Delta Strummers April concert

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Tom

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The Delta Strummers are rehearsing hard for our upcoming (April) concert. The band is up to almost 60 players, 50 of which will perform at this concert. We've (again) introduced quite a few "new" (to us) numbers into the playlist. One surprising change is the fact that we have 13 folks with banjoukes (aka banjo ukuleles) ready to play the banjouke breakouts.
 
Where are you playing, Tom? We are working for site near Winters. I always wanted to meet a forum administrator that played the banjo.
 
Jim, our April concert is in the community of Rossmoor, CA. However, it's a "private" concert, with tickets controlled by the staff of their 'Tahoe' event center. OTOH we welcome guests to our Tuesday evening practices in Brentwood, CA, approx 70 miles south of Winters. PM or email if you wish to attend, so I can send directions, gate code, etc.
 
... we have 13 folks with banjoukes (aka banjo ukuleles) ...

The number keeps growing, and we now have 17 folks playing banjoukes. Should be interesting, if not spectacular, banjouke breakouts.
 
After beating on a "practice list" of 35 numbers for several weeks, we now have a tentative playlist of 25 numbers (and an encore) for the concert. We'll practice, tweak, and practice these for the next 6 rehearsals, then it's show time.

We'll have 50 performers on stage, and this promises to be the best 'show production' for the Band to date. We have a record 17 folks playing banjo ukuleles in "banjouke breakouts", and the Band will have a new costume/look for the second half of the show. We'll also have a solo Hula dancer and a small group of Polynesian/Tahitan dancers.

None of my arrangements are in the program (sob), but I'll close out the show, as usual, with a patriotic solo.
 
Had an interesting afternoon with our MD today; Reviewed all our lead sheets for the upcoming concert and made a number of changes, eliminating the numerous markups from recent rehearsals. I was concerned that some folks missed a rehearsal or two, so they missed some of the markups. It was especially confusing for some of our newcomers. We (the MD & I) usually do this stuff by phone, but playing and singing 'live' is more efficient, as is the interaction.
 
This is turning into quite a production (by our standards). A concert committee has everything scripted for the MC, the sound booth, and the band; A step above the scripting for prior shows. We have just 3 rehearsals to go, a new-to-us attire for the second half of the show, and a new twist on the banjouke breakouts; It occurred to me that having the 17 banjouke players stand for their breakouts might have an impact, an idea from the big band era when the sax players &/or trumpet players would stand in the middle of a performance.

We have a 'technical rehearsal' for sound checks and soloists in a couple of weeks. This will be our first time working with these sound & stage techs. Hope I get more 'sound time' than I did at the sound check before our performance at El Campanil Theatre in Antioch; There I got to hit a couple of bars/measures before we were out of time.

We're still a little concerned about some numbers; Specifically, our newcomers don't know the Hawaiian numbers, so they're "learning" the songs while trying to play/sing them. I have no doubt our Music Director will get us over the hump, and the performance will be something we'll be proud of.
 
Had an interesting "technical rehearsal" today with the sound techs for our upcoming concert at the Tahoe Event Center in the community of Rossmoor, CA. This is a beautiful event facility with great acoustics, state of the art sound system, and a Lares Acoustic Enhancement System. One final rehearsal before show time.

http://rossmoor.com/?/u?/2013/11/EventsCenter600pix12-14.jpg
 
Sunday we held the Delta Strummers 'Ukulele revival' concert at the Event Center in the somewhat affluent community of Rossmoor, CA. I'm having some issues with the (limited) video I've received, so we'll have to wait for the DVD promised by the facility.

Although we'd held a 'technical rehearsal' a couple of weeks earlier, there were major audio issues on the day. Several 'featured' solo instruments couldn't be heard, some vocal soloists couldn't be heard and, on our end of the stage, we couldn't hear the monitors. The rear "shells" that help project the unmic'd band vocals were missing, so the ukes drowned out our singing.

Despite the difficulties, the band delivered a credible performance, with a lot of good feedback. We learned a lot, both vocally and instrumentally, which we'll apply to future concerts. Last evening's practice turned into a major learning experience orchestrated by our Music Director.

On a personal note, I was suffering from allergy issues and congestion, and had to 'fake' part of my vocal solo because I couldn't hit all the notes. But the feedback from a 'planted' critic was "that's the best he's ever sung". So, go figure.
 
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