Advent Calendar II

Not the last time you'll see Betty

Looking back on January I see I was very much concerned with my presentation at the concerts I was playing, I ran 4 post with the title "Concert Dress" just in that one month alone.   These days I am a little more relaxed about what I wear ~ most of the time, I have a selection of "Concert Blacks" and generally choose which one by trying to remember what I wore last time I played with that ensemble, how cold the hall is going to be, and which instrument I will be playing. One band I play with is even easier since they have a uniform, which dictates white blouse, tie and uniform jacket, so there's no thinking needed at all.

Though one dress problem I see I had in January I have again in December, and that's with my Jazz/Blues band. later this month we will be playing at the Christmas Party of our local Hospice. We have agreed that the instrumentalists in the band will all wear black bottoms and single colour bright tops, this takes me out of my security zone of all black, and I will actually have to think about it. I do feel that the environment of the band should allow me to be a little bit more flamboyant than in an orchestra though.



This month I have other concerns about the concerts I'm involved with. In a couple of weeks I have an orchestra concert where I have two solos, and at the moment I can't play one of them, and then a band concert where we will be playing a suite I arranged specially for Christmas.   This is going to a BIG DEAL for me, since it will be the first time another Conductor has chosen to play one of my arrangements, I will admit to feeling a bit nervous!