Lonely Saturday
Hey! Where is everyone? Are y'all all on vacation? Please come back.......hello? I think I better tell you a symphony story to see if you are still listening out there.
It was a cold dark night........ok. It wasn't. But it was one of my first professional jobs in a symphony. This is especially for all of you who are not musicians and sometimes go to the symphony for an evening of relaxation. Yes, it certainly LOOKS placid enough on stage from the audience, doesn't it? Lies. All lies.
It was time for the concert and I was really nervous. Of course, I was only playing second oboe in this group, but believe me when I tell you there are plenty of places for embarrassment if you are not paying attention and playing well. All was going great. We were into the symphony of the evening, I forget (or have blocked) what that particular piece was. I was sitting as straight as possible, being as quiet as possible when not playing, looking straight ahead and all those other things your teachers beat into your head as a performance artist. It was almost time for the beautiful bassoon solo. Suddenly, in the row behing me I hear the sound of falling metal objects. A voice, "Motherfu%^$$%$r, does someone have a screwdriver?? Some of my f&^%%^ng keys just fell off!!!" I thought I would pass out for moment as the world began to sway. It was the principal bassoon. I was panicked. Surely someone from the audience heard that! I looked pleadingly at the conductor. The conductor looked calm. She had no idea. My adrenaline.....my God! My head would explode. A screwdriver instantly appeared from the principal oboist's bag. Time for the solo. The bassoon sounded wonderful. No one ever knew.
A little progress on my soldier's socks. We have family in and I needed some mindless knitting. Perfect! I don't even have to look at it as I knit anymore. Very cool. Next I will be able to read and knit. Not. I have heard of people doing this. This multitasking knitting business. I will just consider myself lucky enough to keep the things on the needles at all. :0)
It was a cold dark night........ok. It wasn't. But it was one of my first professional jobs in a symphony. This is especially for all of you who are not musicians and sometimes go to the symphony for an evening of relaxation. Yes, it certainly LOOKS placid enough on stage from the audience, doesn't it? Lies. All lies.
It was time for the concert and I was really nervous. Of course, I was only playing second oboe in this group, but believe me when I tell you there are plenty of places for embarrassment if you are not paying attention and playing well. All was going great. We were into the symphony of the evening, I forget (or have blocked) what that particular piece was. I was sitting as straight as possible, being as quiet as possible when not playing, looking straight ahead and all those other things your teachers beat into your head as a performance artist. It was almost time for the beautiful bassoon solo. Suddenly, in the row behing me I hear the sound of falling metal objects. A voice, "Motherfu%^$$%$r, does someone have a screwdriver?? Some of my f&^%%^ng keys just fell off!!!" I thought I would pass out for moment as the world began to sway. It was the principal bassoon. I was panicked. Surely someone from the audience heard that! I looked pleadingly at the conductor. The conductor looked calm. She had no idea. My adrenaline.....my God! My head would explode. A screwdriver instantly appeared from the principal oboist's bag. Time for the solo. The bassoon sounded wonderful. No one ever knew.
A little progress on my soldier's socks. We have family in and I needed some mindless knitting. Perfect! I don't even have to look at it as I knit anymore. Very cool. Next I will be able to read and knit. Not. I have heard of people doing this. This multitasking knitting business. I will just consider myself lucky enough to keep the things on the needles at all. :0)
posted by sillyewe at 3:26 PM
12 Comments:
Hee hee, good story! I can imagine that sudden, heart-stopping moment though...
Knitting, and watching TV. That's about as far as I can go!
Wow - we never had drama like that in HS band (at least, not in the flute section. One of the oboes was sleeping with one of the trumpets so when they broke up there was some tension but...nobody's keys fell off!) ;o)
Grin. Sounds similar to a story my dad likes to tell, about when he was a music major in college. Seems they had a world class clarinet player in residence, and during a concert, he started literally taking his entire instrument apart, piece, by piece, while the rest of the orchestra was playing. The conductor did notice, but couldn't do anything but keep on conducting the rest of the orchestra, who was all trying very hard to play along as if nothing was wrong. The soloist did get his instrument back together in time, of course, but it was pretty exciting there for a while.
LOL!!! Was that Charlie on bassoon?
Ceci
That must have been a little scary for that bassoon player! Glad he got it all together in time, though :)
Yep, that sounds like most of the orchestra's I know - though half the time it's the conductor yelling at the muso's. Maestro Carlos Felice Cilario could deliver a stream of insults that were wonderful to listen to because thay were in Italian.
Yes, we're still here!
Dang, that reminds me of jr high and high school orchestra - although my only personal experience of this kind of terror is from my middle eastern dance troupe days.
I left my cane back in the dressing room and didn't realize it until the time for my big cane routine (just two of us dancing). Waved frantically at the director, ran off the outdoor stage, retrieved the cane from the dressing room, ran back triumphantly waving the darn thing.
The rest of the troupe never missed a lick - they just kept playing their drums like we had planned it that way.
Started dancing and one of the pompons on my partner's dance belt came off, but not all the way off. The dang thing was holding on by a thread and followed her around on the ground as we danced.
We got a huge applause (grin). I think the audience thought this was all deliberately planned as comic relief.
Interesting behind the scenes story :)
It's not all staid concentration and high falutin' ways? I love that peek behind the curtain.
Mindless knitting is great. I still can't read and knit, mostly because I slouch while I read/knit/am Not Standing. I can talk & knit or watch TV & knit if the knitting is mindless enough.
I will look at orchestras a little differently from now on ;) great story and kind of smashes the myth of 'stuffy musicians'.
I love easy peasy knitting.
I've got a question about the socks for soldiers group you're participating in...
Is this the old Red Cross military sock pattern? Can it be in a color other than black?
I've got a pair of the Red Cross olive green socks that I made several years ago. I'm going to reclaim the yarn and re-knit them, since the gauge is too loose for wearing. I'd be happy to make them for Socks for Soldiers since that was the original intent of the pattern.
Great story. Thanks for sharing. My son plays double bass in a junior stings orchestra so he has a few things to look forward to!
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