One major difference between professional ensembles and many amateur ensembles is the focus on tuning instruments before the rehearsal or performance. Pros know how helpful this is, since it’s obvious how awful an out-of-tune band or orchestra can be – kind of like a car horn or the old nails-on-the-blackboard sound. I am constantly amazed […]
Archives for March 2018
Rock Bands with Horn Sections
Mainstream bands with horn sections (rock, pop, swing, funk, etc.) are becoming more popular, thanks to the public’s increasingly eclectic musical tastes. This expansion of wind instruments into rock and related sub-genres has evolved for many decades, ever since David Mason played piccolo trumpet for The Beatles’ hit Penny Lane in 1967. Bands with a lead […]
Eager for Easter
Being an experienced trumpet player of quasi-local renown (okay, maybe extremely local), I sometimes get emails around this time of year from folks asking if I’m available for various Easter services. While there seems to be an unlimited number of trumpeters here in the Washington/Baltimore corridor, there also seems to be unlimited churches with organists […]
Audience Etiquette for Formal Concerts
The “rules of etiquette” for attending a formal orchestra or band concert have been in place for hundreds of years, and they exist to help make a performance (whether amateur or professional) as enjoyable and distraction-free as possible for both the audience and the performers. Keep these rules in mind to make your concert experience […]