Rehearsal Bloopers

America's Favorite Classical Music Bloopers

Rehearsal Papers

Revised May 8, 2001

New Bloopers, from spring of 2001!

The performed piece had a very slow tempo and employed some awkward harmonies, which the conductor described as being dissident.
I'm sure that it is really hard to hear over all those different instruments, so you must be good at giving hand signals as well as yelling at the band.
I noticed immediately that the band was very wary of the dynamics in the music.
I find music that is largely improvised such as jazz, blue grass, and folk music to name a few are often the most incredible things to hear and see performed live. To see musicians challenge one another, and retaliate to one another's challenge is an awesome sight to behold.
A small group of musicians are only required to perform in a jazz ensemble, because when put together, the group perforates enough vibrancy to be heard.
If a conductor does not think a section is playing their instruments they are stopped right away and are corrected. I don't think I could take that much criticism, so I give the musicians a lot of credit.
The percussion section completely caught my attention as they played an assortment of different styles and rhythms, and they had a lot of Egyptian or far-east flavor [the percussion players?]

Earlier Bloopers

Suddenly, a few [marching] band members yelled out and the entire band erupted into "Staying Alive". They began to all sway to the change of pace, and the entire moral seemed to heighten.
The Tiger Band rehearsed for approximately one hour. They were then allowed a brief recession.
The performers [Tiger Band] then played the B-flat concert scale. They scaled up in quarters and then scaled down in quarters.
When the band walked around the field following there steps, they walked with there backs straight. The band's feet were always moving even when they were not moving.
The baton twirlers were on the side of the field practicing also. This could be a distraction to the band members, especially the male members.
The conductor appeared to have good relationships with each band member.
The conductor then entered the room. He was dressed in a suit and looked very serious and stern about his work. He had an ora about him...He placed himself in a chair about 6 feet higher than every member in the band.
At the very beginning of [marching band] practice the conductor showed his authority by standing in the high ladder and looking down on the band.
The conductor was also a performer in the ensemble. He played the electric xylophone.
Also, when they [the jazz ensemble] were playing the conductor would sometimes walk back and forth and kinda move around a little. He would snap his fingers and do little things that caught my eye. I think he might have been doing this to let the musicians know he was happy.
Directly in front of the conductor were the woodwinds. Each woodwind instrument had 1 to 2 players.
At the very beginning of [marching band] practice the conductor showed his authority by standing in the high ladder and looking down on the band.

