… and I was reminded about this general, obvious but totally conjectural and unproven principle today when we held a full rehearsal for our playing at the fundraising function I mentioned previously.
So, all in all, we had the following in my music room.
• 1 x Stuart & Sons 2.2 metre grand piano
• 1 x Kurzweil SP2X electronic keyboard + Behringer acoustic instrument amplifier
• 1 x Professional Drum Kit (acoustic of course)
• 1 x Bass Guitar + Bass amplifier
• 1 x Yanagisawa 910 soprano saxophone
• 1 x Temby Alto saxophone
• 1 x Temby Tenor saxophone
And, of course, four people and music stands etc. We didn’t make that much noise, really.
In fact things went off very well and I’m confident we will make a good impression when we play. Steve on drums is a very experienced musician (OK, so some people will demur at my classing drums as musical instruments but I’m being polite here) and he and I are quite used to large audiences, we are anticipating between 650-700 people being there. But this will be the biggest audience David has played to, and given his saxophones will be the lead instrument on most of the songs there will be a lot of pressure on him in that regard. But I’ve been really pleased (and impressed) with how he’s handling all of this and he will come out of it a much better and more confident musician than before, and that cannot be anything but a good thing.
I must admit, I’m enjoying it too. It’s good to get back into a group environment again, if only for a short time.
On the Stuart front, things are progressing well, and my playing (as long as I pick pieces that don’t require too much acrobatics) is sounding OK, at least to my ears. I’m exploring much more modern repertoire these days, and whilst I’m having problems understanding the musical languages of many of the composers, there are some which I’m storing away for future examination when I have more time. More of that anon.
Oh, yes … my music room has much more space in it now.