Sunday, July 5, 2009

shocking!!

I was playing the piano with a big band for a local Independence Day festival. The band was under a large tent in the street, but the audience started clearing out as the rain increased.

we were literally, high and dry. and were getting paid, so we kept on playing.

In the middle of one of the tunes, the rain shorted out the power to the stage. The band kept blowing away with the acoustic drummer, but the bass player, vocalist, and I were toast!

Since this was a street fair, the band supplied it's own PA and there was no sound engineers on this one. I quickly jumped off the stage and went to the light pole that housed the only receptacle that the entire band was using.

I tried to find an area of ground that wasn't in a puddle (plus, I was wearing rubber gym shoes) and frantically looked for a red reset button in the middle of the outlet.

Sure enough, there it was.

I crossed my fingers hoping not to get knocked down by an electrical shock, and hit the button.

Immediately, I heard the bass and vocals spring back to life. I jumped back onstage and yelled to the bass player, "NUMBER???"

He said, "Letter D in five" (measures)

I came in at letter D and the band finished the song without missing a beat.

Expect the unexpected!!

Make sure to subscribe to the iTunes podcast, musicteachers911, for more tips about music teaching and performance.


No comments: