Reflection: DCB Performance 02/18/2024
Hello, everyone! It’s been a couple of days since I performed with the Dunedin Concert Band, and with the addition of the blog on this website, I wanted to do sort of a reflection of the general performance as a whole, plus specific comments about my performance within the group.
Our selections for this performance were:
—Chester - Overture for Band by William Schuman
—Der Traum Des Oenghus (The Dream of Oenghus) by Rolf Rudin
—Oblivion by Astor Piazzolla
—Symphony No. 3 'Slavyanskaya' by Boris Kozhevnikov
Overall, the performance went very well. I recall during the first movement of Slavyanskaya having difficulty determining the overall pulse of the group, but we quickly pulled back together, and continued on to finish the concert on a high note (hah)! Click on each of the listed pieces to watch and listen to the DCB’s performance from the percussion section (to be posted soon-ish)!
For Chester, I played the wood block and snare drum parts. There is a section towards the end of the piece for snare drum that is often used for audition material, so I knew this was one to really nail down. And nail down, I did. I’m very happy with how I did in this piece. I do think I could have made a bigger dynamic contrast within the intricate section I mentioned, plus I missed a rim shot near the end of the piece, but otherwise not much more to report on. The biggest challenge is the one excerpt; everything else either being rests or much simpler in comparison.
For Der Traum Des Oenghus, I played multiple different parts based on importance. I ran around a lot for this one, since unlike with Chester, all the percussion parts were presented at once using multiple lines, and with only three percussionists to cover up to five lines at once (six including the separate timpani part), we needed to prioritize the most important parts. I played a lot of cymbals and vibraphone, some gong, some bass drum, a bit of glockenspiel, and a low tom drum in a specific triplet section in the second movement. The first movement started with just me for six measures covering gong and two different suspended cymbals, pretty simple. Going into the seventh measure onward, I needed the gong mallet in one hand and two mallets in the other split between the two cymbals, as I needed to crescendo with all three instruments. Most of this movement I moved back and forth between the vibraphone and the cymbal/gong setup, and overall was not too bad. I had to catch one of the suspended cymbals to prevent it from falling, as the stand got caught on one of the other percussionists and started tipping over. The first movement finishes with one final gong hit…
With a loud crash to start the second movement! This one was a lot more hectic to start in the percussion section. I actually dropped one of the crash cymbals trying to quickly transition to another instrument partway into the movement, but otherwise went well for the most part. Later in the movement, there is a triplet section split between three different drums, and being the important parts for the section, meant nothing else could be reasonably covered. Well, except for bass drum, which I used the foot pedal to play the kick bass drum while playing the triplet passage. I made a small fumble after that section due to a last minute change I forgot about transitioning back to the cymbal/gong setup, but I figured it out, and the rest of the movement went by without much trouble.
I played timpani for the remaining pieces, starting with Oblivion! The timpani part was super simple, and was by far the easiest part I had the whole concert. Sometimes it be like that as a percussionist, and that’s okay! The final piece of the concert is a lot more involved.
Okay, so I still have a lot of rests to sit through, but in Symphony No. 3, I do start out with some strong timpani hits, and I have a pretty cool rhythm shortly after that I do be movin’ for. Some rests are spent doing some tuning changes for the 26” and 29” drums, but otherwise I’m mostly just counting away! I did have some rim clicks happen throughout the piece, and I figured out that it’s because the stool I was using was set a bit too low for me, forcing me to sometimes prop my arms up to a borderline uncomfortable position. Maybe in the future I could limit the stool to tuning changes/extended resting periods? Regardless, I do want to set the stool a bit higher for next time. I have a couple of super important parts in Movement 4, one being a two-measure crescendo that is super important that I lead through, and at the end where I am rolling, super exposed, as I am the only person sustained amongst an ensemble of short rhythms.
Overall, my personal performance went quite well, and the hiccups that did happen I knew exactly why they happened. The dropping of the cymbal was a bit embarrassing, but there’s no such thing as a perfect performance. All I can do is analyze what happened, internalize what I can do differently, and apply that to future rehearsals and performances.
My next performance is on February 29, 2024 at 7:30pm with the SPC Wind Symphony over at the Palladium. Like with this blog, I will do a performance reflection sometime after the performance, in hopes that it will let me be more critical of my performance and apply any changes to future ones. Thank you for reading this far, and I hope you have a good one!
~Kyle Collins
NavyBlueCreator
