Wedding Gig (Or, 58 Emails)

10/16
I get an email from Stacy, one of the trumpet players I teach with on Mondays. He wants to know if I am interested in a wedding gig. It's in November, and will pay $100-150, all music from the Canadian Brass books. (Easy gig music collections) My first reaction is ambivalent. $150 is okay for a wedding, but $100 is definitely too low. I scroll over to my calendar and check the date against all the orchestra schedules. Doesn't look like I have anything going on. We are in the midst of saving aggressively to make our down payment, and I think about the first mortgage payment on our house, due Dec. 1. If it's Canadian Brass arrangements I won't need to practice beforehand. I email back and say that I'm available. After all, I'll only need to show up, play for a few minutes, and collect the check, right?

That night I tell J I took a wedding gig in November. I say it will probably pay $150. She does not look impressed.

10/18
Stacy emails back and says he'll leave the music in my box and let me know when he gets more details.

10/19
I pick up a neatly organized binder of music from my box. The first page is a printed out spreadsheet and flow with highlighter markings. I puzzle over whose book this could be. I didn't think Stacy was this punctilious. I make a mental note not to lose my music between now and the gig and toss it in the back of my trunk.

10/22
I get the standard "Gig Info" email with time, date, location dress from Stacy. We're going to get $150. Stacy mentions that the contractor for the gig is the Tuba Player. There is a dress rehearsal, but we don't need to attend, because the Tuba Player is going for us. I notice that the horn and trombone players (LB&BD) are two of my carpool buddies. It will be fun to hang with them, and I feel much better about having taken the gig. This will be fun.

10/31
I am driving back to the hospital (Owen was born the day before) on Rt. 15 and pull into a Bruegger's to get a coffee. I notice that I have a new email. It is a four paragraph document from Tuba Player. It's addressed to the whole brass quintet and the organist. He has consulted his teacher about the best key for the Pachelbel Canon and he lists several reasons for his preference to play it in B-flat. He wonders if the trumpets will need transposed parts. He also mentions some details from his conversations with the bride, and writes out a detailed flow for the hymns in the service, which he would like us to play on. He writes that he would like to schedule a rehearsal for next week and suggests several times.

I am determined to put a stop to this "rehearsal" nonsense immediately. I write back and tell him that B-Flat is fine, and he doesn't need to worry about transposing parts. I tell him that getting together for a rehearsal is fine, but it will cost an extra $100 a person...is the family willing to pay for this?

I send the email, then text my carpool friends checking to make sure that they are on board with avoiding a rehearsal.
Response "OMG thank you, I couldn't do any of the times he suggested anyway."
I feel temporarily proud of myself for being taking charge.

As soon as I send the email, another email pops into my inbox. It is also from Tuba Player. It's a copy of the excel document song list which was in our folders, just in case we needed another copy.

Five minutes later, another email pops in from Tuba Player. It contains audio recordings of all the wedding music, for our listening reference. You know, in case any of us were unfamiliar with the Pachelbel Canon. (The B-flat version, of course.)

A few minutes after that, Tuba Player writes back again. The fee that he agreed to with Stacy was $100 for the ceremony and $50 for the rehearsal. If that's a problem, please let him know. I hold the new baby and think about the first mortgage payment. I figure that there could be far worse ways to spend an hour some evening in November than hanging out with my carpool for an hour.

J is not impressed.

11/1
I have a service in Syracuse and ride in with my brass quintet. I ask BD if he knows Tuba Player, and he tells me that he is a retired teacher from somewhere who takes lessons very enthusiastically and that this is probably his first professional gig. He says he is a nice guy who "kind of thinks it's all about the tuba." We compare schedules and I write back requesting to just rehearse at 2:30 the day of the gig. (The ceremony is at 4)

11/2
The Organist (a friend who I gig with regularly) writes and asks us to check in with her about rehearsal times since the church isn't always open.

LB responds to my email and also wants to rehearse at 2:30 the day of the gig.

Stacy responds. He's also down for 2:30

BD responds. He's good for 2:30 too.

Tuba Player responds. He's also good for 2:30.

11/5
Organist writes and says that the church won't be open until 3. We are welcome to rehearse then. My initial reaction is "Great, we can get it all done if we meet at 3."

Tuba Player writes back a few hours later and says that we will start at 2:30. He also asks us each to write back and confirm (in bold type) that we will be there at 2:20 to start rehearsal. He wants us to play along on the special vocal numbers during the ceremony. The email includes three paragraphs of clarifications regarding the order of music and the verse-refrain patterns for the hymns.

Organist writes back. She won't be there till 3. She says that it really won't take more than 15 minutes to play all this music. If we want to meet at 2:30, we have to talk to the parish about getting the building unlocked.

Tuba Player writes back. He writes that he would be willing to pay someone extra to come and unlock the building 40 minutes early for us. He also requests that he come pick up music for the singer's numbers so that the brass can play along on that as well.

Vocalist (who has been copied in on the last few emails) writes back and says "just organ accompaniment, please and thanks."

Organist texts me privately asking me whether I know Tuba Player, why he's sending so many emails, and why he wants so many extra rehearsals. She sends five more texts venting about how she knows the rest of the group can sight read anything, so what is the point of all this?

11/6
Organist agrees to give Tuba Player a copy of the vocal music if he wants it and tells him when she plans to meet with the Vocalist to practice it.

Tuba Player responds and confirms that he will indeed go to the organ/voice rehearsal to watch.

Organist says okay.

Tuba Player sends a scan of the Vocal Music (which we are not playing) to everyone in the brass quintet.

11/8
Vocalist responds to Tuba Player's email, confused because she already has a copy of the music.

11/9
I email BD/LB separately and suggest that we meet at 7 AM the morning of the gig to see if we can get in on any of the wedding photos.

LB responds and suggests 6:45 AM would work better for her.

11/12
Tuba Player forwards an email from Vocalist. She enjoyed meeting him at their rehearsal. She has a request that none of the brass players wear perfumes or colognes, because her allergies could cause extreme difficulty singing.

Tuba Player sends an email to the quintet and marvels at the acoustical properties of the space. He assures us we will sound very good in there. However, he is having too much trouble getting into the space for a 2:30 rehearsal and has decided we need to rehearse sometime during the week before. He suggests a time Wednesday or Thursday evening.

Stacy responds and commits a major faux pas, indicating that he is actually available and willing to do an outside rehearsal.

I write back and say that I'm not available for either time (I'm not--I have orchestra rehearsals scheduled) and perhaps we can just meet offsite somewhere on the day of the wedding.

LB writes back and offers her house as a place to rehearse on the day of.

Vocalist writes back (apparently she's been copied in on these emails) and offers to come over to LB's house, although she doesn't actually need to rehearse anything with us.

BD responds. He is down for meeting at LB's place.

At this point LB is texting me with every new email that pops in to laugh at the absurdity of the situation, since we are playing 5 MINUTES OF SIGHT-READABLE BRASS QUINTET MUSIC WE'VE ALL PLAYED DOZENS OF TIMES. She, like me, is only sticking with this gig for entertainment value.

Another email pops in from Tuba Player. It is a message with the Google Drive logo asking you to CLICK HERE to access the documents he has shared. It looks like spam.

LB: "Did you get that email too? Do you think it's spam?"
Me: "I don't know. I'm going to open it. If you don't hear back from me in 5 minutes delete the email and bury your phone."

I open it. I'm brought to the Google home page and asked to sign in. I sign in. I'm brought to a South American web page with a bunch of car advertisements. I immediately sign out, delete the email, and change all my passwords.

11/12
Tuba Player sends a depressed sounding email. Because I having the most restrictive schedule, it doesn't look like we'll be able to rehearse until the day of the wedding. He has also given up on trying to get brass on the vocal number. He suggests we all meet at LB's at 1:30 (for a 4:00 wedding) and then try to get into the church at 2:30, or at least 3:00 and rehearse some more. He asks LB to write back with her address and parking suggestions.

11/17
Tuba Player has not heard back from any of us. He writes "the offsite rehearsal as I suggested at 1:30 does not make sense." He will plan to arrive at the church at 2:15 and rehearse with us then. He also plans to attend the wedding rehearsal so he can talk to the bride and clarify any concerns she might have. He has, as an attachment to the email, sent us a copy of their Save the Date. They look very nice.

LB responds asking many important and entirely serious questions, like whether we need to print out the music ourselves? Will there be music stands? Which street should we park on? She notes that the bride and groom look like a lovely couple.

Stacy responds that he is "uber good" with 2:15

Tuba Player responds that he will have extra copies of the music printed out, there will be music stands there, we should park in the church lot, and we should wear black ties.

LB texts to make sure that I know to wear a black tie.

11/18
Vocalist wanders (accidentally?) into the emails again. She will also be present at the wedding rehearsal on Friday.

