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Thread: Odd or Funny Things that Happened During a Gig

  1. Odd or Funny Things that Happened During a Gig

    And of course there's the apocryphal story of the high school bass drummer who got four measures behind in a concert, and tried to catch up...


  2. #22
    Join Date
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    Odd or Funny Things that Happened During a Gig

    Twas the night before Christmas,
    And all through the church,
    A few people were stirring,
    For seats they did search.
    Ok, so much for my attempt at poetry... This past Christmas Eve we had a brass quintet for the two services (7 PM and 9 PM). I also had a solo to play, "O Come, O Come Emanuel". My solo at 7 PM went pretty well, but because I couldn't hear the piano real well, I decided for the 9 o'clock service to just stand in place (from within the quintet) and play. The pianist/organist had played about 10 mins of prelude before the 7 PM service so I expected him to do the same for the 9 PM. Not so. All of a sudden he looked at me and mouthed, 'Ready?'. So I stood up, without changing to my music glasses, raised my stand and thought I was ready to play. After the 4 meas. intro, I started to play -- which was to be a bit of a fanfare before the hymn actually started. Well, I forgot that my lap cushion was still stuck in my bell. What a sound!! Or should I say NO SOUND!! Sheesh!! I was about 2 meas late for any sound to be heard. I really wanted to start over, but couldn't make eye contact with the accompanist. As there were several congregants not yet in their seats, I hope not everyone noticed.

    Sure hope I don't ever do that again.
    Rick Floyd
    Miraphone 5050 - Warburton BJ / RF mpc
    YEP-641S (recently sold)
    Doug Elliott - 102 rim; I-cup; I-9 shank


    "Always play with a good tone, never louder than lovely, never softer than supported." - author unknown.
    Symphonic Band of the Palm Beaches
    El Cumbanchero (Raphael Hernandez, arr. Naohiro Iwai)
    Chorale and Shaker Dance
    (John Zdechlik)

  3. Odd or Funny Things that Happened During a Gig

    i was performing fantasy by philip spark for my senior solo with my highschools top band last year, and as i was playing my second vaulve slide must have been greasd too well, becuase i played a note and it shot out across the stage. We then had to stop, i had to walk over and pick up my slide ( which was magicly un dented and perfectly fine!) and then resume..very embarrasing


  4. #24
    I had played trombone for the past five years but my freshman year during a marching band practice I took too many steps forward and ended up getting my horn slammed into my mouth by a flag. After we finished the movement, I ran off the field. Upon reaching the mirror in the bathroom I had found that my front tooth had about 1 cm totally knocked off and that my mouth was full of blood. To make things worse, during this time i had been wearing braces. So when i went to the orthodontist, the doctor told me that I was going to have to wear the braces for another 6 months. Fortunately I chose to switch to euph. One of the best decisions I have made so far!

  5. #25
    Wow, hadn't seen this thread until now.

    Karnival or Fasching in Germany is essentially the merrymaking before Lent hits. Lots of parades, lots of drinking, lots of tomfoolery.

    I'm playing in an Army band in a small town in Germany (Bad Hersfeld, IIRC) and I'm marching in the front rank in the right file -- real close to the spectators.

    One particularly well-oiled clown decided to drop an ear of corn down my bell while I was playing. Needless to say I was NOT happy about that, but no damage was done to me or the instrument. The ear of corn sustained permanent damage, I'm afraid.
    U.S. Army, Retired (built mid-1950s)
    Adams E2 Euph (built 2017)
    Boosey & Co. Imperial Euph (built 1941)
    Edwards B454 Bass Trombone (built 2012)
    Boosey & Hawkes Imperial Eb tuba (built 1958)
    Kanstul 33-T lBBb tuba (built 2010)

  6. #26
    Quote Originally Posted by Eupher6 View Post
    Wow, hadn't seen this thread until now.

    Karnival or Fasching in Germany is essentially the merrymaking before Lent hits. Lots of parades, lots of drinking, lots of tomfoolery.

    I'm playing in an Army band in a small town in Germany (Bad Hersfeld, IIRC) and I'm marching in the front rank in the right file -- real close to the spectators.

    One particularly well-oiled clown decided to drop an ear of corn down my bell while I was playing. Needless to say I was NOT happy about that, but no damage was done to me or the instrument. The ear of corn sustained permanent damage, I'm afraid.
    I don't blame you there. I don't think I'd be happy either. What an awkward situation!

  7. #27
    Join Date
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    I remember one performance where we did a marching show outside. Unfortunately, it was raining very hard. During our performance, all the Euphs flooded and we couldn't play a single note anymore. As we marched with shoulderbands attached, we couldn't tilt the instruments to empty the water. After the show, all our colleagues where astonished by the amount of water we poured out of our instruments.

  8. #28
    Join Date
    Feb 2016
    Location
    The Netherlands
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    Back in High School, me and some friends went to go see another friend's High School Musical performance. It was not my school, but I knew some students that performed in the pit 'orchestra' (it was Les Miserables arranged for a small group). We went a little early, to chat a bit with our friends. So there was a short rehearsal before the actual performance. But...their trombone player didn't show up and turned out to be ill. I was the only other brass player present. At the time, I played trumpet and tuba, but had only basic knowledge of trombone positions, so I jokingly volunteered. Next thing I knew, I was sitting in the pit with a trombone (the trombone player had left his horn after the previous day's rehearsal), sight reading Les Mis...I like to tell myself I did a good job faking my way through that performance.

  9. #29
    Join Date
    Feb 2014
    Location
    NYC metro area
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    523
    Quote Originally Posted by MarChant View Post
    [snip]their trombone player didn't show up and turned out to be ill. I was the only other brass player present. At the time, I played trumpet and tuba, but had only basic knowledge of trombone positions, so I jokingly volunteered. Next thing I knew, I was sitting in the pit with a trombone (the trombone player had left his horn after the previous day's rehearsal), sight reading Les Mis...I like to tell myself I did a good job faking my way through that performance.
    I have a similar story. 1972, during college. I went to see Jaki Byard. My friend Ken's band was opening the show. His band took the stage and his piano player didn't show. Ken saw me sitting in the audience and brought me to the stage. Luckily I was familiar enough with Ken's playing and he called songs that I knew that I was able to get through the set. As I was leaving the stage to go back to my seat, Mr. Byard very graciously complimented me on my playing. My date was impressed.
    Dean L. Surkin
    Mack Brass MACK-EU1150S, BB1 mouthpiece
    Bach 36B trombone; Bach 6.5AL and Faxx 7C mouthpieces (pBone on loan to granddaughter)
    Steinway 1902 Model A, restored by AC Pianocraft in 1988; Kawai MP8, Yamaha KX-76
    See my avatar: Jazz (the black cockapoo; RIP) and Delilah (the cavapoo) keep me company while practicing

  10. #30
    Join Date
    Dec 2011
    Location
    Central North Carolina
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    Quote Originally Posted by davewerden View Post
    ... All the other players in the line followed me, which was fine until we ran head-long into another line of players who had turned the correct way and were not supposed to encounter anyone. ...
    I've done the same thing, except ... In my high school (Oneonta, NY) we were extremely lucky to have a super band director for about four years. This was Bob (Robert T.) LeBlanc, who had just got his Master's degree from Eastman and taken this high school teaching gig. If you want to find out more about him, google for an interview that was done by the TUBA organization some years ago. After the high school gig he went on to become a faculty member at Ohio State, involved in marching band there, and head of low brass. We did all of our marching with fully memorized music and (on the football field) pretty complex patterns.

    In my senior year, I was the drum major. Bob made that decision because (a) the guy who should have done it was the #1 baritone player and too valuable to lose from that position, and (b) I was a tenor saxophone player, and hardly essential in that role. So I got the white suit, the funny hat, and the baton.

    At the end of our marching/playing half-time routine we would always turn, holding the formation we were in, and march down the field to form a "funnel" beginning at the goal posts for the returning players to run out of onto the field. For some reason on one occasion, I must have been counting wrong and managed to give the signal to form the funnel and halt at the 20 yd line instead of the goal posts. Being a highly trained marching machine at that point, everyone executed the manuever perfectly, without missing a step. And there we stood part way up the field. Realizing at that point my faux pax, I pretended that nothing was amiss, gave the appropriate instructions and signals to turn downfield in formation, and have the drums march us to the goal posts. I'm pretty sure it all looked like just another band pattern to most of the audience, but it was pretty embarrassing at the time and something I'll never forget. LeBlanc, of course, just laughed. At least we did manage not to crash into one another.
    Gary Merrill
    Wessex EEb Bass tuba (DW 3XL or 2XL)
    Mack Brass Compensating Euph (DE N106, Euph J, J9 euph)
    Amati Oval Euph (DE 104, Euph J, J6 euph)
    1924 Buescher 3-valve Eb tuba (with std US receiver), Kelly 25
    Schiller American Heritage 7B clone bass trombone (DE LB K/K10/112/14 Lexan, Brass Ark MV50R)
    1947 Olds "Standard" trombone (Olds #3)

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