recovering from all that tubing
Jan. 30th, 2006 04:43 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
bunrabOK, I slept all day Sunday, which is why you didn't get a report on the Army Band Tuba-Euphonium Conference (hereinafter ABTEC or just TC) as soon as it ended. Them tubers know how to party!
That was a long conference. At 3.25 days - Wednesday night and all day and evening Thursday through Saturday - that's a big chunk of time. The conference itself is free, but the cost of lodging and meals for four nights, plus using up a lot of vacation time, runs the cost up some. By comparison, the Navy Band Saxophone Symposium (hereinafter NBSS)was Friday night and all day/evening Saturday. So most people would only have 1 or 2 nights' lodging, if they weren't commuting from local area.
The TC format had advantages and disadvantages. The NBSS had several tracks running at once - over in one part of the building, college level groups giving recitals all day, continuously; plus three studio/classrooms (large ones) running a mixture of military sax group performances, pro group performances, lectures and demonstrations. And a room for vendors. And they had a caterer selling lunch in the lobby. The TC, on the other hand, had only one thing going on at a time, so that everyone could attend everything, if they had the stamina. Almost everything was performances - only one lecture on the schedule that I noticed. There was a certain amount of empty space in the schedule - and not that much else to do on an Army base. Speaking of which, security. Civilians coming onto base had to get their cars inspected by security, with machine-gun-toting guards looking on. We had experienced this before when we had gone down there for various concerts - as S says, that's certainly the most trouble we've ever had getting into a concert hall. The NBSS was on a college campus and didn't have that problem. On the other hand, parking at the NBSS was in a garage one had to pay for, whereas parking on Fort Myer base is free. Clearly, a bunch of trade-offs.
The only place on base that served food to civilians was the base bowling alley, and it did not take very long at all for a large herd of community band musicians to take over the dining area, pushing tables together and starting 13 conversations at once. Many of these people have been coming to this conference annually for years; this is the first time we've ever been, but we knew a guy who used to be in the Austin Symphonic Band years ago, before he moved away from Austin, and we attached ourselves to the group on the strength of that. Then discovered that our paths had crossed with a couple other people there a time or two. The whole right-corner gang, named for where they stake out chairs in the main concert hall for each concert, is neat people. We were pleased to meet them, and will plan to be part of the gang next year, and a few of them, we'll even keep in touch in between!
One of the advantages of the TC format is that with four nights, there was a chance for four really big concerts, instead of just two. All of the military groups are fantastically good, of course. During the day, the "recitals" - shorter concerts, really - included military and civilian groups from Germany, groups from the UK, and music from Bach to Dixieland, that last represented by a group of geezers that included a Sousaphone, hence their inclusion in a tuba conference, who were so good that the tuba crowd even gave a standing ovation to their clarinet/saxophone player! That group also played Saturday night at the party at the American Legion hall.
We only stayed at the party for an hour or so, left by 11 p.m. It was quite a long day. The whole thing was fun, though!
The NBSS did a few things right that the TC could stand to copy, including handing out feedback forms for people to fill out, and including a lot more of the younger musicians - high school age - who need to be cultivated for the future. The TC offered more of interest to adult amateurs, though, such as all us community band nerds. The TC exhibit/vendor area was much larger and included more vendors, and there were TC shirts and glasses for sale - the NBSS didn't have any such souvenir items.
It was fun going to both, and we enjoyed getting to see a chunk of our tax dollars at work. Definitely again next year, Cthulhu willing and the creek don't rise!
I have added a couple of reviews on Amazon.com, for Agyar by S. Brust and for Cats Eyewitness by RM Brown. If anyone would care to go click the little buttons on those, to help me stay in the top 1000 reviewers, a completely pointless vanity thing of mine, I'd appreciate it.
Rehearsal tonight! Supper at the Broadway Diner!
This week's upcoming events: the usual rehearsals; appointment with electrophysiologist on Wednesday to see about additional pacemaker improvements/surgery; must find dentist, as I have had a temporary crown on one tooth since June, when the old crown fell off the week before we were leaving Austin, and that temporary crown is finally beginning to show some wear and tear - it should have been replaced by a new crown within a month of when I got it. Dentist, dentist, must find dentist. Must pay for another month of storage unit, and put more things into it. Things we have already accomplished as the week begins: get spare keys cut for house. Purchased chinchilla food, and a new, allegedly dripless, bottle for the swampy guinea pigs. I will believe that when I see it.
