HOW DO YOU GET BASS PLAYERS TO WATCH THE M/D

[WONKYSTICKMAN]

THANKS TO ROGER AND THORNESMUSIC, MY BASS SECTION HAVE
GONE OVERBOARD WITH ROGER`S ARRANGMENT OF ZULU.
THEY ONLY WANT TO PLAY THE MEN OF HARLECH SECTION,
HEADS DOWN, VALVES FLYING, ANY IDEA`S ON GETTING THEM TO OCCASIONALLY
LOOK UP A BIT. HOPEFULLY ROGER RECIEVED THE PAYMENT
FOR THEM, THEY ARE ALREADY LOOKING FORWARD TO THE PIECES WE`VE ASKED FOR.

 

[JessopSmythe]

I used to find that the best way to make the band watch is to throw in the odd surprise. If the band starts to slow, beat faster and vice versa. At least a few people will take notice and the resulting chaos will embarrass the others into paying more attention, especially if you threaten to do it on stage

 

[Roger Thorne]

THANKS TO ROGER AND THORNESMUSIC,MY BASS SECTION HAVE GONE OVERBOARD WITH ROGER`S ARRANGMENT OF ZULU.THEY ONLY WANT TO PLAY THE MEN OF HARLECH SECTION,HEADS DOWN ,VALVES FLYING,ANY IDEA`S ON GETTING THEM TO OCCASIONALLY LOOK UP ABIT.
HOPEFULLY ROGER RECIEVED THE PAYMENT FOR THEM,THEY ARE ALREADY LOOKING FORWARD TO THE PIECES WE`VE ASKED FOR.

Hi Martyn,

Thanks for your letter, I received it this morning.
I'll send the other three pieces ASAP. I'm glad you and your band are enjoying the arrangements.

PS: If you really want to give your Bass Section something to get their teeth into try
'The Bombasto'. :lol: :lol:

:wink:

 

[WONKYSTICKMAN]

ONLY IF I WIN IT IN THE COMPETION!!

 

[frisp]

Wonkystickman,

I don't look up very often, but when I did a second ago I noticed shouting/capitals everywhere. Your keyboard broken? (Sorry to be a pedant).

Don't worry about your basses, you just keep following them and you'll be alright 8)

 

[sparkling_quavers]

not bass players but percussionists. I remember a brilliant quote from a percussionist I know. It went: "how do you know when to slow down" and the secretary replied "that is what he is standing in the middle for" :shock: this guy had been playing percussion in a brass band for 2 years at the time :lol: :lol:

 

[Mrs Fruity]

Bass players

It's impossible to get bass players to watch the conductor, they're too busy complaining about the music!!!!

 

[Tuba Girl]

Stick 100 pints in front of them. It works wonders! :guiness :guiness or you could take their beer from them until they follow but that could be dangerous. :evil: :evil: :evil:

 

[geordiecolin]

1) make the conductor fantastically good-looking
2) hold a sign with pub directions
3) offer them beer
or
4) shout at them, a semi-decent bass section wont take offence at the odd tongue-lashing every now and then, i mean every bass player is guilty at some point for the "heads down lets go" syndrome, aren't they??

or is it just me??

 

[WhatSharp?]

Start doing what you're famous for :wink:

That'll get their attention!

Alternativley try some Hymns and pull it around like mad, that'll get em watching. Or throw things at them (take along a load of rubber toys .... the kiddie ones not the adult ones :lol: ).

<quick off topic alert>
Thouroughly enjoyed Monday, hope there weren't too many splits, couldn't here a damn thing in the shoebox bandstand!

 

[Valvecap]

Basses... Watching.... Hmmmmmmm

Had this problem a lot. Tried shouting, stopping the band, hymns, marches and all sorts - I dont think its down to the MD - its down to the player. The Eb bass in EYB watches you like a hawk - its quite scarey - never takes his eyes off you... other players i know just waggle and hope - i think its a lot to do with familiarity with the music - and not just bass players....

One thing i tried was the national anthem - most people know it off by heart after a while.... get em to play it through 5 or 6 times...

Then remove the music....

You would be suprised - everyone looks straight at you... Captive audience - your the only point of reference the band have then...

Perhaps if the bass section had a few pints at the back of the room, then the MD could follow the basses and all would be....

well....

Chaos...

 

[twigglet]

I think first thing to do is to tell the bass section that the man at the front doing the little white stick dance is there to keep them in time, I think it would suprise some people......hahaha

 

[Nik_The_Insane]

hmmm and there was me thinking that the man in the middle with the little white stick was blind & deaf so the bass section had to take control of the band! :?

 

[bigcol]

I watch the conductor. Does this mean I'm going to be thrown out of the bass player's union?

Is it not just a case that basses rarely get anything exciting to play, so when they do they just have to give it their full attention?

We're doing Festival Music and it has things like trills in it! Trills for basses? What next - semiquavers?

It's quite fun remembering all your old theory about trills and the notes above, and alternative fingerings. Stuff unheard of in bass land.

 

[PeterBale]

Maybe I've been exceptonally fortunate in playing in sections where we do watch the conductor - something I personally have always done, and which some conductors seem to find quite off-putting - to find someone matching their stare, especially from the back row of the band! A steady pulse from the bottom of the band, where appropriate, gives the rest of the band a firm foundation to build on. I would venture to say that in my band it tends to be the top end of the band who get carried away - bamboozled by all those black notes on the copies I should imagine - whilst we are fighting to keep things on an even keel :lol: :lol: :lol:

 

[twigglet]

tut tut, shifting the blame to the cornet isn't going to work!!

From personal experience, basses normally don't watch because they are looking for their music which they always manage to lose...always!

 

[PeterBale]

We're doing Festival Music and it has things like trills in it! Trills for basses? What next - semiquavers?

It's quite fun remembering all your old theory about trills and the notes above, and alternative fingerings. Stuff unheard of in bass land.

It does frustrate me sometimes when the EEbs get given nice twiddly bits to play and we at the bottom get forgotten. We had a new march written for us by Martin Cordner to mark the opening of our new hall, which included semiquaver runs starting at the bottom of the band, with a trill at the top. Unfortunately, he stopped us in mid-flow and didn't give us the trill - needless to say it was time for a little artistic licence, and we had a nice run with a trill at the top of the stave :lol: :lol: :lol:

 

[PeterBale]

tut tut, shifting the blame to the cornet isn't going to work!!

From personal experience, basses normally don't watch because they are looking for their music which they always manage to lose...always!

Isn't that usually the shed-builders :?:

 

[stopher]

Beating the Bass Union!

A few tips that worked for me with the bass union (saying that, I do have an intelligent bass section - one profeesor, one Doctor, a student and someone studying for his phd!):

1. Pics of naked women on your T-shirt. They never took their eyes off me all night but didn;t look at the music either!

2. Reverse psychology - "basses, could do with a little less" when you want obliterato!

3.Threaten to withdraw all Beer sessions after contests

4. The same with Curry

5. Feed them raw meat!

Chris

 

[dyl]

From personal experience, basses normally don't watch because they are looking for their music which they always manage to lose...always!

Haha! Glad our band's not alone with this problem then! Mind you, I think our second horn player is looking to join the basses soon - I can't think of another explanation for him taking ages to find every single piece we play!

:roll: