FLASHBACK Happy Friday, November 1, 2024!
It’s time to play a concert.
Tonight at 7 o’clock I perform bass with the college big band you always see me with. This will be our second and final concert of the semester. Thankfully, this concert is early enough to allow us to avoid Christmas music.
Work Before Working
I worked a six hour shift prior to the concert. It ended in good time and I was able to load the car, take a nap, and eat some food.
Normally, It’s not a good idea to do a bunch of shit with your hands during the day if you plan to play an instrument for an audience who has paid money. I considered getting a substitute, but then I realized I would be losing out on money, because this band doesn’t pay.
Like I always say, it’s the gym. You go, you do what you wanna do for you, act accordingly, and all that good workout stuff. In addition to that, this situation also dictates compensation considerations. We get what we pay for. They get what they pay for.
“Let’s go!”
Oh uh…
Traffic is dumb.
Why 70s Fever?
This concert has a theme. You know I like that. This concert theme is 70s music. You know I like that. I play electric bass. Usually big bands and jazz want standup acoustic double bass. I don’t do it.
It’s nice to finally be with a big band Director who understands the details of my instrument. My electric bass and it’s close relative were an integral part of the sound of 60s 70s and 80s music. The Fender Jazz Bass and the Fender P bass we’re prevalent instruments at the time. Their sound is coveted by many players. These instruments can be heard on many many recordings.
Song List
Johnny’s Theme
What Is Hip
Kill Me Softly With His Song
Evergreen
Groovin’ Hard
Chase The Clouds Away
Got To Get You Into My Life
Just The Wag You Are
Rise
Gonna Fly Now
🐜 Mini Rant
That’s not a normal repertoire for most big bands. I’m not complaining. I think non-musicians get tired of big band. Especially when there are multiple swing tunes with lots of soloists during the open solo sections. This is for the musicians. Sometimes these long open solo sections turn into forums for inexperienced soloists. That’s good. It’s probably essential for a healthy soloist, but I don’t think the audience always enjoys 12 minutes of it. I think the audience is more likely to know most of the songs were doing. I believe this to be the higher entertainment level.
🍆 Size Matters
When you’re ready to smash, hit hard, pound that concrete, and make beautiful music… you need a big band.
This semester has a lot of players. I’m not complaining. I personally don’t mind if the horn sections are large or bloated. They will probably sound better.
Saxophones
We have seven. One guy on alto 1, two guys on alto 2, one guy on tenor 1, one guy on tenor 2, and two guys on the baritone saxophone. It seems like all these guys solo, but alto one and tenor one are probably considered the section leaders.
Trombones
I guess they were only four at the concert. We had more during rehearsals. A typical trombone section contains four. Trombone one, two, three and a bass trombone make up that horn section.
Trumpets
We had six at the concert. Again, I think somebody missed the concert because it seems like we had more during rehearsals. Anyway, six for a section that’s only supposed to have four is good enough. No bass trumpet here. They use designations trumpet one, two, three and four. Not all the time, but most of the time trumpet won and two do the soloing.
Rhythm Section
If we didn’t have a percussion player, I would say we have a basic rhythm section. Sometimes big bands have vibraphone or organ. The most basic rhythm section would be Piano, Bass, Guitar, and Drums. I wish we could always have a percussion player. Sometimes I wish I wasn’t the only bass player. I don’t mind sharing a song or three with students. For student it’s potentially one of the best learning situations they can find. They have made a bounce off of constantly. we would talk about music and become accidentally organized. I often wish there was another bass player so that I could take a break. Sometimes we have monstrous songs near the end. Demanding songs at the end of our performance make me nervous. Usually by the end of a concert dexterity is depleted and or highly influenced by random environmental factors. I also like when other Bass players are there because I don’t always like the singers. 🤷♂️ I take liberties. If the whole situation doesn’t sound good to me, I can let the other bass player step in. Get me out of the way and let the students have their fun, right? 😅 i’m a student too, but I’ve placed my bets and played the game in ways that have granted me specialized knowledge and experience.
So, anyways, this rhythm section consist of percussion, drums, bass, two guitars, two keyboard players and one vocalist. (This bill has the vocalist in with the rhythm section. I’m not sure if that’s a common practice or not.)
📷 Stage Views
Lota of trumpet players this semester. Lots of trumpet mutes. I’ve probably talked about these before. Trumpet mutes always look antique to me.
Part of my confusion is because there are different types of mutes available. Old ones and new ones always look like they are antiques. Obviously, I’m not a trumpet player. To me, it doesn’t seem like the technology has changed much over the years. Oh shit… I hope nobody from a gadget cult heard me just say that.
In the image below, we can see a different type of mute. I don’t know what that material is. It looks like paper, Mâché or painted leather. It looks like a piece of leather wrapped around a cone and then painted with heavy lead paint. 😃 Does lead paint make anyone else hungry?
For our last stage view image, we can see someone’s case, and someone else’s bag. I noticed water bottles in a couple other pictures. These items are annoying to see afterwards. Images and video that contain musician, clutter, or annoying. I think in this scenario, it’ll be fine. Nobody’s getting paid and these items are near the back and they are low. I’ve never found it necessary to suddenly run to my case or my gig bag in the middle of a song or in between songs. The times where it was necessary, I wanted to be offstage and out of sight anyways. no one‘s here to see you finagle with your gear. Nobody on stage once unnecessary distractions, such as musicians rifling through their gig bags or instrument cases. Com’on y’all.
😳 Thoughts/Aftermath/Shellshock
I enjoyed the challenges, but I can’t say it was fun. Various stage elements were extremely distracting and annoying. How does one practice these monkey wrenches? In the short term I guess you don’t practice it. The only time you get to practice monkey wrench variables from band mates on stage is in the long term and if you do the concerts. I would hope that a professional situation these variables require zero consideration. Feels amateur just to talk about it.
I said all of that as if the Drummer has nothing to do with the band’s difficulties. I find the Drums extremely disappointing. I know the Drummer didn’t do his homework. I know the drummer got lost several time. Nice guy and everything, really cool everything, but that doesn’t mean I have to enjoy the byproduct of what the person created. Some people know how to get prepared and some people don’t. It’s that simple.
Hate me, love me, and know that drummers can make or break a band. Shitty musicians with a good drummer will sound better than the opposite. ESPECIALLY in big band. 🤷♂️
The guitar player was a unexpected monkey wrench. I’ve never had someone try to hide behind me on a stage. The awkward proximity of the guitar player required his amplifier to be close. This was an extremely distracting and disappointing instrument to perform with. I need to hear the horns and the soloist. I do not need to hear a unprepared, poorly tuned, and rhythmically absurd loud guitar.
This gif shows the tiny amp’s proximity. It was small and loud. That means people on stage and around it are kind of blown away and yet the sound probably doesn’t travel throughout the rest of the theater. I can’t remember if they put a microphone on it.
The gif also shows a red power cable. This came from the stage crew. An experienced stage crew would have black power cables. Professional musicians also have black instrument and power cables. (None of that curly telephone cord instrument cable’s noisy shit either.)
🍞🧈Rant FOR Musicians
Lack of confidence is caused by lack of preparation.
”Fake it till you make it,” means you are out of control.
It’s okay to hate ignoring other musicians.
It’s perfectly fine to hate practicing bad listening skills.
Its okay to want to make beautiful music and grow tired of lazy co-workers.
Thanks for reading.
Make music.
Make people pay for music.
Pay for music.
Search for Tetrahedroseph on your favorite music platform. https://share.amuse.io/PTe4E7_4ji1Y
And
!discovery 30
Thanks!!!
:)
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