That was a long conference. At 3.25 days - Wednesday night and all day and evening Thursday through Saturday - that's a big chunk of time. The conference itself is free, but the cost of lodging and meals for four nights, plus using up a lot of vacation time, runs the cost up some. By comparison, the Navy Band Saxophone Symposium (hereinafter NBSS)was Friday night and all day/evening Saturday. So most people would only have 1 or 2 nights' lodging, if they weren't commuting from local area.
The TC format had advantages and disadvantages. The NBSS had several tracks running at once - over in one part of the building, college level groups giving recitals all day, continuously; plus three studio/classrooms (large ones) running a mixture of military sax group performances, pro group performances, lectures and demonstrations. And a room for vendors. And they had a caterer selling lunch in the lobby. The TC, on the other hand, had only one thing going on at a time, so that everyone could attend everything, if they had the stamina. Almost everything was performances - only one lecture on the schedule that I noticed. There was a certain amount of empty space in the schedule - and not that much else to do on an Army base. Speaking of which, security. Civilians coming onto base had to get their cars inspected by security, with machine-gun-toting guards looking on. We had experienced this before when we had gone down there for various concerts - as S says, that's certainly the most trouble we've ever had getting into a concert hall. The NBSS was on a college campus and didn't have that problem. On the other hand, parking at the NBSS was in a garage one had to pay for, whereas parking on Fort Myer base is free. Clearly, a bunch of trade-offs.
The only place on base that served food to civilians was the base bowling alley, and it did not take very long at all for a large herd of community band musicians to take over the dining area, pushing tables together and starting 13 conversations at once. Many of these people have been coming to this conference annually for years; this is the first time we've ever been, but we knew a guy who used to be in the Austin Symphonic Band years ago, before he moved away from Austin, and we attached ourselves to the group on the strength of that. Then discovered that our paths had crossed with a couple other people there a time or two. The whole right-corner gang, named for where they stake out chairs in the main concert hall for each concert, is neat people. We were pleased to meet them, and will plan to be part of the gang next year, and a few of them, we'll even keep in touch in between!
One of the advantages of the TC format is that with four nights, there was a chance for four really big concerts, instead of just two. All of the military groups are fantastically good, of course. During the day, the "recitals" - shorter concerts, really - included military and civilian groups from Germany, groups from the UK, and music from Bach to Dixieland, that last represented by a group of geezers that included a Sousaphone, hence their inclusion in a tuba conference, who were so good that the tuba crowd even gave a standing ovation to their clarinet/saxophone player! That group also played Saturday night at the party at the American Legion hall.
We only stayed at the party for an hour or so, left by 11 p.m. It was quite a long day. The whole thing was fun, though!
The NBSS did a few things right that the TC could stand to copy, including handing out feedback forms for people to fill out, and including a lot more of the younger musicians - high school age - who need to be cultivated for the future. The TC offered more of interest to adult amateurs, though, such as all us community band nerds. The TC exhibit/vendor area was much larger and included more vendors, and there were TC shirts and glasses for sale - the NBSS didn't have any such souvenir items.
It was fun going to both, and we enjoyed getting to see a chunk of our tax dollars at work. Definitely again next year, Cthulhu willing and the creek don't rise!
I have added a couple of reviews on Amazon.com, for Agyar by S. Brust and for Cats Eyewitness by RM Brown. If anyone would care to go click the little buttons on those, to help me stay in the top 1000 reviewers, a completely pointless vanity thing of mine, I'd appreciate it.
Rehearsal tonight! Supper at the Broadway Diner!
This week's upcoming events: the usual rehearsals; appointment with electrophysiologist on Wednesday to see about additional pacemaker improvements/surgery; must find dentist, as I have had a temporary crown on one tooth since June, when the old crown fell off the week before we were leaving Austin, and that temporary crown is finally beginning to show some wear and tear - it should have been replaced by a new crown within a month of when I got it. Dentist, dentist, must find dentist. Must pay for another month of storage unit, and put more things into it. Things we have already accomplished as the week begins: get spare keys cut for house. Purchased chinchilla food, and a new, allegedly dripless, bottle for the swampy guinea pigs. I will believe that when I see it.
