Last Tuesday, January 30, the entire Stageband came back together to rehearse the Hållsta Suite, which we are now really taking care of. What was really nice was that Steven Sluiter, our regular conductor with a “Stageband sabbatical”, was present at the rehearsal. He had read on our group app that the 2nd altist was ill, doubt not a moment, picked up his instruments and left for rehearsal to join. He will conduct the Hållsta Suite during the concerts and studio recordings, and this was a great opportunity for him to meet up with the material.
We started yesterday at bar 817, with the intention to play the suite completely (1897 bars). For me it was extra exciting, because I took the double bass myself for the first time. It is always very different to conduct, than to play the bass is my experience. And that turned out to be the case yesterday. As a musician you suffer much more from “musicians intuition”. I.o.w. are passages logical to play? If not, then it is getting used to. And it was getting used to yesterday, but that also makes it extra challenging. Next week Tuesday, rehearsal 4, we start again with bar 1 and see how far we come in one rehearsal. Ultimate goal, the whole suite.