Re: Re: Re: Band Room Etiquette


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Posted by Rick Denney on July 23, 2000 at 09:35:33:

In Reply to: Re: Re: Band Room Etiquette posted by Dan Schultz on July 23, 2000 at 08:48:50:

The only time a dictatorship can be tolerated easily is when the dictator is always right. I once played in a group that had Randol Bass as the director. He had a tendency to insist on things, and that sometimes rubbed a few people the wrong way. But he was always right, and the group was never better than when he conducted. I try to imagine that group played the Giannini Variations and Fugue (as we did under him) in later years, and the mind boggles.

Finding a conductor with the right personality and musical values all in one package is really hard. I played in a group with a well-known clinician as a conductor, and if it wasn't for the tuba section's commitment to tempo, every piece would have degenerated to a dirge as the clarinets tried to get all those notes played. We were exercising a bit of civil disobedience, and almost everyone was glad we did. Note the kew word: almost. But the group has survived the strife and still exists, though without some of its best players of former years.

Another group had a conductor fresh out of a military career as a bandmaster. Now, the connection I'm making with the military is only because he thought, based on his long career, that he was a highly skilled conductor. He showed up for rehearsal with a list of tunes of varying meter to show off his stick technique (which was good in a floor-door-window-ceiling sort of way). He also showed up with a list of problem sections in each tune. The only problem with that list was that it was based on some other band or some book's idea of what's hard. Invariably, he'd work us to death on stuff we had nailed, and would blithely ignore the most horrible sins elsewhere. It was most frustrating.

But the alternative is to not play or have a group. So, the first rule of any community band is

1. Repeat after me: I am glad to be here.

Rick "I am glad to be here" Denney


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