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Klarinet Archive - Posting 000012.txt from 1995/09

From: bassethn@-----.ORG
Subj: The Gig from Hell
Date: Fri, 1 Sep 1995 21:08:37 -0400

I'm sure that I've had a few, but most seemed to be blocked from my
conscious memory.

However, there was the time that I was playing bass clarinet in the
National Ballet Company of Canada's annual Christmas Nutcraker Fest (I
hold under my belt a very modest 132 performances of same; some of my
good friends in the Ballet orchestra are well over 400 now) and I was
having octave key problems. The linkage was not working and if I played
above a D second line, the lower octave key would not close. I had the
second trombone player reach over on cues that I gave him (I believe that
I kicked him) and he held the octave key shut. This was particularly
helpful in the Pas de Deux solo. His skills permitted me to play the solos
as written.

No, I did not pay him a double, but beverages were on me that night. As
it turned out, that cost me more than what the double would have cost. He
was, after all, a Low Brass Player. I shouldn't really complain -- he
did, unlike many Low Brass Players I know, possess the motor skills to
help me out. He was also able to construct and speak in complete
sentences during our post-gig wrap-up. (As I recall, his language skills
increased inversely to mine as the evening wore on.) And true to form of
the Low Brass Player, he was a great guy.

It wasn't at all bad. I could have owed a debt of gratitude and been
forced to spend the evening with --gulp-- a flute player.

=========================================
David Bourque
Bass Clarinet, Toronto Symphony Orchestra
Internet: bassethn@-----.org
=========================================

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