Posted by Rick Denney on June 20, 2003 at 18:15:33:
In Reply to: Holst 2nd Suite - Dargason posted by one of many Scotts on June 20, 2003 at 14:47:23:
If you played it and he didn't like what he heard, then I'm afraid you had your chance. I hate it, though, when conductors of amateur groups don't give people a chance to grow into a part. My conductor (a pro tuba player and my occasional teacher) would never let me off the hook that easily. I'd have to persuade him that I couldn't play it.
But you are a sub, you might not know what else is going on. The bari sax player might be the guy who does a lot of work for the band and has shown persistent commitment to the group. The conductor might have been rewarding him, and the comment to you about the difficulty was intended as a salve on your hurt feelings. It's hard to know for sure. I wouldn't take it personally.
On that particular work, the only problem I have is maintaining tempo and keeping it light and bouncy. I have a tendency to work it too hard and it gets heavy and then I drag. That's a typical amateur problem, by my observation.
Rick "whose ego gets checked too often to track" Denney