Day 3. Final banjo night at the symphony

[Jody Stecher]

This time we  had a different guide bring us up to the lobby for our pre-concert Banjo Blast, You will recall that on Night 1 we were positioned far too close to the Airforce brass band (great buncha guys and gals by the way and some profess to like banjos) and were forced by circumstances to change to their key and ultimately to simply play their repertoire (as a joke).  Caroline McCaskey, the young musical saw player who played the third lobby also took the same approach. By the way on stage  she just about stole the show each night as she played an Offenbach overture accompanied by the symphony, You may laugh at the idea of a musical saw player at Davies Hall but in fact Caroline plays as if she were a soprano vocalist and at times it's hard to tell the difference.  I told her as much after the performance and this resulted in a quick witted come-back. 

Me: Caroline, that was so beautiful that I forgot it was a saw

Caroline: and you played so well I forgot it was a banjo!

Anyway the second night we were moved to the other end of our lobby (there are 3 lobbies, each with a pre-concert musical performance) but in a spot with poor acoustics. We asked for a better place and were told it was either here or the first spot. So we accepted our lot.  On the third night  it was different. Our guide said we should pick a spot that suited us and that would suit management. So we did. We played particularly well, probably because we could hear ourselves and each other. We drew a large and appreciative crowd. Bill told them after each piece: THIS IS CLASSIC BANJO, only even louder than that. They got the message. 

When we returned to our dressing room we found our pay checks. Not just paid before we done, but each check  on each of our chairs or on the exact spot on the sofa where some of us were sitting, Now THAT is classy. They even spelled our names right.

At our spot in the concert this time we were all very calm and serene before beginning. Hard Times went well and we played some variations in the accompaniment to the singing we had worked up the night before and I felt calm enough to take some daring chances in vocal ornamentation. We launched into Pensacola and everything was going great with no speeding up and perfect coordination of the 3 banjos. Then we got to the solo measures that mark the  transition from part 2 to part 3. Scott and Bill both forgot that it  was going to happen. Fortunately I remembered and I just plowed through it,  even though they were already playing the third part, I could see them both turn pale and quickly recover and we got back on track and stayed that way to the end. The night before I had experienced a mental blackout of a measure and a half. This time I had three of them. No one knew. We got the longest and loudest applause of the 3 evenings so I guess we did OK.  

My strongest impression from the whole experience is an admiration for the symphony musicians. Any one of them could be a brilliant soloist but they  are working as a team in perfect balance. 

[thereallyniceman]

My special thanks to Jody, Bill and Scott for this great “Plug” for Classic Style banjo. I do wish I could have been there to see the performances. The impromptu style playing in the lobby sounds excellent and it nice to hear that it drew the crowds.

 

A special thank you to Jody for his excellent updates on how things went. It is interesting to hear of the wobbles that occur from the performers’ perspective. I am sure that the audience didn’t notice a thing!

 

So it is another three cheers from me!!!

[Sylvia]

Hi Jody, I enjoyed all of your reports.    Thank you , and three cheers from me too.

[Mike Moss]

Thanks for these amazing reports, Jody. It's amazing how much attitudes can change in but a few decades, and it's great to see that the classical musical establishment has become much more open and receptive to "alternative" musical instruments and traditions.

The concerts sound like they were great fun, I wish I could have been there!

[Richard William Ineson]

Sounds frightening, having a whole orchestra of musicians sat behind you, you did well, congratulations, have you got a repeat booking?

[Jody Stecher]

I'm not sure what we'd be fearing. They were not about to knock us on the head with their Strad-a-ma-variuses or push us off the platform. Gosh the more I think about it the more dangerous possibilities occur  to me. Seriously though, I'll tell you what was not exactly frightening, but a bit unnerving, and that was having some of the musicians and the conductor studying our hands as we played at the dress rehearsal (they were more circumspect at the concerts). But I was more on edge playing at the banjo rally at Backwell (with you Richard accompanying me on second banjo) playing for " a jury of my peers"  of 2 dozen well informed skilled classic banjoists who wished me well than I was playing with the symphony to my back and audience of 4000 in front of me. You might recall that I forgot entire sections of some of the pieces!

I heard conflicting reports about a repeat booking. There was some talk about doing this program every year but one version of that involved having different guest artists each year with the constant element being the San Francisco Symphony. I'm pretty sure we exceeded their musical expectations of us but that doesn't guarantee a repeat booking. I'd be delighted if they had us back but not surprised if they didn't. Perhaps we might get a booking or two out of this to play at a wedding or a backyard BBQ. Some of the symphony musicians themselves do this kind of work on the side.  

Richard William Ineson said:

Sounds frightening, having a whole orchestra of musicians sat behind you, you did well, congratulations, have you got a repeat booking?

[Richard William Ineson]

Funny that you should mention these musicians studying your hands, I played a few times with Douglas Rogers who is classical guitarist and Concertinarist of renown and he was always looking (in the nicest possible way) at my hands. I remember being sat next to him once, when he was really studying the back of my right hand very intently, as I played along with him, suddenly he let out a great yelp, which nearly made me jump off my chair, "AGE SPOTS! ARE YOU DOING ANYTHING ABOUT THEM?" Well no, not really, age spots on a man's hands in the north of England are taken as a sign of er, age, we don't do anything about things like that, it's just like we accept the fact that a man's nose will turn red after the age of forty, we wouldn't expect anything else. Studying hands must be a musician thing, I just like hearing and playing the banjo, no time to worry about age, or any other kind of  spots.