Author: clarinetist04
Date: 2006-05-21 03:15
Yesterday I attended the USNB performance in Northern Virginia. It featured a marimba soloist on a Saint-Saens piece, Toccata Marziale, Torch Dance (by John Barnes), a couple of marches, Zdechlik's Celebrations, Robert W. Smith's Songs of Sailor and Sea, and a few "fluff pieces."
When I was in high school I went to a lot, and I mean a LOT, of Navy Band, Army Band, Field Band, Air Force Band, etc. concerts as well as several local band concerts and I never thought anything of it. Concerts were nice, marches were peppy...it was a band concert and it was fun.
I went off to college two years ago and began playing in the wind ensemble there. We NEVER play marches and often only play one of two songs on the concert. The rest is chamber ("wind ensemble") music. For example, one concert was Holst's Second Suite, Messiaen's Oiseaux Exotiques, Hartley's Concerto for 23 Winds, and Wagner's Trauersinfonie.
Now, I realized last night that none of the songs the USNB was playing was any longer than 10 minutes. Then I realized that there was no intermission. Likewise, I began reminiscing about concerts at school at at the Pittsburgh Symphony where everyone was dressed in suits and dresses and intermission consisted of everyone touting their lovely clothes and buying a glass of wine discussing the latest in the news and how great the first half was.
The USNB didn't have that intermission in the hour and a half long concert. People were dressed in jeans and t-shirts or shorts. I thought, why the lack of respect or presentability?
Then I looked at the stage and the navy band was in their whites. They weren't in formal wear, but more lax clothing. So, inherently, my instincts blamed the performers. But then I, again, recalled concerts at school and realized that there weren't as many of them.
So, you see, the Navy Band performs concert after concert, as many as five to ten a week, playing the same short pieces over and over again. Orchestras only perform three big concerts per "set"...i.e. for a given concert, three performances are given; these change every week or two. I don't really know how to explain this, but you've all been to orchestra concerts and know what I'm talking about.
Another thing that came to my mind was the poor conducting abilities of Colonel Gambone. He knows his music, but his technique is absolutely horrific. Likewise, when he would cue a player to stand for a solo, that person would stand like it was routine and then sit down. Not crack a smile at all. So another observation I had was that orchestral players, from my experiences, are much more grateful for the praise of the audience. They don't play as often and are prone to being grateful for the praise, albeit they get a lot of it, that they receive from the audience.
So other than the historical uses of bands, I am chalking the difference in attitude towards bands versus orchestras up to the type of music (marches and short features versus half hour to hour long symphonies), the times of concerts (all days and times of the week versus Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and/or Sunday shows), and the demeanor of the performers.
This occurred to me last night at that concert. Strange what you think about at a fantastic concert.
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