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I do have to chime in here….one thing I tell a bride is that “I can absolutely guarantee that I will not be prettier than you are on your wedding day!” And the bride laughs…and I’ve been hired on the spot!
Dave Ice
Hi Natalie,
I do, actually, have a whole slew of new arrangements, and hopefully Vanderbilt Music can get the clearances so they can be published. I just finished ‘O SOLE MIO, THAT’S AMORE and THE NEARNESS OF YOU. And I have a whole bunch of other bridal requests to arrange as well.
I’ve always said I attract the weird things in life, be they people, gigs, or situations. If there is a crazy person in the room, they ALWAYS find me…..I’ve had friends actually tell me, “Geez, you’re not kidding…..the crazies DO find you no matter what!” It doesn’t seem to matter if I’m at a bridal show, McDonald’s, or church. They just find me!
Dave
Thanks for affirming what I felt in my gut…this wedding would have been in Rocky Point (just south of the Arizona boarder) but I was feeling uneasy about it. The bride and groom haven’t called me back yet, so no harm done. I’ve had enough “gigs from hell” lately! So I am thankful for your advice! “Diva” and “Boomer” are to precious to me to risk holes in the soundboard!
One thing to consider is the “aspect ratio” of the iPad verses an Android tablet. The Android is formatted to a HD aspect ratio–or 16×9. The iPad is closer to 4×3…which means, simply, it’s closer to the size of an 8.5×11″ piece of sheet music. After doing a LOT of tests myself, a 10″ iPad will give you a bigger usuable screen than a 10″ Android tablet–you don’t have any “leftover real estate” on the screen. In other words, a page of sheet music will almost perfectly fill an iPad screen, but on an Android tablet you will have extra unused screen at the top or bottom. I went with an iPad for this reason. Plus, with ForeScore you can crop and enlarge a pdf file image as well. So you can “blow up” a page of sheet music to get the most of your screen size.
BTW the check DID at least come in the mail, and it did not bounce. I will give them that much credit.
I’ve been swamped with gigs, so I haven’t checked in. YES, this mess is over. And, short of barring the doors, they couldn’t have made it more clear I was NOT wanted. I truly did “shake the dust from my sandals” as I left that house of “worship”….I don’t want to get into any religious arguments, but suffice it to say it was the most soul-destroying and hideous gig I’ve ever played. No amount of coaxing or cajoling would EVER have me return.
I’ve talked with other musicians and conductors who know the conductor and the gig, and they are truly horrified by all this. And yes, it’s petty, but even little things like a “thank you ” note left on every chair to thank the musicians for their time and talents–except mine. Like I said, they made it VERY clear I was not welcome.
And yet I go to another gig and people say, “Oh, we’re so grateful you’re here!”
So I cast them off and will never favor them with my talents ever again. And I’m not alone–I found an oboe player they lied to as well. So they are fundamentally dishonest and not, in my humble opinion, worthy of my time. They can continue with their “Celebration of Christmas” into oblivion but I have seen their true selves, and it’s not pretty–or worthy of the season.
Thanks for your kind words Lyn! I’m more than happy to share what I’ve done. I know how much I appreciated the “cheats and fixes” my teacher gave me ages ago on orchestra parts. In many cases it turned things from absolute terror to “no problem.” And so I’m happy to “pay it forward” just as my beloved teacher Marjorie Call (Salzedo) did for me.
Yes. My understanding is that he was enamored of a lady harpist at the time, so he wrote this for her. Apparently he never ran it by her in terms of playability! Obviously he did learn something later on, as his REQUIEM is very playable (and I’ve also typeset that work as well to help page turns and get rid of that awful manuscript version.
Ok gang, here’s the latest:
Dress rehearsal tonight. I get there at 6:26pm. Rehearsal was to be 7-9:30pm.
I find the whole orchestra already playing. Seems the rehearsal was moved up to 6PM “and emails went out to everybody yesterday.” Nope. I didn’t get one. Awkward moment #1.
Turns out there is no music stand for me. Awkward moment #2.
There is no chair for me. Awkward moment #3.
There is no music stand light for me. Awkward moment #4.
There are no microphones or any audio leads for me. Awkward moment #4.
All the orchestra got a “cut list” with notes about cuts/adds to the parts. Except me. Awkward moment #5.
Despite their promises, there was no “book” for me at all. I had my own downloaded parts, but apparently the 22 tunes had mushroomed to 28 tunes, and I had no idea what the order now was, or any other changes. Awkward moment #6.
At this point I’m wondering if enough is enough and I should just disappear into the darkness (which is want they wanted me to do, anyway). But I yanked the cover off the harp and was able to hit the downbeat of the first official number of the show. I was able to figure out the cuts–there are only so many ways you can slice and dice JOY TO THE WORLD, after all!
Eventually, the above mentioned items were slowly corrected, including some incomprehensible gesticulations from the conductor which I later learned meant “cut from bar 12 to bar 44, and repeat 46 2 times.” I will leave it to the reader’s imagination what those gesticulations looked like in a real world setting.
I also figured out the reason behind this whole mess. It would appear that there is one “renowned pianist WIlliam Joseph” who aggresses upon a grand piano for two numbers: GOD REST YE MERRY GENTLEMEN and CAROL OF THE BELLS. Apparently he was brought in be bring “star power” to the production, and hence no budget left over for the iconic instrument of the season.
So….I don’t think there is some other Tinkerbelle playing harp–although the conductor did visibly blanche when I told him I was taking home the book (which did eventually arrive 45 minutes into the dress rehearsal) because I needed to mark the cuts and pedals on the new numbers. If there is a Tinkerbelle, she won’t have a book to reference for the next three days!
Also, I have no intention of making any markings whatsoever in said book, being that I already went to the time and expense of downloading 20 tunes already and marking pedals and fingerings. I have no intention of surrendering my hard-won playability to a gig that doesn’t want me in the first place!
For those who like visuals with their soap operas, I’m including a few shapshots from tonight’s rehearsal……
I’ve had people ask, repeatedly at wedding shows, if that thing I’m playing is a cello.
Seriously.
For non-harp idiotic questions, my sister worked for the national parks system for a while. Her best question was: “Does the Mule Train at the Grand Canyon have a dining car?”
Please check out my video that I did for my wedding referral group…”How NOT To Plan Your Wedding.” Everything that happens in it ACTUALLY HAPPENED….including the iPod wedding. It’s a good way to show a client how things can go dreadfully wrong, very fast. And there are no “do-overs” or retakes for a wedding!
