As I have related elsewhere, I moved from playing tenor in the community college continuing education Jazz Band class to the Concert Band, and have been finding it a great experience (too bad it will be likely shut down for a while, but that is also covered elsewhere).
Having only learned to read music fairly later in life, I still am a slow reader and often (enough) make errors.
Like when I play a D# instead of a Db. It has been known to happen.
So last week we're playing some piece and I guess I more than once played that D#. I played it fairly pp so few people could probably really have heard. I play most everything fairly softly, and range in volume mostly between p and ghosting. That's perhaps my most meaningful contribution to blending in with the band and not sticking out like a sore thumb: playing very softly.
At the end of the piece, the weird alto guy next to me (he is really weird) calls out to the director saying "somebody's been playing a D# instead of a Db here" and says he thinks it was one of the other altos (having already asked them if they were messing up, all the other altos had said no). I guess I wasn't playing all that softly.
So I then figure out it must have been me, and quietly tell him that, and also to shut the F up about it and not announce it to the entire band, as I am doing the best that I can (the alto had played a lot as a kid and was capable, though not great), etc. etc. (Heck, the band is open to all regardless of ability.). But I was quite pleasant about it, as even though I was embarrassed by what he did, I took it in stride and took it lightly, not getting upset and just joking about it. I didn't think any more about it as we moved to the next piece.
After the practice, I ran into the lead alto chatting with another alto . . . they were talking about the weird alto guy, and they were upset, really upset, at what he had done. They went on to tell me how what he did was completely improper, first asking the other altos who screwed up and then telling the entire band how someone was hitting a wrong note. Shoot, everyone hits a wrong note at least now and again, and lots of folks in this band hit lots of wrong notes . . . . Being new to the whole scene, I was unaware how inappropriate his calling me (however namelessly) out in front of the whole band was, for simply having made a mistake.
They seemed to take the matter much more seriously than I had. The more I thought about it, I came around to their way of thinking, to a degree. While clearly not that big of an issue overall, I would think it a generally bad idea if each member felt free to criticize anyone else in the middle of practice. And asking everyone "who messed up in this part" is probably not a great way to make friends or advance band cohesion.
Anyway, I didn't take it too seriously at first, and as far as my feelings go, that's fine. I still don't feel like making a big deal out of it. But I do think the lead alto is right to be concerned about behavior like that. Not the biggest deal in the world, and it's all over and done with and we've all moved on, but in other circumstances I expect blockhead moves like this could result in greater problems for a band or a section, as sometimes egos can get involved. (Thankfully, I have no illusions about my playing to feed my ego.)
So was the lead alto right to be pretty upset with the guy? It does seem pretty poor practice to announce to the entire band that someone hit a wrong note or two, especially in this type of open band where wrong notes, wrong timing and wrong dynamics happen often, until the performance of course where everyone is perfect.
In any case, there is now a big "C#" written above the staff in a few appropriate places. Won't be making that mistake again (until I do).
Having only learned to read music fairly later in life, I still am a slow reader and often (enough) make errors.
Like when I play a D# instead of a Db. It has been known to happen.
So last week we're playing some piece and I guess I more than once played that D#. I played it fairly pp so few people could probably really have heard. I play most everything fairly softly, and range in volume mostly between p and ghosting. That's perhaps my most meaningful contribution to blending in with the band and not sticking out like a sore thumb: playing very softly.
At the end of the piece, the weird alto guy next to me (he is really weird) calls out to the director saying "somebody's been playing a D# instead of a Db here" and says he thinks it was one of the other altos (having already asked them if they were messing up, all the other altos had said no). I guess I wasn't playing all that softly.
So I then figure out it must have been me, and quietly tell him that, and also to shut the F up about it and not announce it to the entire band, as I am doing the best that I can (the alto had played a lot as a kid and was capable, though not great), etc. etc. (Heck, the band is open to all regardless of ability.). But I was quite pleasant about it, as even though I was embarrassed by what he did, I took it in stride and took it lightly, not getting upset and just joking about it. I didn't think any more about it as we moved to the next piece.
After the practice, I ran into the lead alto chatting with another alto . . . they were talking about the weird alto guy, and they were upset, really upset, at what he had done. They went on to tell me how what he did was completely improper, first asking the other altos who screwed up and then telling the entire band how someone was hitting a wrong note. Shoot, everyone hits a wrong note at least now and again, and lots of folks in this band hit lots of wrong notes . . . . Being new to the whole scene, I was unaware how inappropriate his calling me (however namelessly) out in front of the whole band was, for simply having made a mistake.
They seemed to take the matter much more seriously than I had. The more I thought about it, I came around to their way of thinking, to a degree. While clearly not that big of an issue overall, I would think it a generally bad idea if each member felt free to criticize anyone else in the middle of practice. And asking everyone "who messed up in this part" is probably not a great way to make friends or advance band cohesion.
Anyway, I didn't take it too seriously at first, and as far as my feelings go, that's fine. I still don't feel like making a big deal out of it. But I do think the lead alto is right to be concerned about behavior like that. Not the biggest deal in the world, and it's all over and done with and we've all moved on, but in other circumstances I expect blockhead moves like this could result in greater problems for a band or a section, as sometimes egos can get involved. (Thankfully, I have no illusions about my playing to feed my ego.)
So was the lead alto right to be pretty upset with the guy? It does seem pretty poor practice to announce to the entire band that someone hit a wrong note or two, especially in this type of open band where wrong notes, wrong timing and wrong dynamics happen often, until the performance of course where everyone is perfect.
In any case, there is now a big "C#" written above the staff in a few appropriate places. Won't be making that mistake again (until I do).
We've been working on a piece by Hindemith (sadly, not to be performed due to concert cancellation) with passages such as four triplets, played in two beats, with accidentals on nine of the 12 total notes. Some composers just don't place a lot of weight on conventional notions of "playability."
