Author: Philip Caron
Date: 2017-08-01 01:34
I recently sat in with the community band in a neighboring town - the Claremont NH American Band. That band has been active since 1888. John Philip Sousa twice conducted it on tours through New England. Currently they give weekly concerts on the venerable band stand near the square in town. The concerts seem pretty well attended. It's nice to see an old tradition like this still going strong.
It's a pretty hard gig. They play almost all marches, and some of the music is old. The paper can be yellowed and dog-eared, the printing small and dense, and the lighting isn't necessarily the best. Some of those marches are hard! Plenty of Sousa, Fillmore, R.B. Hall, many I've never heard of. Mostly sight-reading, and as such a big challenge. Even guessing the number of ledger lines can be tricky - E or G? F or D? On many parts, key signatures and changes are marked only once, not on every line, so you have to catch it when it happens.
Man, that was fun.
|
|
The Clarinet BBoard
.jpg){kind=small}
.jpg){kind=small}
.jpg){kind=small}
.jpg){kind=small}
.jpg){kind=small}
.jpg){kind=small}
