well, i did play at an absolutely wonderful wedding this last weekend.. i guess it was on the 14th. I played with this awesome trio of sisters, ages 14, 16 and 17 (?) .. so very very very accomplished.. 2 cellists, a capella singing, a violinist.. they all conducted at times, all played and sang.... just a work of art.

So i played the organ and it was spectacular. anyhoo, it certainly was lots of fun.

here is a little news video of the sisters taken about 18 months ago.

http://www.kmbc.com/news/26749295/detail.html

boy were they ever professional.

Apple: awesome girls

I came across this YouTube clip on Facebook, and I don't *think* it's been posted in this thread thus far, but it would be pushing the limits of surfing-the-internet-while-working for me to read all 46 pages of this thread to confirm that.

At any rate, here is a minute long clip of a drummer, with the caption "This is what happens when you drink too much but still think you can play the wedding." It does not show the happy couple's reaction, but I'm guessing the band didn't get much of a tip.

i've been meaning to come back to thread and watch the drummer crash.

i did.

Definitely a good idea to remain sober when playing a wedding!

I know it's off topic, but the setup was so perfect I have to share it.

I was at a musical event this weekend, a combination of seminars and concerts by some world famous brass players.

At one of the sessions, a trivia question was asked. "Who wrote the verse to Basin Street Blues?"

Blank looks from most, but I jumped in with: "Well, John Basin, of course!"

Turns out the right answer was Glenn Miller. Ah well, I was close.

Off-topic is a tall order in this thread, or as best I remember it.

I've been pretty busy with Real Life lately, despite playing less than I used to, and haven't been keeping up with PW.

We were down two singers on our last gig, and invited a female singer some of us used to play with to sit in. She was in good form and provided a nice change of pace from our usual repertoire. One of the songs we played was "Respect".

After the set one couple took a moment to compliment her on her performance, mentioning "Respect" in particular. The woman then added that she noticed that not many people danced during that song. She said sotto voce, "It's not really an Obama crowd here..."

Geez.

Hope everyone is well.

Hey,

I run a music agency in the UK that just specialises in providing pianists for weddings. We often get asked about lots of different types of piano music and whether it will work on the piano or not.

Our website now has over 160 demos of piano arrangements of popular songs / indie / rock / film music and lot of other things. It would be nice to hear what you think of our arrangements: http://www.pianodj.co.uk/wedding-pianist-music-list.html

James

As quiet as it's been, I only feel a little guilty sharing this last performance.

I play with a local wind ensemble and they always program a trombone feature.

This spring it was Frolic for Trombone. I had never heard of it, but apparently it is a staple of the brass band scene, judging from the youtube selections. (very different from the traditional US wind ensemble genre)

Now, trombone is a brass instrument, but they make them out of plastic. There's a new entry called the pBone, which outrages traditionalists and incites all sorts of flame wars.

Here is me playing lead on Frolic for Trombone, on the plastic pBone:
http://www.box.com/s/5d0254f346c991a7d0fa

I don't think you can tell it's not brass. (It's not a perfect performance, it was late in the gig and I had tired chops, but we played with enthusiasm to make up for lack of finesse.)

I bought a pBone when they were first available here in the UK. As a sometime teacher of brass instruments, I'm excited at the idea of a cheap student-grade 'bone that is lightweight and practically indestructable. You can just about guarantee a young player will bruise or dent the slide of a brass 'bone, requiring frequent visits to the repair shop if they are to play with any agility. In this context I find the criticism of the pBone slide rather unfair - it's a bit scratchy, but it's a LOAD better than a bruised brass one! It plays nicely enough and, in a band contest,I think you'd have to listen very hard to criticise the sound. Another point is that aspiring trombonists tend to buy larger bore instruments, maybe perceiving them as more "professional". Playing a smaller bore pBone can be a reminder of the virtues of a less ponderous sound.

The pBone was launched in the UK at a very reasonable 50 GBP. Now it has acquired a distributor the price has risen rather closer to that of an entry-level brass 'bone. A pity.

I enjoyed your performance of "Frolic". Maybe it suffered from being taken at a rather pedestrian tempo? The woodwind section certainly disagreed with the conductor over the pace of some of their interjections!

Sigh. This band is about half adult community members and half students from a two year junior college (they take it as a class for credit.) So membership (and instrumentation) varies from semester to semester. Sometimes we play very well, sometimes we struggle. This year there was no percussion, except for last minute additions who only made the performance.

By the way, the recording was done with a simple Zoom H2, set about halfway back in the audience. No professional microphones nere!

I agree with you about the usefulness of the pBone. My slide is scratchy but certainly better than most student horns - I am appalled by what we make beginners play on. The light weight makes a huge difference. (The Spurling is even better, but now we're talking high dollar slides.)