What’s On Your Stand?

[bloke]

When gigs are sparse - such as most summers – I typically pick up the instruments that I use the most and run through a bunch of different major and minor arpeggios - working on and reminding myself of where pitches belong.
In most gig situations - where there are printed notes on pieces of paper, we really don’t play that many phrases, but mostly contribute “sonic events” and - most often - only fragments of phrases.
Of course, the musical aspects are always important - because we are playing “music“, but when most of our function is utility, the most important aspect of our playing is probably tuning.
To me, the most annoying thing about beginning to practice is having to bring the instruments up to temperature, because - when cold - they not only play flat, but also are out of tune with themselves.

[Doc]

To me, the most annoying thing about beginning to practice is having to bring the instruments up to temperature, because - when cold - they not only play flat, but also are out of tune with themselves.

I brought out the helicon for its first public trial Saturday at the Tomball Germanfest. Played the Hagen all day with the band, but did a trio thing for a few tunes on the helicon out in front of the stage to give the band a break. Aside from being very hot, extremely humid, and feeling tired, and worn out, I thought it went alright. Then I watched a video my wife made. Well, dang... I needed to pull out. With crowd noise, fan noise, and sound being lost in that big tent, I guess I just couldn't tell I was sharp. Yes, thankfully it was a beer tent gig, and all those patrons didn't know or care, but it still pissed me off.

I played an outdoor gig in New Braunfels a while back. Using the 181 F. It was well over 100 degrees that day, and I got direct sunlight on my for most of the afternoon. Before the sun went down, I had my tuning slide pulled out all the way just short of falling out. Not to mention I was miserable. And we hit a deer in downtown at 4pm in our Jeep. I was glad when that one was over. And the Sellmansberger lexan rim was definitely used that day (at least I did SOMETHING right that day).

[bloke]

You wouldn't think it would be hot on Easter Sunday...but my outdoor church gig at one of those Depression-era (gov't-funded / "make-work"-built) "shell" things (and I was warned) did NOT heat ME up, but heated up my brown (not particularly reflective) F tuba to a VERY hot temperature.
Luckily, that tuba's c. 70-degrees A=440 is with the slide most of the way in, so I was able to pull and cope.
Further, we (five brass) were THE instruments for EVERYTHING so (with the trumpets MOSTLY just "letting things happen", and playing in-tune with themselves) there was no fixed-pitch keyboard instrument with which I had to cope.

link to picture of that (yes: off-topic, for this thread) "shell", if anyone might be interested...
https://i.imgur.com/9o8K3ex.png

I still haven't decided whether it's better for pitch-adjustable electronic keyboards (when used outdoors in the summer) to be "considerate" to wind instruments (and tune sharp) or to STICK TO A=440, to keep things "honest"...(??)

To me, the most annoying thing about beginning to practice is having to bring the instruments up to temperature, because - when cold - they not only play flat, but also are out of tune with themselves.

I brought out the helicon for its first public trial Saturday at the Tomball Germanfest. Played the Hagen all day with the band, but did a trio thing for a few tunes on the helicon out in front of the stage to give the band a break. Aside from being very hot, extremely humid, and feeling tired, and worn out, I thought it went alright. Then I watched a video my wife made. Well, dang... I needed to pull out. With crowd noise, fan noise, and sound being lost in that big tent, I guess I just couldn't tell I was sharp. Yes, thankfully it was a beer tent gig, and all those patrons didn't know or care, but it still pissed me off.

I played an outdoor gig in New Braunfels a while back. Using the 181 F. It was well over 100 degrees that day, and I got direct sunlight on my for most of the afternoon. Before the sun went down, I had my tuning slide pulled out all the way just short of falling out. Not to mention I was miserable. And we hit a deer in downtown at 4pm in our Jeep. I was glad when that one was over. And the Sellmansberger lexan rim was definitely used that day (at least I did SOMETHING right that day).

[2nd tenor]

When gigs are sparse - such as most summers – I typically pick up the instruments that I use the most and run through a bunch of different major and minor arpeggios - working on and reminding myself of where pitches belong.
In most gig situations - where there are printed notes on pieces of paper, we really don’t play that many phrases, but mostly contribute “sonic events” and - most often - only fragments of phrases.
Of course, the musical aspects are always important - because we are playing “music“, but when most of our function is utility, the most important aspect of our playing is probably tuning.
To me, the most annoying thing about beginning to practice is having to bring the instruments up to temperature, because - when cold - they not only play flat, but also are out of tune with themselves.

That chimes with a lot of my experience though slightly different; the Tubas play all the time (rests are rare) and our primary role is to provide a rhythmic beat and a foundation of low pitch harmony on which the higher pitched instruments build their music. Here in the U.K. our busy time is late Spring and Summer when we’re playing outside in Parks, at Fetes and Fairs/Shows and maybe at a Wedding. Temperatures in the 20’s Celsius are what we like and I personally hate anything hotter than that. North America is a big place and I guess that for any given time of year there’s a wide range of weather - a bit warmer in Texas than in Washington (State) and cooler again in, say, Alberta. I wonder how that impacts on local events.

Of course I’m just echoing my experience as a Brass Band player but those being individually paid to play might have differing experiences and might have a different audience. However, the vast bulk of brass players in the U.K. play in Brass Bands and we rehearse together all year round (at least once a week, twice a week is common and more than that is not unheard of).

[bloke]

Community bands - in the US - play a bunch of summer outdoor concerts, and (often) only a handful between September and May.
(perhaps a just-for-fun Halloween concert, a Christmas concert, possibly (??) a Valentine concert...but probably not, and a spring concert).

Military bands also tend to be on display outdoors during the summers, do functional events during the year, and also might tour during the "school" year..ie. "recruiting".

Community orchestras tend to play just as few concerts as community bands (during the "school year"), but tend to do nothing in the summers.

Per-service orchestras tend to do something once-monthly (from late summer through late spring...ie. the American "school year"), and nothing in the summers.

Some of the highest-salaried US full-time orchestras (aka "52 week season") tend to do a little bit more stuff in the summers.
Quite a few US orchestras seem to be "full-time"/thirty-something weeks...and (I hear from others...??) their employees collect unemployment gov't cheques for three-plus months.

When gigs are sparse - such as most summers – I typically pick up the instruments that I use the most and run through a bunch of different major and minor arpeggios - working on and reminding myself of where pitches belong.
In most gig situations - where there are printed notes on pieces of paper, we really don’t play that many phrases, but mostly contribute “sonic events” and - most often - only fragments of phrases.
Of course, the musical aspects are always important - because we are playing “music“, but when most of our function is utility, the most important aspect of our playing is probably tuning.
To me, the most annoying thing about beginning to practice is having to bring the instruments up to temperature, because - when cold - they not only play flat, but also are out of tune with themselves.

That chimes with a lot of my experience. Here in the U.K. our busy time is late Spring and Summer when we’re playing outside in Parks and at Fetes. Temperatures in the 20’s Celsius are what we like and I personally hate anything hotter than that. North America is a big place and I guess that for any given time of year there’s a wide range of weather - a bit warmer in Texas than in Washington (State) and cooler again in, say, Alberta. Of course that’s just my experience as a Brass Band player but those being individually paid to play might have differing experiences and might have a different audience ... however, the vast bulk of brass players in the U.K. play in Brass Bands.