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"Shour, Aloof and Obnoxious" (shour) 07/04/2016 at 20:59 • Filed to: None

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Only 102 degrees out. Bleh.

OPPOsaurus WRX > Shour, Aloof and Obnoxious 07/04/2016 at 21:17

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no Appalachian Spring?

ttyymmnn > Shour, Aloof and Obnoxious 07/04/2016 at 21:29

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Only 94 on stage in Austin. But it feels like 104. Downbeat in 2 minutes. Where are you playing?

Shour, Aloof and Obnoxious > ttyymmnn 07/04/2016 at 21:44

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First break! We play at the Chamizal National Memorial Park in central El Paso, right up to 9pm. By then it's just dark enough to light the main bang-bang-blooeys for the city, so they shut the lights off on the stage, and we try try to pack up and leave in the dark. It's a miracle we haven't had an injury in six years.

Shour, Aloof and Obnoxious > OPPOsaurus WRX 07/04/2016 at 22:31

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That WOULD be most appropriate, except that would actually require us to rehearse. ^_^

(Two hour rehearsal, two hours of music. We basically have two reading sessions and the gig.)

ttyymmnn > Shour, Aloof and Obnoxious 07/05/2016 at 00:22

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Who are you playing with? Did I know you play?

Shour, Aloof and Obnoxious > ttyymmnn 07/05/2016 at 00:46

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I play with the El Paso Wind Symphony - a (poorly) paid, auditioned concert band.

We’ve occasionally spoken regarding music, as I am a public school band director in Texas. But I don’t really talk about my playing much. EPWS is the only tool I have to keep my chops maintained really, since most of my time is spent teaching kids how to play Hot Cross Buns.

ttyymmnn > Shour, Aloof and Obnoxious 07/05/2016 at 08:51

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That’s right. I often forget screen names and who they are associated with. I managed to get out well ahead of the crowd last night. My escape plan worked to perfection, including literally running with other musicians to the parking garage.

I haven’t done any wind ensemble playing since college. Back in the 80s, I played in a band in Norfolk called the Tidewater Winds. It was also a (poorly) paid band, and we did weekly concerts during the summer. I was just out of high school, and the band was made up mostly of wind players from the Virginia Symphony and players from the Armed Forces School of Music. We did 90 minute concerts with tons of music. One rehearsal on Sunday afternoon, a concert Sunday night, a repeat on Wednesday in Virginia Beach, then all new music the following Sunday. It was a fantastic workout for my reading chops, as we always read the marches Sunday night on the stand, and I got to work with some fantastic players. Every show finished with a couple of marches and Stars and Stripes, and after 90 minutes of playing, the lead trumpet player, a guy from the Army, would always take the last strain of Stars up an octave, double B-flat and all. He was a monster, and I learned a lot from him.