened, and an XX-rated bedroom video scene was > projected on screen located behind the musicians while they > played away. This concert was for a community arts festival, > by the way. The musicians (and I was one) saw only the > expressions on the faces of the audience. > > Larry > > __________________________________________________ > Do You Yahoo!? > Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection > around http://mail.yahoo.com > _______________________________________________ > post: horn@music.memphis.edu > unsubscribe or set options at > http://music2.memphis.edu/mailman/options/horn/steve%40fridays > computer.com > _______________________________________________ post: horn@music.memphis.edu unsubscribe or set options at http://music2.memphis.edu/mailman/options/horn/archive%40jab.org
