Kind of a gig story...at Carnegie Hall

Greg Johnsen · #1 04-15-2006, 07:47 PM

Mods, sorry if this should go in off topic, but I thought of it as a kind of gig, so I decided to put it here.

My highschool wind ensemble (we're 2 years old btw) got invited to play at Carnegie for a festival. We're fairly small (about 30-40 people tops I think) but we knew that we were good enough and this was a chance of a lifetime. We play 3 pieces; Black Horse Troop, by Sousa, Australian Up Country tune, by Grainger, and A Movement for Rosa, by Camphouse. We practice these pieces for about 3 months, and we finally left for NYC last wednesday, and played yesterday. I just have to say, Carnegie Hall, is amazing. The acoustics of that stage are beyond awesome, the presence of being there is great, and just being able to set foot on that stage is worth everything we've had to go through. Being a tuba player, and being able to sound like 5 tubas, instead of 2 (we're a third of the lowbrass, kind of sad), was just great. We had so much low end that we actually had an extremely dark sound, which is what we were looking for. we only had 2 majorish flops, a Clarinet (I can't stand woodwinds....) sqeaked at the very end of the piece (the Grainger) and because the acoustics were amazingm it was magnified about 10 times. ALL of us cringed, and no one would fess up to it being them. Then, on the last piece (the camphouse), the baritone missed it's entrance for a beel effect section, which through off a bunch of people's timing, but we recovered and the ending still went as planned (without applause for about 6 seconds, because the ending of the piece, doesn't sound like it should end, it was great). The 3 judges (2 of them being Reynolds, and Batisti) said we did excellent though, and said we needed harder music, which is a great compliment, especially from Reynolds.

Sorry the post it so long, I just wanted to share my awesome experience, and if you're a musician, you can probably understand.

Greg

Drake Kennedy · #2 04-15-2006, 08:25 PM

Mad props dude.

KeithBMI · #3 04-15-2006, 11:45 PM

I've been there also. We listened to a tuba player from NY's ensemble practice. Great sound.

Greg Johnsen · #4 04-16-2006, 10:38 AM

Thanks Drake, it's just an awesome experience that every serious musician should be able to feel, but alas, it can't happen. I can't imagine what a tuba alone would sound like, but I imagine it being pure tubaness that can't be replicated anywhere else.

Greg

BassManPatsFan · #5 04-21-2006, 01:30 PM

I've played Australian Up-Country tune with my symphonic band, and our school's Wind Ensemble played a movement for rosa. AUC is pretty easy, but takes a lot of practice to play it lyrically and fully together. Rosa is a cool piece, but you're right, the ending is weird. That's cool that you played in Carnegie; I would love to someday.
-Alex

Justin V · #6 04-22-2006, 09:46 PM

Congrats man. I'd love to play on a famous stage like that someday. Just to think about the other people who have played it before me.

Jazzin' · #7 04-22-2006, 10:39 PM

I think that's where my highschool jazz bigband got invited to. But we didn't go because it would cost too much and we would have been the only jazz bigband.

Greg Johnsen · #8 04-25-2006, 03:32 PM

Jazzin', that sucks, really badly. When you have a chance to play at carnegie, money shouldn't be an issue, but oh well, it happens.

Greg

guy n. cognito · #9 04-25-2006, 03:40 PM

How lucky for you that you had the chance to play at one of the world's best know performance halls. Definitely something to remember.

Jazzin' · #10 04-25-2006, 07:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Teh Fleaz0rz

Jazzin', that sucks, really badly. When you have a chance to play at carnegie, money shouldn't be an issue, but oh well, it happens.

Greg

Whatever, I got to play at the Montreal Jazzfest that year. The NY trip would have been cool, but it would have been awkward since we would have been the only jazz band.