SassyBlonde

Unfortunately, the playing didn't really get better as the day wore on today. We had six hours of rehearsal, all of it painful, and managed a run-through at the end of the day, after which the conductor let us out half an hour early to go eat and sleep in anticipation of the advent of bus travel tomorrow. (*crosses fingers for a single seat*

One of the freaky things this year is that for the first time in twenty years of this Christmas tour, they've changed the book-- there are new songs, songs are rearranged, and a lot of the old songs hit the cutting room floor. In particular, a lot of the songs that used to make me hustle a bit have been taken out, leaving me pretty bored with the music on one hand, but on the other, leaving me relaxed enough to just play and not stress out about anything even in the moment. Glass half empty or glass half full? I dunno.

One thing that is different this time is the percussion setup. In most orchestras, woodwinds sit in a double row conformation directly in front of the conductor, behind the violins and in front of the brass. In this orchestra, the brass are off to stage left, leaving us in the direct line of fire for the percussionist. Let me tell you, in this show it's like being lined up at a firing range. He has a lot of cool toys back there, like wood blocks, bells, and a tiny little earsplitting splash cymbal which are all set up directly behind my head. In the middle of a couple of the numbers we're playing it's kind of like being trapped in a popcorn popper with one of those wind-up cymbal banging monkeys. Geez. I'm sure my face must be hilarious once he gets going pretty good-- it feels like my eyes are going to pop out of my head when he gets those wood blocks in play. And that splash cymbal just about scared the shit out of me and Sassy Jo when he hit it at the end. OY.

Tomorrow we're on the bus and out, so I hied my ass down to Vaccaro's at the Inner Harbor to get some amaretti for the duration (yeah right-- they'll only last a couple of days before I scarf them all) and we went to J. Paul's for dinner-- crab cakes and beer to fill my belly before bedtime. More tomorrow after the first concert... everybody cross your fingers.