Saturday at 2pm the TfO Concert Band assembled and Little Witley village hall to rehearse some of the new pieces ready for our first performance of 2015.
It’s a good group and as we assemble and get our seats and stands in place there is al
so a good feeling of being amongst friends. There were six of us on clarinet. Two on ‘first’ were teachers, on second I shared with Ceris who’d been playing since very young and just read the music as you and I would read a page in a child’s book.
My friend Lucy, with whom we publish the bi-monthly TfO News magazine, is on trumpet. Her section was minus a good musician, so that put her on the spot a bit. Lucy has early experience but took a break for a while – I wonder what difference it would have made had I learned earlier – well at least a few years before 65!!
This ‘first run through’ is always a challenge and a bit scary for me. Firstly, most of the musicians are very experienced and skilled, some being teachers ,the music reflects their skill level – grade 6+ and mostly 8+.
Now, for my 4 and crusty 5, the music is a stretch. However, being so pleased to be allowed to play in such a great band, I know that I must work hard and that a first run through session will have it’s moments. Wrong notes and stumbled phrases being the least of them.
But, then, I remember back to March last year when I joined and had to ask the conductor if I could sit out a couple of pieces because I just didn’t see how I could play them. Well, this time I didn’t have to do that but there were the problems; my biggest problem is the tempo, So, rehearsal one over and, after the [easier] TfO Community Band rehearsal next Sunday, I will have three weeks of diligent practice to make progress for rehearsal two.
Some of the pieces in the likely repertoire are OK for me now; a couple still need work and one is a brand new piece that is worrying me a bit at the moment. But there is one very good saying. ‘Feel the fear and do it anyway’. So right!!