Curmudgeon

I'm not a curmudgeon, but I guess I am a snob. I do like to have fun and hope everyone has good times too. Nevertheless, I don't want to rain on any one's parade. I just played a concert with the Grant Park Orchestra with guest artists, The Decemberists. Not a bad band actually. Decent tunes, lots of fun, good orchestra arrangements. Nothing really virtuostic from the band, and nothing hard or boring either for the orchestra.
I have to admit my problem is when more than a few people I know think that I must be very excited to play this kind of concert. Well, no I'm not. I'm sure my friends in the audience had a good time, and I'd probably enjoy the whole thing if I were out there too. But I'm on stage, where the lyrics are unintelligible,(I was rather pleased that the band chose to go with "in the ear" monitors) the sound is so loud I can't hear myself, and I feel very unimportant in the entire endeavor.

I've played lots of rock concerts in the backup orchestra, and usually it's a very uncomfortable experience with repetitive parts, deafening sound despite earplugs, and probably worst of all; the feeling that what I play doesn't matter. But I try to suck it up and go on. I'm a hired gun. Do the job you're getting paid to do, or just get out of this business.

I can't exactly cherry-pick the kinds of concerts I'll play. What I play with GPO is part of the whole package of their season, and my profession for that matter. I try to steer my schedule to the kinds of concerts that I enjoy playing, and on some level, I do enjoy playing "pops" concerts like this one. But when someone asks me a direct question out of the blue about whether I'm looking forward to the concert with the famous rock stars, the first quick answer that comes to mind is "No". But if I could elaborate: I look forward to you having a good time, and I'd like to invite you to come again, perhaps one of "my" concerts. Most of the stuff that I play, I hope the audience finds interesting, exciting, and moving, and hopefully entertaining. What I enjoy about "my" concerts is that I am fully engaged, prepared, in control, and effective. There's something much more satisfying for me if I'm playing something that is the result of years of education, experience, hours of practice, and moments of mental challenge, and a true interaction between myself, other musicians and the audience. I know that art music can be more challenging for an audience, but ultimately it can be more rewarding.

Pops concerts tend to attract new audience members, and the goal is to encourage them to return to an arts program at a later date. Some folks would say that last night's concert was a success with 15 to 20,000 people there, while others would say we're selling out. I wish the orchestra could have at least played a little overture so that we would seem more like the host rather than the guest at this concert.

I'm not sure I want to play heavy, challenging music all the time. This week we're also playing another easy concert program which consists of Bernstein's Broadway music. Again, many friends of mine will attend this concert. They'll love it, and I'll probably enjoy hearing as we play it. But it's a mental vacation for me, and this concert requires no extra preparation on my part. The orchestra can just sight-read through this stuff, and the rehearsals are mostly to get the tempos right. Am I looking forward to the concert? No, but I'm looking forward to having an easy week.