midwalesman said:
I know you might be getting rather bored of my posts so I promise I will try to get myself off the addiction soon
No! Things are a lot more interesting when you're active...
1) Broadly, yes, but more specifically, it is variable, and, I think, depends on how consistently important my individual role in the performance is; to illustrate, I've generally been more aware of the merits or otherwise of a brass band performance from the Bass Trom seat than either of the Euph seats (these being the two areas in which I have most BB experience). This could simply be due to the fact that the BT is sat in a better position to appreciate the music (virtually all my time on Euph has been spent in sections that sit in the middle of the band, not in front of the Troms), but I suspect has a lot more to do with the lack of trust that writers show in the technical abilities of the Bass Trom (I feel a separate topic coming on!).
To pick an example, at the areas three years ago, we played 'Jazz', and I and most of the rest of the band came off stage thinking that we had not really done ourselves justice, mostly because of one or two prominent splats. To be announced 2nd was a huge (if enjoyable) surprise, but when we listened to the CD, it astonished me - we had in fact played it very well (with the exception of the minor blips noted), and, in fact, I cannot understand how Aveley came to be placed above us having listened to them in the auditorium. Anyway; I hope that was a useful illustration of my point.
2) Canvassing of other's opinions as you come off stage is often informative - it shows you how much people's opinions of the overall quality of performance are tied up with how well they have personally performed. I think it's absolutely standard for a band to be totally divergent in its opinions on this issue coming off stage.
3) Already covered, I think.
4) It's a satisfaction thing, isn't it? At the end of a cracking performance, you know you've done something well, and nobody can ever take that away from you, and the effect is intensified if, as with a difficult piece, you've invested quite a bit of time and effort in its preparation. The audience can help to produce this effect too; as a performer, you can't fail to be lifted by a really keen and supportive set of listeners in a packed hall - in fact, out of curiosity I was re-listening to a performance that I think fell into this category the other day, and moreover, one that I think that you were playing in too - The NYBB Denis Wright Centenary concert at the RAM in August 1995. It's not always the tidiest playing (partly my fault - there's a bit in the Mastersingers that always makes me cringe where Geoffrey Brand unexpectedly picked a slower tempo than in rehearsal, and I wasn't looking

Very loudly.

Oh, the shame...), but the intense feel that the audience gave made it a very special concert.
However, this 'tingling' isn't just a personal-performance phenomenon - I think everyone who takes time to appreciate a range of music can put their finger on a moment or two in the repertoire that just wires straight into the brain and presses the shiver button - a usual one is the first choir entry in 'Zadok the Priest', but my personal favourite must be the final section of (Giovanni) Gabrieli's 33-part Magnificat, where the dramatic breaks between the massive quasi-polyphonic phrases create such moments several times in succession - the penultimate one, leading to the impossibly grand ending, is the masterstroke, with just a few parts on the unison A holding over from the previous cadence on F major to the A major acting as the dominant entry to the next phrase. This sequence of moments blows me away reliably every time!
Anyway, enough waffle!
Dave