Klarinet Archive - Posting 000970.txt from 2000/04

From: Bill Hausmann <bhausman@-----.com>
Subj: Re: [kl] Community Bands...
Date: Sat, 22 Apr 2000 23:40:45 -0400

At 03:30 PM 4/21/2000 -0700, Lorell Girard wrote:
>Any listers out there involved in community bands, please respond...
>I am section leader in my local community band, and am interested in how
>others in community bands handle the sticky "seating" issues. Audition is
>an "eight letter word" in our community (for adults that is) but all the
>high schoolers and some middle schoolers have either a challenge system or
>audition for chairs. The notion that people don't need to play for the
>director and/or section leader at some point to determine seating is foreign
>to me, having had to do it that way through middle school, high school, and
>college myself.
>Would appreciate anyone's take on this. To be fair to the stronger players
>and keep a good balanced sound in the section we are currently rotating
>people, giving various players, if competent and comfortable doing so, the
>opportunity to play different parts at different times, always keeping one
>or two real leaders in every section.
>Thanks in advance.
>
In the Bay Concert Band (also known as the "Second Wind" Band) in Bay City,
MI, seating is mostly by mutual agreement, plus director suggestion. For
the past couple of years, I have been sitting first chair alto sax, mostly
because I have a better tone for solo lines. In one recent concert, before
which I had to miss several rehearsals, I voluntarily sat second (to the
lady who used to play the first parts before I moved to the sax section).
The trumpets switch parts around a lot, but only two or three of them take
significant solos. Most of the people in the group are aware of their
limitations and seat themselves accordingly.

Bill Hausmann bhausman@-----.com
451 Old Orchard Drive http://www.concentric.net/~bhausman
Essexville, MI 48732 http://homepages.go.com/~zoot14/zoot14.html
ICQ UIN 4862265

If you have to mic a saxophone, the rest of the band is too loud.

---------------------------------------------------------------------
Unsubscribe from Klarinet, e-mail: klarinet-unsubscribe@-----.org
Subscribe to the Digest: klarinet-digest-subscribe@-----.org
Additional commands: klarinet-help@-----.org
Other problems: klarinet-owner@-----.org