Wednesday, May 20, 2009

I was a band room virgin...

Bennetts Lane Big Band gig tonight, after no jazz for a couple of nights! Life caught up with me on Sunday night (missed Mark Isaacs' CD launch at Bennetts. Not happy, Jan!) and I was on a plane on the way home from Brisbane on Monday.

So here it is, Tuesday and it's my first gig introducing the band. For five nights during this festival, I get to stand behind a microphone and say "Please turn your mobile phones off and fill in the survey and now please make the band welcome..." and part of the deal is that I have to chat to the band about anything they particularly need me to say for them and all that emcee kinda stuff. I've never been into the band room before! I get to go behind the door that says 'Authorised Personnel Only!' I was breathless with excitement!

Lucky me, my first experience of the job was the Bennetts Lane Big Band. I got to sit in while Andrea Keller talked the band through the charts. It was all minims, semi breves and codas... a secret language! What an excellent introduction to the inner workings of a gig. Almost made me want to learn music! Almost...

No comments: