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For Flip's Sake!!!! As mentioned elsewhere, I'm booked to play 1945 and older tunes at a street festival this Sunday - sorted out my repertoire (about twenty tunes with backing tracks and many more without) and also selected three marching tunes (The British Grenadiers, Rule Britannia and When Johnny Comes Marching Home) to lead a procession.
I was under the impression it was just me leading this ragtag line of all ages in period costumes and as of a phone call to the organisers just last night (Thursday), that's the way it was. All of a sudden, I get the programme in the post this morning (Friday) and it says I'm leading the drummers of some such organisation! That's all very well but that leaves me to just get there and march off with no contact with these drummers beforehand. For all I know, they've already selected their music. I expect all I can do is say 'right, I'm in charge - these are my three marches, just give me some rhythms, two of 'em in 4/4 and one in 6/8'.
Last year for their Christmas event, they wanted my students and I to play in fifteen minute sets throughout the day but as it was atrocious weather and the brass band they'd booked turned up then cleared off again without even opening their cases and we ended up playing in a pub and I played for four hours virtually non stop. I said to the organisers that fifteen minute sets for me were too short, half an hour slots were preferable. What does the programme for this Sunday say? Twenty minutes a set, with the final set of the day being only ten minutes - they no listen!
I expect it'll all turn out wonderfully in the end, it's just annoying about the lack of communication. :evil:
I was under the impression it was just me leading this ragtag line of all ages in period costumes and as of a phone call to the organisers just last night (Thursday), that's the way it was. All of a sudden, I get the programme in the post this morning (Friday) and it says I'm leading the drummers of some such organisation! That's all very well but that leaves me to just get there and march off with no contact with these drummers beforehand. For all I know, they've already selected their music. I expect all I can do is say 'right, I'm in charge - these are my three marches, just give me some rhythms, two of 'em in 4/4 and one in 6/8'.
Last year for their Christmas event, they wanted my students and I to play in fifteen minute sets throughout the day but as it was atrocious weather and the brass band they'd booked turned up then cleared off again without even opening their cases and we ended up playing in a pub and I played for four hours virtually non stop. I said to the organisers that fifteen minute sets for me were too short, half an hour slots were preferable. What does the programme for this Sunday say? Twenty minutes a set, with the final set of the day being only ten minutes - they no listen!
I expect it'll all turn out wonderfully in the end, it's just annoying about the lack of communication. :evil:
