Along with a "dress rehearsal" where we went over our pieces to play, a "tech rehearsal" is necessary to coordinate the different setups for each piece. Unlike a regular band concert where all the students stay in the same place for an hour and a half, a percussion ensemble concert features songs requiring elaborate placement of different instruments. We were scheduled to have tech rehearsal for two hours then spend two hours going over music but such was not the case. Not a lot of time management was observed. Before we knew it we were an hour behind schedule and I was freaking out that my piece "Schruted" wouldn't be able to be ran through. We had a few extra practices the weekend before and it did not go well. Parts of the song that were fine were starting to get dirty and people were forgetting parts, a step backward rather than a step forward!
(This was the eventual setup for "Schruted", I loved it cause it put us right next to the audience!)
Completely disregarding our behindness, we ran through all the pieces and by the time we were done it was 7:15, with the concert starting at 7:30. Technically, we were supposed to be out of the hall at 7:00. I'm sure there were a couple people not happy... I know because I was one! We had been setting up and practicing for four straight hours, and now we were expected to pull off a great concert that would last another two! All of us were exhausted.
However, the concert was great! There were a few songs that I felt it was the best we ever ran them! It had it's quirks though. For example, a song where all of us are playing garbage cans and pails, during rehearsal I wore jeans and we had all sorts of choreography, including one point where my group put a pail between our legs while standing up, and playing it.
Well...... I don't know what my concert slacks are made of. But they're really, really slick. The pail kept slipping down and I had to keep picking it up! I was all smiles, and some of my friends said it just looked like part of the choreography! Ellie teased me about it, but I'm planning on telling my kids that yes, it was all part of the show!
"Schruted" went off without a hitch! The audience loved it and Ellie told me it was the most-applauded out of the entire concert! I feel really good about it, we had some people with very little drumline experience and they all went great. This was probably my first piece I've ever written that actually went on stage and was performed! There's a certain amount of pride you take in something like that, that's hard to describe. But it was a lot of fun. I will definitely be writing more in the future!
And here it is....
(please excuse the text inserts
the man
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