Tuesday: Afternoon/evening rehearsal. The band was still a bit clunky, but already we were fitting our parts together much better as we learned the music and the flow of the show, as well as the way things sounded in the room.
Speaking of sounds: the audio guys in the theater decided to rectify the amplification problem (2 keyboards, 2 guitars, and bass all coming out of one or two floor monitors) by giving four of us (guitar 1, guitar 2, bass, and me) a headphone amp and four sets of headphones...and one mix to listen to. I was not in the mix, so I pretty much immediately took the headphones off and listened to the keyboards (still coming through the speaker on the floor) and the drums (acoustically). It would've been cool to hear the guitars and bass, but...I guess not. The bass player was unhappy with the mix, so he soon followed me, basically opting to not hear his amplified instrument anywhere. The guitar players I guess were more or less satisfied with the mix.
Another interesting sound thing: both keyboardists were using laptops for their sounds, and evidently the theater purchases/rents the sound files when they get the books. Basically, the second keyboardist is playing lots of woodwinds, brass, and strings (in addition to some synths and stuff), thereby eliminating the need to have a pit full of musicians playing things acoustically. Interesting! All the keyboard splits and everything are laid out song to song and match the keyboard book. I guess I haven't done enough shows to have seen this before, because the music director spoke like it was quite common these days.
Anyway...
Wednesday! We performed the first act for the school in the afternoon, and it went well. After that, we had one final rehearsal for the whole thing. Things felt pretty solid.
Wednesday night, I was back at Blind Willie's, playing with Scott Glazer's Mojo Dojo. It's always loud, but on this night, it was loud enough that the waitress asked us to turn down. This evening's band included Dan Lawrence on keyboard, Yonrico Scott on drums, Dave Yoke on guitar, and Scott on bass. This gig is usually two saxophonists, but on this particular evening, the other guy was stuck at home with the flu, so I tried to play for the two of us.
I must say that this is possibly the largest crowd (at least at the beginning of the night) that we've ever had, which was kind of cool. Several patrons were in town for the poultry convention (no lie!), so we started the evening off with our rendition of The Chicken.
Thursday: Show number of Footloose was FANTASTIC! The kids in the cast really brought all their energy to the performance, and was so proud of them. Musically, we also came together right on time. I was pumped. Playing a musical at a high school wasn't what I thought it was going to be.
Only little hiccups: one of the laptops was turned down nearly to the point of being inaudible in the first set (fixed it at the break), and I accidentally banged my saxophone into my microphone (which made a super loud embarrassing BOOM in the house), and the second time, I may have also said DAMNIT! near this microphone, but nobody said anything, and I said ten Hail Marys on the way home and we're all good.
Friday: Show number two was equally good. I felt really focused for Thursday night's gig, and it took me a couple of songs to get my head into it, but the kids were electric, and it definitely brought out the best in the band. Also, I did not hit the microphone anymore.
It's never easy to know how much playing you can do before a show and not wear out your face. I remember that a couple of years ago when I played Miss Saigon, I couldn't even warm up at home--I needed to save each and every one of those notes. For this gig, I was comfortable playing for a few hours and at home in the middle of the day and still having enough face to make the gig. It is tricky, though, because if I have the time and the mental capacity, I can sit and play until I can't form an embouchure anymore.
Saturday: Three for three! Another great show, and no microphone contact, thank you very much. My flute and clarinet chops feel great, as did depositing the check for all of this (thank you very much).
I really loved playing this show--I wish I had a few of these every year. Sometimes it feels like part of my musical soul is dying, and this did much to revive it.
