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 […]
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 […]
2017-18 “Hell Freezes Over” Tour
I’ve heard China described as an “emerging” country, but as I’ve just experienced, emerging from Communism takes time. The following is an edited summary of the good, the bad, and some of the ugly from my second trip to China with an excellent Chicago-area community ensemble called the South Shore Orchestra. The flights from D.C. […]