remember "challenges"

[bilboinsa]

OK, does everyone remember "challenges"? I remember we had them on Friday afternoons if some requested it. There was that fine line you walked between competitiveness and friendship. Can you imagine the workplace if we were allowed to do that? Probably violate some federal labor law....

anywho, I find myself thinking about them, bc I am at that strange place in a CB player's life, where I think I am better than the next guy up. Kinda getting tired of looking at Trumpet 3 folder, if ya know what I mean.... I can just imagine a couple of old guys dueling it out over a sight-reading piece at 7:00 p.m. on a Friday--cause we couldn't take off work for this foolishness!!! Oh well, I think the best thing is to remember to get better as a player no matter what "chair" you sit. Besides, one of us (me) will probably stroke out before the other anyway...
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[WxJeff]

Great analogy and interesting thought.

I'm guessing this is a community band, with how many total trumpet players? You would think that as adults you could gather everyone up and say something like, "Ok, we all know Billy and Jimmy ought to play the 1st parts because they're a lot better than the rest of us. Perhaps the other four or six of us should rotate the 2nd and 3rd parts so that everybody gets a chance to play 'up' a bit."

What do you think... too radical?

"Oh, and one more thing.... Billy and Jimmy: watch out, because we're all working very hard at getting better!"

[Scooter01]

The band I play in has a very gracious lead chir who spreads the parts around. Makes it all the more interesting and fun. Perhaps you can suggest something similar?
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Those who say it cannot be done should stay out of the way of the people doing it.

[Dale Proctor]

My experience as a comeback player years ago in a community concert band (a great place to get your chops back) was that I started out on 3rd part as the new guy. I was happy with that, because I had no range or endurance. It wasn't very long, however, before I was asked to move up to 2nd part. Then 1st part, as the other players recognized I was getting better. The solo cornet player, who was very good, became the conductor of the band, and the other 1st player, who sat ahead of me, moved into the solo spot. Like all trumpet players (you know the joke), I knew I could do a better job, so one night at rehearsal (at the urging of the rest of the section), I just sat in the solo seat when I arrived. Not a word was ever said about it.

The point is, in the typical community band, the other players should recognize who's best, and step aside to allow the best players to play the most demanding parts. With the exception of one person, this is what happened to me. If everyone is roughly equal in ability, rotating parts and solos is a good idea - it keeps everyone happy. Remember, though, that the 2nd and 3rd parts are important, and good players should be on these parts, too. There's no shame in playing lower parts in a good band!

Reminds me of my recent experience in brass band. I was initally placed on 3rd part, which was OK, since the cornet section was a "who's who" of the area's trumpet players. I was just happy to have been asked to join. After a few months, I thought I could handle the 2nd part, so I let the personnel manager know I was looking to move up when an opening became available. Well, a solo cornet spot opened, and I was moved to that slot. Not good! That stuff will kill you! I let it be known that 2nd part was what I really wanted, and the next shuffle put me in first chair 2nd, and I've been happy there since.
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"Brass bands are all very well in their place - outdoors and several miles away ." - Sir Thomas Beecham

[bilboinsa]

[DaveH]

Sure, I remember them from my junior high band days back in the mid 1960s. I did one one time and moved from second to first chair. Then when I got into high school, I had to start over again. Still on first part but no longer in first chair. Then the director had playing tests, or something like tryouts or auditions, and chairs were selected accordingly. By the time I was a senior, I had made first chair again. There weren't any challenges in high school.

I would imagine that challenges of the kind that I experienced wouldn't work nowadays...

Some kid who lost the challenge would go home with a great big loss of "self-esteem," having suffered a big embarrassment, and the parents would file a lawsuit.

[wesstewart]

[stradfreak101]

haha a lawsuit...lmao,...sounds like same here in south texas....and wow have i been challenged so much this year? its been about 8 or 9 times that different people from my school, that challenge each other, and when they get to second chair, they all try to challenge me but i beat them all, soo ya,....but i'm lucky i havnt gotten in any lawsuits...yet...lol i hope not..
_________________
"Whenever you make a big mistake, put your horn down and look aghast at the player next to you." -Bill Bryant
____________
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[plp]

Is there such a thing as a reverse challange?

At the beginning of rehersal I was asked to move to second part, yippie, get to spend another night sightreading. We kick off with Saint-Saens' 'Pas Redouble' AT TEMPO, as they worked it up a couple years ago and 80 per cent have played this before.

I asked the guy next to me if he preferred tarter sauce or cocktail sauce, as the clamfest (on my part) ensued.

Revenge is sweet. We then sightread 'The Freelance March' by Sousa, and if there is one thing I can do, it is marches. Can't do much else, but my band director from years past was a Sousa freak, and said anyone who holds a cornet had damn well be able to play a march correctly.

By the end of the night, I was really wishing to be back on 3rd part. It is a little intimidating to sit next to a kid (prospective music major) who is just ripping up everything (except dynamics, we gotta work the dynamics) and was just as fresh at the end of practice as at the beginning.

He was proudly showing off his graduation present, a brand spankin' new Schilke S-22. He sounds GREAT on it. AND, plays a Warburton 10XD top on a variety of backbores, that night he was using an 8.

A new non Bach, with a small diameter deep cup mouthpiece. There is hope for the future after all.

[koolcar]

Yea, we all remember those challenges days. Unfortunately they were usually a form of status rather than musicianship. I practiced 4-6 hrs/day in H.S., simply loved creating that sound,got challenged once, earned the first perfect score in school history...no more challenges.

In my day at the beginning of the year were auditions for parts, after that anyone could challenge the next chair up, so 3rd chair had to win several challenges to earn first chair.

Today, my daughter's band program allows players to challenge any position...so naturally everyone challenges 1st chair. My daughter won 1st chair solo at the beginning of the year, January alone she had 21 challenges...one girl challenged her 8 times alone. How does this encourage musicianship? It just results in cuthroat competition and needless work in preparing for challenges rather than deligent practice.

In a community band, I'd recommend suggesting to practice the pieces together w/ the other player...if you are clearly the better player he'll soon realize it and may accomodate. Playing in a large group allows a mediocre player to get by unnoticed.
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[stradfreak101]

reverse challenge??////.........wtf?
_________________
"Whenever you make a big mistake, put your horn down and look aghast at the player next to you." -Bill Bryant
____________
Bach Stradivarius LT180s-43
Bach Stradivarius LT180-43 w/ 43 L-pipe
Monette B6
Mount Vernon 3c
Schilke 13a4a (marching)