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So, I am a member of a community band... it really isn't that great, it is my I feel bad for them so help them out band... but it is really turning me off of performing music in general (the other group I'm in is amazing though, which is why I haven't quit yet).
Now this group started as a senior group... and as such the majority (read into that all but three of us) are seniors because they only opened it up to all ages about 6 months ago. That doesn't bother me too much by itself, but it is does make us stand out and not in the best of ways at times.
Now, talking about being some of the youngest, at the last concert the programs were printed "(prominent arts family) senior band" and the conductor, rather than correcting it introduced us as the senior band and said to the audience, and this is a direct quote, "everyone is at least 55 years old, with of course one obvious exception in the back, my son (name) is only 13, but he is so good we let him join." Needless to say, me and another girl who are under 55 (I'm 28, she's 30), were a bit put off by being such obvious exceptions that the audience can see and being completely ignored... and of course having been told it was an open to everyone group only to have the conductor announcing us a senior only.
The conductor is going to be a common theme in this. He coddles members who aren't willing to practice and improve... when someone has trouble with music he doesn't try to encourage them to improve, doesn't try to push them to improve... he tells them "it's okay, this music is probably harder than we should do, it says it is a level 1, but I think it really is a level 2." Now, anyone who is familiar with music levels is probably doing an epic facepalm because at least in the American system a level 2 is about what a lower level middle school player should be able to play. Now, the song he is talking about may be mis leveled, but it sure as hell isn't too difficult for someone who applies themselves, and he needs to start pushing people... no, he wont' do that, rather he encourages those of us who are pulling ahead to slow down to allow the people who don't want to work at it to improve.
A good example of that was two weeks ago, we had a song that called for fortississimo (in English, play as loud as you can and then play louder)... I played as loud as possible (while still maintaining tone)... I was told that I needed to play quieter because no one else was playing as loud... hello, fortississimo, tell them to play louder.
Oh, and I mentioned that the conductor's son is in the group... yeah, special treatment beyond belief. Any other section, figure out who gets what chair between yourselves... percussion, my son must be first chair, he's amazing and something of a prodigy, so first chair it must be (which, for the record, his son is a decent player, above average for his age in fact, but no prodigy).
Also, the conductor can't keep time... the trumpets have a horrible tendency to slow down... he has a terrible tendency of following them... now, if we follow him too, he'll accuse us of dragging (because you know, it is all our fault we follow the conductor)... if we keep a steady speed and he starts slowing down to coddle the trumpet players, he'll accuse us of rushing... seriously, make up your mind... do you want us to follow you or go a steady speed?
Now we come down to the two worst offenses. I'll do the one that doesn't affect me directly first (well, not directly beyond me finding out what type of person he is). We had another younger person show up to join, a hispanic (yes, relevant) guy in his 20s... percussionist, awesome percussionist too (and cute to boot, so I may be a bit biased
)... near the end of the rehearsal the conductor said "wow, I'm surprised, I guess there are some hispanics with talent." Wow, that bit of racism just came out of nowhere. Needless to say, the cute and talented drummer never came back.
Now, the one that has me most peeved, and it does affect me more directly. The conductor is a member of the community college band that I am in... he decided that the community college band doesn't have enough tuba players (we had two tuba players in a group with less than 50 people, so about where you'd want it to be). He decided to invite one of the tuba players from his group to join the community college group... he did this without the permission of the conductor of the community college group, with only three rehearsals before a performance, and without having to pay the same fees the rest of us had to pay to participate. Oh, and this guy that he invited is a class A+ asshole. First thing he did after showing up was telling the other tuba players that he was so awesome that they might as well let him take over the section (he isn't a bad player, but he sure as hell ain't great). He then started to tell everyone in the group who would listen to him that the repair person we had been using was a liar and a cheat and we should all switch to him (that liar and cheat is someone we have all used and has some of the lowest prices in the valley and has always done amazing repairs, and is so dishonest that she'll even admit when she isn't the most qualified person for a particular repair and refer us to someone who can better fix the problem). So now two days a week rather than one I have to deal with this asshole, who is going to bring us down in our next performance, and has brought discord into our otherwise very harmonious group.
