Summer Band

July is the busiest month of the year for me, musically-speaking. It's the month in which I can have as many as three gigs on a weekend, and the occasional weekday gig that requires taking a vacation day from my day job. Besides all these jobs to keep food in my already ample belly, it's the month of Summer band.

I've been a musician for over 20 years, and a member of this particular band for at least the last 15. It's predominantly made of alumni from my dad's high school, though any musicians are welcome through word-of-mouth. We play a wide range of sheet music, different from the sort of things I play on the street. It's the only time I play with a conductor anymore, and the closest to the educational value of the high school band experience. I don't practice as much as I should or as my dad would like; I NEVER practice. When I was a teenager my teacher advised that a half hour a day was a necessity, but as I got older I couldn't find the time or the interest. Somehow I stay in really good shape though and bounce back quickly after a winter of not playing at all, much to my dad's surprise every year. Since I'm playing during the week as well as on weekends in July, it's the month in which I'm in the best shape.

It snuck up on me this year. Some years, such as last year, I dread the coming of July, of having to deal with various challenges at work that may require extra hours as well as cutting out early and skipping gym to make rehearsals and concerts. This year, I promised I wouldn't stress like I did last year. Whatever's on my plate, no matter how intimidating, eventually gets taken care of. Our concerts are in a nice outdoor bandshell overlooking water, and four are held on the first four Friday's of July. We have two-hour rehearsals every Tuesday and Thursday, starting the last week in June(which gives us four before our first concert, twice as many as we get for subsequent concerts). All in all, it's only fourteen nights at most, though some years it's less when conflicting paying jobs arise, as is the case with one of the concerts this year.

Every year I steel myself for a busy stressful month, of my dad telling me what time he wants to leave for rehearsal at 8:30 in the morning when I haven't even gotten out the door to work yet. I prepare for the worst, for subpar fans in a crowded band room with no air conditioning, and for long periods of boredom while the conductor works with other sections of the band on difficult parts. I prepare for the worst, and it's never that bad. The school we rehearse in got air conditioning put in several years ago, though budget restraints keep them from turning it on some nights. The conductor is very good at zeroing in on one measure of music that has a figure which carries through the whole piece, and never spends more than a minute or two working with any individual section. He explains it, they get it, and they can apply what they learn in a few measures to the arrangement as a whole, as he adds the other musicians back in. It's more than good practice; it's educational, which is rare for a casual adult player. Most of all, by the time I'm actually facing these “dreaded” five weeks, July is somehow over and I'm looking back at how fast it all went.

Tonight was our first rehearsal. It went well, and we even sight read some new pieces. If my Tuesday, Thursday, or Friday columns should suffer in length or quality in the next five weeks, it may be because when I get home at 11 I just want to watch a movie and relax before going to bed. I'll have to write my contribution for next Tuesday's Film Geeks Blog Party over the weekend. I'm beat. I'd say it's easier burning the candle at both ends as a kid, but there's just as many people in the band my dad's age as there are high school and college students. I just like to complain, I guess.