i get the best gigs

So I wrote this post about musicality the other day, and it took a different path than I was expecting, and I’ll need just a little more time to edit it into something resembling sanity.

Meanwhile, this happened.

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I played a pops concert recently. Pretty basic pops concert fare, which is all that needs to be said about that. It was an outdoor concert, in a field overlooking the water. I wasn’t familiar with the singer we performed with, but apparently she has a significant following. It should have been a wholly unremarkable concert.

So, how many things can go wrong with an outdoor gig?

Transportation. The original plan was to have us park in a cemetery parking lot a few miles away and then bring us in on shuttle buses, because there was no parking at the venue (although a few people questioned this once we saw the venue). Anyway, the shuttle buses were an hour late.¹

Rain. We’re in the northwest, so this is a contingency that must always be planned for. The stage was covered, but was not properly equipped to deal with the possibility of both rain and wind. It was okay at first when it was barely a sprinkle, but then it started pouring, and the brass players got soaked, and the roof started dumping water on the timpani, and the string players around the edge of the stage huddled desperately over their instruments, and then the orchestra manager stopped rehearsal and sent us all to seek sanctuary in the tent that had been set up behind the stage.² We resumed rehearsal once the deluge had passed, but we watched the sky for the rest of the day, and I had to play a concert while sitting on a wet chair.

I started learning about union rules that day. I was unsurprised to learn that no one can make union musicians play in the rain, but I also learned about the minimum temperature for an outdoor gig.³ This subject came up during the performance, when I started to wish I had worn a heavier concert black.⁴ The woodwinds got little heaters to keep their instruments safe, but the brass had to tough it out. Not unbearable by any means, just a little chilly.

Also? Train tracks running behind the stage, with trains that went by at inopportune times during both the rehearsal and the performance, loud enough to drown out the music. The audience took it in stride, and I tried really hard not to laugh too obviously.

Good times.

1. Yes, this means there was a large group of people dressed in all black loitering in a cemetery parking lot. No, the irony was not lost on us.[↩]


2. A tent with a grass floor, even. I didn’t mind, but apparently people with allergies were suffering a bit.[↩]


3. It was either 60° or 65°, depending on who you asked. I’ll have to look it up one of these days.[↩]


4. If I had been smart and looked at a map I’d have seen we were next to the water and dressed appropriately.[↩]