This piece easily fit together in the reading rehearsal. (i’m having trouble figuring out which tense of “fit” to use in that sentence.)
re: pair of rugged higher-pitched “sound-effects”-sounding figures: Someone in the past marked in pencil “to F tuba”.
I didn’t want to drag my F tuba down there just to secure that pair of sound effects, but I did decide to bring the euphonium - as they are both in unison with the horns - in their mid-upper range. My bass trombone buddy teased me a little bit, and I pointed out to him that trumpet players do that all the time - and horn players shorten their instruments without anyone being able to see them do it, to which he responded, “You’re right”.
The euphonium tosses those effects out with more clarity and volume, and - of course - there’s infinitely less chance of splatting one of them.
There are five staccato lower pitches marked muted. I don’t have any mutes that are corked large enough to fit the Siegfried, and I’m just playing them very snarly and short. The only thing missing is the metallic sound - which would cloak their sounding pitches. That having been said, I might do the contact-cement-and-Velcro thing, and make this mute into a multi-fit - just like my other one. Someone could point and make fun of me dragging a mute and a euphonium to a gig, but I could just as easily point and make fun of them with their complicated music stand, stand lights, big-ass piece of plexiglass, and bag of endless emergency-repairs gadgetry, so call all of that finger-pointing “a draw“.
(I’m parking immediately outside the stage store, under cover.)
They are also playing “Sorcerer’s Apprentice“.
Unlike the typical one-rehearsal run-through of that piece (for children’s concerts), they are really getting into the details of it, and I’m tickled to hear that is going to be performed so well.
There is only one rehearsal scheduled of “Rhapsody in Blue” - the one with the soloist, who is also playing Prokofiev 3rd. It seems odd to only rehearse the “title piece” of a concert once, but everyone in the ensemble has played it so many times, so…
)
I played it on bass trombone years ago, tons of fun playing that descending line with the basses. That is a different sound for sure.
(I’m parking immediately outside the stage store, under cover.)