Concerto Night

Every year, the music department at Grimsley puts on Concerto Night. Students audition for the privilege of playing a concerto with an accompaniment by either piano, strings, or full orchestra. This year, three students were picked for the concert: a trumpet player, vocalist, and a pianist. Additionally, the combined wind ensemble, orchestra, and chorus would perform the first movement of John Rutter's Gloria. Normally, I would not participate in Concerto Night because the euphonium is typically not included in a full orchestra. I volunteered, however, to play the trombone parts for Gloria and the piano concerto because we lack a sufficient number of trombonists.

We rehearsed the pieces many times before the concert. The piano concerto (the Warsaw Concerto) was a modern piece featuring a very complex piano part. Overall, though, it wasn't too difficult for the accompanying orchestra; the trickiest part was the many key and time signature changes. Gloria, on the other hand, was very difficult and probably one of the hardest pieces I have ever learned. It featured a fast tempo, frequent use of accidental notes, a high pitch, and, to complicate everything further, it was written in tenor clef. Before Gloria, I only knew how to read treble and bass clef. For an entire rehearsal, I just sat without playing teaching myself how to read the notes. Given our tight schedule, I was not sure if we would be able to learn the piece, as different sections were having problems staying in time with each other and there were some balance and tempo issues as well.

We were all therefore relieved when we managed to pull it off. All the concertos went smoothly and we played Gloria better than I thought we would, especially given the short amount of practice time. It was actually sort of thrilling to have done so well. Looking back, I'm actually proud and impressed that we pulled it off. I guess that just goes to show that when given a group is given a challenge, it will generally rise to meet it. A little practice doesn't hurt either. And I now know how to read tenor clef.

Here a video of concerto night: