Posted by Sam Gnagey on June 29, 2001 at 16:47:48:
In Reply to: funniest mistake/act of disobedience posted by James McNeil on June 29, 2001 at 13:29:56:
One time we had a composer write a piece for the orchestra here. This guy was pretty well respected in the state at that time. The piece was pure junk. I thought the composer must be a sham and knew our conductor was. After the first rehearsal of the piece I started playing everything in my part a whole step higher. I had just played BBb Sousaphone for a week, so it was pretty easy to do this on the CC. The basses and I had quite a lot of unison stuff. They gave me a few sour looks from time to time, but they never let on and the conductor was oblivious. The composer came to the dress rehearsal. I figured I'd probably have to come up with a quick BS explanation, but he never made a comment. After the performance he saw me and said I'd done a great job. I told him I wasn't so happy because I hadn't played one right note. He said, "Oh, that's all right. We all have an "off night" now and then." He still didn't have a clue. What a Bozo!