Westerville Concert Band 10/12

This was a rehearsal for the fall concert which is scheduled for 11/2. We had a smaller horn section than usual - three for the first 45 minutes or so, then two more showed up later. As usual, we did so much better with the smaller section. I am not sure why that is. Perhaps we can all hear each other and lock in more. Or maybe with eight people, two or three people missing the mark are gumming up the whole section. The first player did not show and he had the first folder, so there were no solos to be heard in the section. It got me to thinking about how I've never heard a really good horn solo in my six years with the group. It just seems that we have always had capable but lazy, non-practicing people in the first horn chair. This is a really good band and it would be nice if we could develop a good horn section that could keep up with everyone else and a good first player worthy of the other soloists. We are getting better, though. Perhaps in a few years.

Clintonville Community Band 10/7

This was a rehearsal; with no performances imminent, we did run throughs of Christmas music to see what we would like to plan on doing for the holiday concert in December. In the main, Christmas music is Christmas music - though there were a few surprises, including a Fantasia on Greensleeves by Elliot Del Borgo and Emmanuel Variants by Robert Foster. They are very similar works both in sound and in structure. They took the well-known melodies and gave them a number of variations which took them in directions quite different from the original sources. I liked them both, although they might be a little heavy-handed for the holiday concerts which are usually light in content.

We have had five horns in the section for the past few weeks after losing a few and being down to two at times during the summer. We always seem to have a good section with this group despite the constant turnover we have. Oddly, the other band that I'm in, the Westerville Concert Band has a pretty steady lineup of horns, usually six to eight people, but we always struggle - even when we play easier material. The orchestra that I've played in for years, the Metropolitan Chamber Orchestra of Columbus, has the best of both worlds - a steady lineup of solid musicians in the horn section. Unfortunately, I've had to step aside from that group because of a conflict with my job.