The temperature was cloudy but still very hot.
The band members usually responded well by repeating the missed notes...
When the conductor stopped, he would break the band down into sections...
At the beginning of rehearsal the room was filled with dissonance. The musicians warmed up by playing random notes on their instruments.
It was a nice touch for us as the audience to grasp on what was happening when they had rests or other brakes in the music.
{The student drum major] also used her body, twisting it and bending it to communicate with the musicians.
At one point [the conductor] told them to "really let your instruments whale."
Even if it did sound right, the conductor may ask the ensemble to start over again just to make sure that the ensemble did not get lucky.
Violins have such an easy access to a wide range quicker and easier because all they have to do is fret on the high sting at the bottom of the neck.
The conductor, by counting out the beat with a wand or other pointer device, tells the musicians what beat they are on without saying a word to them audibly.
He started off by warming up the band.
When practice began, the conductor expressed that they would only concentrate on the rats that seemed to be most tricky.
The conductor would also give suggestions to the violins on how to stroke the violin to get a more stylistic sound and be able to play some of the rhythms faster without hurting themselves.
The musicians sat in a big horseshoe around the conductor.
Perhaps one of the most important things that I learned at the rehearsal was never to sit behind the percussion section again.
[The Jazz Ensemble] meets twice a week in the band room...I really like this room and it was very specious.
I was very impressed by the practice and I was surprised. I thought that most of the music the jazz ensemble would play would have been blues and depressed music but I learned many pieces were very upbeat.
[Members of the jazz ensemble] were very courteous and kind in acknowledging my presence. Overall, they were a really loose group of people.
When they first began playing, I was literally blown away.
During the [Symphonic Band] practice, [the percussionists] knew exactly when to come in and which instrument was needed to complete the music. [They] were musically challenged.
Rehearsal was scheduled to begin at 2:00 pm but they began to play around 1:45 pm; and as each member came in, they just fell into place.
I felt the band used a combination of classical and popular music; an interesting and catching form of music.
The [marching band] conductor has a little microphone that appeared to be attached to his head, in order to keep his hands free to conduct.
One specific aspect about [the reahearsal] room, that is so convenient, are the padded walls.
The conductor is in the very front, as one would expect. He stands on a pedestal . . .
When they began singing, [the conductor] would set the tempo by snapping.
They were in [the band room] getting their instruments in tune as well as themselves.
As for the musicians, they seemed to be college aged.
The [choir] conductor controlled the practice...If there was a sound that he wanted deeper, he pointed to his stomach and explained that is where he wanted the sound to come from.
[The conductor] seemed to be very reassuring and positive intern building the confidence level of the musicians and allowing them to play to their potential.
The band conductor used explicit language to describe the music to his group.
The most impressive sounds to me were the crisp tones of the sopranos...It sounded to me like they were the corner stones of the group.
The conductor seemed to be well-respected and easy to wok with.
I walked up to rm. 117, and there was a podium outside, it stated that the tenor/bass was in one room, and the alto/soprano were in another room. I decided to listen to the tenor/bass. When I walked into the room, there were all males (I forgot that the males sing much lower).
The conductor talked to his ensemble when they were out of tone... After the instrumentalists had warmed up the conductor, Dr. Levin, came in.
The ensemble was set up in rows of semicircles facing the conductor...This setup for a rehearsal is beneficiary to both the ensemble and the conductor.
This measure by the conductor again paved the way for improvement for the baritones and saxophones, for the musicians saw through their mistakes.
[The conductor] also at times waved his wand slowly and softly from left to right in order to provoke the band to play softer and slower.
The most rememberable parts of the rehearsal occurred because of the drums. Even though they only played during parts of the songs, the drums added flavor and refreshment to the rehearsal.
Before rehearsal began many of the band members were practicing their instruments individually (it sounded like a carnival). I found it odd that they sat down because the only bands I have seen have been marching ones.
[The conductor] paid special attention to the way to drag the bow on the violins in certain spots where the music required a different sound.
...I thought that it would be neat to see jazz rehearsed. Well, I absolutely loved it. Throughout the entire rehearsal, I was tapping my foot or pen. It was a lot of fun and I felt like I was apart of the rehearsal.
The pace of the rehearsal was moderately fast, or allegretto.
This musician is able to...make a really nice sound by tightening and loosening his lips on the mouthpiece...
[Regarding the Jazz Ensemble]: The trumpets are stationed in the very back. The trombones play right in front of the trumpets. Next, the saxophones play on the very first row. The left side holds the snare drums, guitar, and the piano. I am not really sure why the trombones are in the middle because of their low sound quality.
The conductor knows exactly when the wrong notes are played and who plays them. He will go back and make the students play the notes that are wrong.
This rehearsal became a wonderful opportunity to hear pure sound out of many of these elusive instruments. My sister played first chair flute in high school, so I have never much liked the instrument.
As the piece was played, [the conductor] waved his baton, shouted Latin commands and shushed the musicians when they played louder than he thought they should.
After [the conductor] brought his group on stage and they were set up, he led them in a worm up piece.
The first comment he made I thought was interesting was when he said that everyone was pushing and pulling. I had know idea what they were pushing and pulling.
There was a lot of verbal communication between the conductor and the musicians. The conductor would deal with each player individually, if they were out of sink.
The conductor spoke of four different dynamic markings when referring to different sections of the orchestra. These words were mezzo forte, which means moderately loud, alto clarinet, mezzo piano, which means moderately soft, and piano, which is the term for soft.
Altos and sopranos were divided by the men, whose various parts were sort of sectioned off within that section.
You could see the respect the conductor had for the band members when the first thing he said to them was for them to tune their instruments...
I attended the Clemson University Gospel Chorus rehearsal. This rehearsal was generally what I expected it to. I have never been to a rehearsal before...
I noticed that the Symphonic Band is very loud; however, that could be due to the fact that I was sitting right beside the percussion.
The conductor was a perfectionist, as I imagine all conductors are. The band could not continue playing a song until they perfected each flaw.

Send comments to Andrew Levin at alevin@clemson.edu