I hope you’re all rested and recovered after Saturday’s shenanigans. It was a scorcher, weather-wise, but also, we were ON FIRE! We played really well, and every one of us should be proud of what we accomplished.
You did well to preserve your chops – our second half sounded just as fresh as the first half. While the pieces weren’t as technically challenging as in the first half, they did require control, dynamically speaking.
I’ve been on your case for years now about The Stripper. We are still not pulling back enough in order to make our crescendos successful. We end up getting louder – LOUDER – LOUDER. Not only is this hard on our chops, but it results in a less controlled sound. This happened on Saturday (we peaked too soon, then had nowhere to go for the piece’s climax). I have some ideas for this, which we’ll work on at our final rehearsal (I’ll program this piece for the Bourkevale gig – this will be a bit of an easier set list simply because we usually have some guests sitting in with us and it will be after a break in rehearsals).
Yes, there were moments where we weren’t together, but we recovered from them really well – and that’s what our preparation is really about. Mistakes, miscounting, etc, are going to happen – there will never be a perfect performance. The key is in how we recover from them, and whether we can cover it up enough so that the audience doesn’t realise it. I think we’ve achieved that.
This was one of our strongest Victoria Beach outings – I’m so proud of all of you. You put in an amazing effort!
Many thanks to the Woolisons, for hosting us once again. I had a lovely time at the barbecue, and I hope that everyone who attended felt likewise.
It was a great opportunity for me to watch and listen to you interact. I was really impressed because it looked a little bit like a family reunion – there seemed to be a lot of mingling, people were sharing from plates/coolers, etc. It really warmed the cockles of my heart to see those bonds outside of our playing. It’s easy to tell from our playing that we’re a team, but it was really nice to see that in action on the social side.
So, now we’re on the home stretch. Rehearsal this week is in preparation for 2 concerts in a row: Wednesday, August 22 at Concordia Village, and Monday, August 27 at Shaftesbury. (Details will be sent under separate cover – one for each gig, but the program will be identical for both).
Without further ado, here’s what’s on deck for Wednesday evening:
51 – Entrance of the Gladiators
8 – Themes Like Old Times
66 – Arctic Fire
5 – Broadway Journey
54 – The Drunken Sailor
63 – Hallelujah
65 – Moana
7 – Swing the Mood
I hope to see you all tomorrow!