| Author |
Subject |
Ellen
G 
Registered User
(9/7/00 6:44:39 am)
Reply |
What do
you do when...
There was a post on the other board
asking what you should do when your C string goes out of tune and
you really can't stop to tune it. It made me think that many of you
have run into or had experiences that are unusual, and most of us
won't ever give a thought to till it happens some day. And of course
we'll be stuck and come running back here after the fact asking how
to handle the situation next time. Which of course won't happen
because next time something ELSE will go wrong.
So... what
sorts of things can go wrong, and what is the best way to handle
them? Broken strings, parts falling off your cello, chair
collapsing, what?
|
y13
Registered User
(9/8/00 2:16:22 am)
Reply |
Re:
What do you do when...
notes falling off the staff,
forgetting one's cue to start playing, getting a giggling fit in the
middle of Beethoven's 6th (while on stage), causing physical damage
to fellow players with one's bow....
not all of the cellists
problems are "force major". Most of my little mishaps are due to
pure lack of concentration. At least when your string pops or goes
out of tune you can say that it wasn't your own
fault..
Yael
|
Daniel
Ortbals 
Registered User
(9/11/00 1:27:46 pm)
Reply |
Not an
answer, but it was funny anyway...
Last year I Musici di Montreal came
here, playing Tchaikovsky and Haydn. Yuli Turovsky's endpin (which
is HUGE btw) slipped during the 3rd movement of Haydn, so he made
them redo it. Then, during the Tchaikovsky, peoples' music blew off
stands, a violinist's string either broke or slipped out of tune,
and she ran offstage to fix it. At the beginning of one of the
movements one of the violinists was standing at the wrong stand and
had to ease her way over to the right one... Anyway, it was one
thing after another. Bad luck night I guess.
|
PatWhite
Registered User
(9/11/00 2:08:39 pm)
Reply |
Re:
What do you do when...
I don't think there is really a way
to prepare ahead of time for an accident...one horrible one that
happened to a stand partner many years ago was that the player in
front her turned around to pass back some information. As she leaned
forward to get the information, her bow leaned with her. As he
leaned back to give her the information, his bow likewise leaned
with him. The bows "tapped" in mid-air and my stand partner's bow
cracked apart. It was a very nice bow, and it was insured, but she
was devastated. Forewarned is forearmed, and I always try to keep my
bow out of danger since witnessing that freak accident.
Most
other mis-haps are just things that must be dealt with as they
arise.
However, confidential to Y13, I am still trying to
think of when I have ever seen "music fall of the staff..." Reminds
me of a Salvador Dali painting.....notes dripping off of
staves!
Cheers!
Pat White
|
Ellen
G
Registered User
(9/11/00 3:09:14 pm)
Reply |
Etiquette
OK, some things are bizarre. But for
example, a string breaks in the middle of the third movement of a
symphony. What is proper etiquette? GMS has broken C strings in the
past, and in that instance you can't play the notes on another
string. Do you play what you can and stay put till the end of the
piece? Do you exit after the third movement and enter (gasp) while
the 4th is being played sporting a new string? I never really
thought about it before.
They sound like silly questions,
but these are things that have come up on occasion and it would be
sort of helpful if those of you who know the protocol would share
with some of us who obviously don't. Remember that cute little boy
who wrote and asked what happens when you have to go to the bathroom
in the middle of a performance? You gave nice, helpful answers to
him.
Like golf, while there aren't rules for some things,
there is etiquette. And the only way to learn it is from someone
more experienced who is willing to share to keep the rest of us from
making a faux pas.
|
Steve
Drake
Registered
User
(9/11/00 3:15:47 pm)
Reply |
Re:
What do you do when...
OK, I've got one. Just last night, I
was playing in a gala season opening concert, with Charlotte Church
as the soloist, but the orchestra had several feaure overtures. We
were playing the West Side Overture, by Bernstein, and in the jazzy
part near the end, I managed to rip my c string off the bridge with
a particularly furious pluck. I made it through the rest of the
piece ok, as the rest of my strings didn't seem to go too much out
of tune, and I was able to restring the thing before the next piece.
The best advice is to not panic! If your string breaks, walk
off stage and get a new one at the best opportunity to do this. If
worse things happen, well, deal with it. I got stung by a yellow
jacket wasp on the chin once in a performance, but somehow managed
to finish the performance, despite the feeling that my head had
exploded and I was about to die.
My MP3's
My Cello
Homepage
|
PatWhite
Registered User
(9/11/00 6:38:42 pm)
Reply |
Re:
Etiquette
Strangely enough, I have never
broken a string in performance! Of course, I have seen it happen.
People who have broken strings tend to be the ones who subsequently
make it a habit to bring a spare set out with them. So, that would
be one answer -- to always have a spare with you. Another
possibility is that if you do break a string during an orchestra
concert, someone else in the section may have a spare on stage. You
should change it as quietly as possible and tune silently without
attracting any untoward attention. That is, if you are safely
nestled in the midst of the section. If you are principal, the
assistant principal should shoot his cello over to you so that you
may keep going and the assistant should assist you in changing the
string. I don't think you should exit the stage (please anyone else
correct me) unless you really need to. I think if worse comes to
worse, you can just 'fake' playing whenever notes are supposed to be
played on the broken string. The concert becomes a lost cause for
you, but your problem should not disrupt the concert.
|
y13
Registered User
(9/13/00 10:02:45 am)
Reply |
Re:
What do you do when...
you give me too much credit. With
all due respect to Dali, and all other great artists, sometimes art
is no more than a translation error,. - what I meant was, of course,
scores - notes, music sheet, whatever they call them in your part of
the world.
Y
| |
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