The whole world of Salvation Army brass playing is intriguing. If you're unfamiliar, look into the English Brass Band tradition, which uses a very specific group of instruments: Cornets, Flugal Horns, Eb Alto Horns, Baritone Horns and Euphoniums, Tenor & Bass trombones, Eb & Bb Tubas, and Percussion. No F horns allowed. But, my abilities on trombone, tuba and now Eb alto horn apparently allows me to play with any Salvation Army band, should they need me. I may yet find myself playing with these guys again.
But, alas, my interest in Salvation Army bands is dwarfed by my love of the orchestra. And I've been thinking a lot about the orchestra...the Seattle Symphony Orchestra, actually! This week I'm going to start recording the excerpts I need to send in for the pre-screening audition. It's going to be a lot of hard work; recording is really hard! The perfect required for this is going to take a lot of tries. Luckily, 4 of the 5 excerpts required are pretty short, so it won't be as time-consuming to get a good take. The 5th excerpt, on the other hand, is quite long, and is much more challenging than the rest. It will probably take me several hours to get a good take of a 2-minute excerpt. Wish me luck.
In the midst of the SSO audition, I also have to prepare for an Easter gig that I have at a church in Freeland. They let me choose music to play at the beginning, middle, and end of the service, and since I'm on my own in a church, I felt music from the Bach Cello Suites would suffice. Oh, for programming's sake they suffice, but they're not easy. No sir! I've got a lot of work to do...
Take care and value music...and don't perform music from the Bach Cellos Suites on horn.