If

The other weekend I managed to get my self ludicrously over booked, all stuff I wanted to do and enjoy but still too much, the upshot was that when I came to play in a concert on the Sunday afternoon I was knackered, rather tired.   Indeed I was so tired that my concentration flagged, something I simply can't afford to let happen I'm just not good enough to work on autopilot.   At one point I was left with a small solo to play in a selection of music from The Wizard of Oz, I had managed OK in the rehearsal, but in the performance the other tuba player decided to leave it to me, and my fingers decided not to co-operate.


One of the problems of playing Tuba is that it is not just one instrument, most of us will find we have to play two or three instruments in different keys, big ones for low parts and little ones for high parts, on this occasion I was playing my lovely big CC after not having played it for a while having done everything on my old faithful Besson EEb.   When it came to my solo my fingers thought I was still playing the EEb and used that fingering, I knew it was wrong, but when I tried to get back to where I should have been I switched to Bb fingering as the previous time I had played the piece I had been on Euphonium.   The piece that I was trying so hard and failing to play? ~ "If I only Had a Brain"!

Besson EEb

If I get a decent night's sleep tonight, and don't work too hard tomorrow I hope that I will manage a bit better when I audition for the role of Associate Musical Director of the London Gay Symphonic Winds.   I will be conducting a half hour rehearsal of two pieces, one I know (The first movement of the Holst suite in Eb), one I don't.   I gather I will have about 20 minutes to look at the score before rehearsing the piece, to a certain extent it is pot luck as to whether I know it or not.   However I suspect that this will not be the main issue, I have a bit of experience with Brass Bands but not much with wind bands, and knowing that the other Associate MD who has already been appointed is also a trombone player I would anticipate the band preferring somebody with more woodwind experience, probably a reed player.   However I am determined to enjoy the experience and learn from it.

Conn CC

On the 17th May we will be holding a major event in Croydon town centre to mark IDAHO the International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia, the current plan is too have stands from 10 Christian organisations and stands from 10 LGBT organisations, If I can get my act together I am meant to be organising a band to play a couple of 20 minute sets, at the moment I am short of a couple of players, even if I don't get the job tomorrow maybe I can recruit a couple of people to play then.

I hope that you are all suitable impressed that I got through this post with out mentioning Rudyard Kipling's poem or Lindsey Anderson's film