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Thread: First mandolin orchestra performance

  1. #1
    Registered User Dean Gray's Avatar
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    Default First mandolin orchestra performance

    Hi all, I am about to participate in my first concert with the Sydney Mandolin Orchestra. In about 1 hour actually! Looking forward to making my debut on mandola. Wish me luck!

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    Innocent Bystander JeffD's Avatar
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    Default Re: First mandolin orchestra performance

    Don't forget to enjoy it!
    A talent for trivializin' the momentous and complicatin' the obvious.

    The entire staff
    funny....

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    Default Re: First mandolin orchestra performance

    Quote Originally Posted by Dean Gray View Post
    I am about to participate in my first concert with the Sydney Mandolin Orchestra.
    Cool!

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    Default Re: First mandolin orchestra performance

    G'day mate, good luck.

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    Registered User Billy Packard's Avatar
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    Default Re: First mandolin orchestra performance

    How'd it go??

    Billy
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    Registered User Dean Gray's Avatar
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    Default Re: First mandolin orchestra performance

    Thanks everyone, it went really well. Hearing everyone in the various sections was a bit tricky, especially the classical guitars. I am used to playing amplified archtop guitar in a big band, and had no trouble hearing any of the horns!
    All in all, it was a great experience and if your local area has an orchestra I highly recommend checking it out.
    My sight reading has already gone up a notch, the people are great and the music is challenging yet fun.
    Looking forward to a workshop with Carlo Aonzo in Jan and a new program in 2020!

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    Default Re: First mandolin orchestra performance

    In order to participate in an orchestra you are obviously a man with significant skill and talent . . . I can't help but be jealous and I salute you.

    Enjoy!

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    Default Re: First mandolin orchestra performance

    Congratulations.

    Jamie
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    Default Re: First mandolin orchestra performance

    Congratulations!!
    Chuck

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    Mando-Accumulator Jim Garber's Avatar
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    Default Re: First mandolin orchestra performance

    Quote Originally Posted by Dean Gray View Post
    Hi all, I am about to participate in my first concert with the Sydney Mandolin Orchestra. In about 1 hour actually! Looking forward to making my debut on mandola. Wish me luck!
    Quote Originally Posted by Dean Gray View Post
    Thanks everyone, it went really well. Hearing everyone in the various sections was a bit tricky, especially the classical guitars. I am used to playing amplified archtop guitar in a big band, and had no trouble hearing any of the horns!
    All in all, it was a great experience and if your local area has an orchestra I highly recommend checking it out.
    My sight reading has already gone up a notch, the people are great and the music is challenging yet fun.
    Looking forward to a workshop with Carlo Aonzo in Jan and a new program in 2020!
    Fantastic! And glad to hear it went well. Do you play viola-tuned mandola or octave-tuned? What pieces did you play? I am especially interested since it is not so common for mandolin orchestra to have a horn section.

    Carlo's workshops are wonderful and it is great that he is doing a tour in Australia.
    Jim

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    Registered User Dean Gray's Avatar
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    Default Re: First mandolin orchestra performance

    Jim, sorry I didn't explain properly - there are no horns in this orchestra. The previous group I was in was a Count Basie style big band, plenty of horns, plenty of volume!
    I am playing a long scale octave mandolin, the others in the section are playing mostly shorter scale bowl back instruments.
    All are tuned g d a e, and as per the European tradition are referred to as mandolas, not octave mandolin.
    We played a Jewish music program for a Hanukkah event.
    Lots of fun, those tunes often start slow and build up to a sprint finish!
    Re Carlo, I am really looking forward to his workshop, and he is playing some shows with his trio too.
    So much to learn!

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    Mando-Accumulator Jim Garber's Avatar
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    Default Re: First mandolin orchestra performance

    Whoops! I should have read your post more carefully. You were complaining about hearing the various sections. I have a feeling though that the fallback is to follow the conductor and other members in your section. Unless, of course, there is no conductor.
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    Registered User Randi Gormley's Avatar
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    Default Re: First mandolin orchestra performance

    Orchestra playing is a skill of its own -- glad it's available to you! and I'll bet you'll have a great time taking Carlo's workshop. He's a genius musician, a sterling director/conductor and a great guy!
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    Default Re: First mandolin orchestra performance

    Congratulations on your first performance with Sydney. I know several members in your group -- Werner, Fiona, and Martha, all excellent musicians (and lovely people).Werner was recently appointed to the Honorary Board of Directors of the Classical Mandolin Society of America.
    Robert A. Margo

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    Registered User Dean Gray's Avatar
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    Default Re: First mandolin orchestra performance

    Quote Originally Posted by margora View Post
    Congratulations on your first performance with Sydney. I know several members in your group -- Werner, Fiona, and Martha, all excellent musicians (and lovely people).Werner was recently appointed to the Honorary Board of Directors of the Classical Mandolin Society of America.
    Thanks! Yes they are a lovely group and Martha is my deskmate. Fiona is my teacher, and I feel lucky to study with her. Even though I make a living as a guitarist/guitar teacher, and could probably self-study, I have learnt a lot by working with her. There are a few things related with tone production and picking mechanics that my electric guitar technique wasn't really working out on mandolin.
    We are all very lucky to have Werner as our conductor, and proud of his new appointment.
    Margora, are you based in Aust?

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    Default Re: First mandolin orchestra performance

    "Margora, are you based in Aust?"

    In the United States, Boston. I know Fiona and Martha through Plektra (also Stephen Lalor), we met at a CMSA convention in 2012 and see each other from time to time at other conventions in the US and Europe and occasionally otherwise. I met Werner through Fiona. Please say hello to them for me.
    Best, Bob Margo
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    Registered User Elliot Luber's Avatar
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    Default Re: First mandolin orchestra performance

    Orchestra performances an be unsettling because acoustics can suddenly be very different and your relative sense of the dynamics can be hard to judge. This is certainly another reason to closely follow the conductor. I'm in the Long Island Guitar and Mandolin Orchestra here in suburban New York, and we played two different venues in three days -- one was a performance in the place we normally practice and the other was on a weirdly shaped stage with a brick wall behind us. Because of the shape of the stage, the accordion player was moved from behind us to behind the guitarist in the center, right in front of a brick wall. I was certain she was going to down us all out -- she's an excellent player but it always sounds loud to us. I was amazed that she was not half as loud as I was expecting in front of the brick wall because she was not playing right behind us. The conductor told me the sound mix was fine as did people in the audience. My point is that it can be jarring to hear things differently in different spaces, but trust the conductor. Looking forward to the new year.

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