So yeah, really getting ready to leave... no challenge, out of place, and a conductor who is an ass.
Now this group started as a senior group... and as such the majority (read into that all but three of us) are seniors because they only opened it up to all ages about 6 months ago. That doesn't bother me too much by itself, but it is does make us stand out and not in the best of ways at times.
Now, talking about being some of the youngest, at the last concert the programs were printed "(prominent arts family) senior band" and the conductor, rather than correcting it introduced us as the senior band and said to the audience, and this is a direct quote, "everyone is at least 55 years old, with of course one obvious exception in the back, my son (name) is only 13, but he is so good we let him join." Needless to say, me and another girl who are under 55 (I'm 28, she's 30), were a bit put off by being such obvious exceptions that the audience can see and being completely ignored... and of course having been told it was an open to everyone group only to have the conductor announcing us a senior only.
The conductor is going to be a common theme in this. He coddles members who aren't willing to practice and improve... when someone has trouble with music he doesn't try to encourage them to improve, doesn't try to push them to improve... he tells them "it's okay, this music is probably harder than we should do, it says it is a level 1, but I think it really is a level 2." Now, anyone who is familiar with music levels is probably doing an epic facepalm because at least in the American system a level 2 is about what a lower level middle school player should be able to play. Now, the song he is talking about may be mis leveled, but it sure as hell isn't too difficult for someone who applies themselves, and he needs to start pushing people... no, he wont' do that, rather he encourages those of us who are pulling ahead to slow down to allow the people who don't want to work at it to improve.
A good example of that was two weeks ago, we had a song that called for fortississimo (in English, play as loud as you can and then play louder)... I played as loud as possible (while still maintaining tone)... I was told that I needed to play quieter because no one else was playing as loud... hello, fortississimo, tell them to play louder.
Oh, and I mentioned that the conductor's son is in the group... yeah, special treatment beyond belief. Any other section, figure out who gets what chair between yourselves... percussion, my son must be first chair, he's amazing and something of a prodigy, so first chair it must be (which, for the record, his son is a decent player, above average for his age in fact, but no prodigy).
Also, the conductor can't keep time... the trumpets have a horrible tendency to slow down... he has a terrible tendency of following them... now, if we follow him too, he'll accuse us of dragging (because you know, it is all our fault we follow the conductor)... if we keep a steady speed and he starts slowing down to coddle the trumpet players, he'll accuse us of rushing... seriously, make up your mind... do you want us to follow you or go a steady speed?
Now we come down to the two worst offenses. I'll do the one that doesn't affect me directly first (well, not directly beyond me finding out what type of person he is). We had another younger person show up to join, a hispanic (yes, relevant) guy in his 20s... percussionist, awesome percussionist too (and cute to boot, so I may be a bit biased
)... near the end of the rehearsal the conductor said "wow, I'm surprised, I guess there are some hispanics with talent." Wow, that bit of racism just came out of nowhere. Needless to say, the cute and talented drummer never came back.Now, the one that has me most peeved, and it does affect me more directly. The conductor is a member of the community college band that I am in... he decided that the community college band doesn't have enough tuba players (we had two tuba players in a group with less than 50 people, so about where you'd want it to be). He decided to invite one of the tuba players from his group to join the community college group... he did this without the permission of the conductor of the community college group, with only three rehearsals before a performance, and without having to pay the same fees the rest of us had to pay to participate. Oh, and this guy that he invited is a class A+ asshole. First thing he did after showing up was telling the other tuba players that he was so awesome that they might as well let him take over the section (he isn't a bad player, but he sure as hell ain't great). He then started to tell everyone in the group who would listen to him that the repair person we had been using was a liar and a cheat and we should all switch to him (that liar and cheat is someone we have all used and has some of the lowest prices in the valley and has always done amazing repairs, and is so dishonest that she'll even admit when she isn't the most qualified person for a particular repair and refer us to someone who can better fix the problem). So now two days a week rather than one I have to deal with this asshole, who is going to bring us down in our next performance, and has brought discord into our otherwise very harmonious group.
So yeah, really getting ready to leave... no challenge, out of place, and a conductor who is an ass.
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