Vocalist emails again. She is confused about how many verses on the nuptial blessing.

Organist: Refrain-Verse-Refrain

BD responds. He is good for 2:15

Vocalist says thank you, that's what she thought.

Tuba Player confirms the building will be opened at 2:15. "See you brassers then."

LB texts"I didn't get this many emails for my own wedding!"


11/19
No emails from Tuba Player, but he attends LB's horn choir concert. They have a chat about the wedding gig. He is very excited

11/21
Tuba Player emails the last minute clarifications. Dress is tuxedos for the men, black gowns (?) for the women. Everyone be there at 2:15. Everyone bring a music stand. Tempos will all be just like the recordings. Who will down dowbeats and cutoffs? He has attached the revised songlist as an excel document again. There is a list of updated repertoire. In the recessional the second trumpet solo will now be a TUBA SOLO. (In all caps, bold type.)

I respond whoever is playing first trumpet will give cutoffs.

LB responds ditto on the cutoffs, that she doesn't have a black gown, but will wear all black.

Stacy agrees about the cutoffs.

The Vocalist writes (again) that the nuptial blessing is refrain, verse, refrain. I guess someone was still in the dark about that.

Tuba Player tells Vocalist that he will be at the wedding rehearsal tonight. He tells LB that any colored gown will be fine. (All women want to wear gowns all the time, you know.)

Stacy responds with a music theory question. He is poking the bear.

Tuba Player is still confused about the verses and refrains on the nuptial blessing.

Vocalist emails everyone to tell LB that she'll wear a black suit too. (My phone is just incessantly buzzing with new emails at this point.)

LB is also wearing a black suit.

Tuba Player has spoken with the Vocalist. Just to confirm, only trumpets on the nuptial blessing. On the refrain.

Stacy says that is "dandy."

11/22 THE BIG DAY
So the gig actually turned out to be a lot of fun. I wore my most outrageous cummerbund with my tux, brought a thermos full of hot toddy to pass around the carpool, and generally tried to keep a straight face as Tuba Player said things like "boy, I can't imagine how you guys put together stuff like this before email."

He was the sweetest guy you could imagine once I met him in person. He said multiple times how honored he was to be playing with us (he called it a "bucket list" item) and compared it to sitting in with the orchestra side by side he played on last year. (Several of us were on that too.) He was super nervous about anything he had to start or play on his own, including the big TUBA SOLO in the recessional, and looked genuinely disappointed that we didn't get to play the entire Pachelbel Canon or go through all of our postlude music before the guests had left.

The actual wedding was fine. It was really small, but the bride and groom looked happy. The actual playing went fine. We started and stopped together, and no one got lost in between, to my knowledge. Before the gig was over, Tuba Player paid us all in cash, giving everybody a $100 and a $50. I thought about how the gig was either going to be a $100 or a $150 gig, and I figured out the math. I'm pretty sure that he didn't pay himself for this gig, and that if he paid someone to come unlock the church early for our rehearsal that he probably took a loss. I felt a little bad about being mildly snarky in the emails (and more than a little bit snarky behind his back in all the texts that flew back and forth after each email arrived) but I think that he had the time of his life. His wife was there, and she took pictures of the group in front of the altar, actions shots, and phone pictures too.

Your special day only happens once, and you have to make sure that you document it properly.

Three good, three bad

GOOD
1) I have 70 minutes left of LCS this month, and nothing to do but wrap up my practicing for the day. I have no private students, no Hochstein, no orchestra gigs, and no more Wednesday choir rehearsals until January. Vacation is about to start, and it is most welcome. I'll sleep in, play with James, lounge around in sweatpants, and make lots of coffee. There are still a few church gigs to be played here and there, but those won't be so bad. The holidays really will be lovely this year. We have a beautiful green wreath up in the living room, and soon the whole house will smell like cinnamon bread. (It smelled like pumpkin chocolate-chip muffins when I came home yesterday.) Yum.

BAD
1) The Gaxmobile (our PT Cruiser) is smelling more and more like a lemon. We bought it two months ago from a family friend in PA, and it's already needed two major repairs. J's mishap yesterday turned out to be a timing belt problem, and it will cost at least $600 to fix. I don't exactly why this is so expensive, but it's something to do with the way the front is engineered. Apparently the engine block (correct use of that term?) is so compact that everything has to be taken out before you can tinker around with it. This didn't seem to be a problem to me when we bought it, because my automotive tinkering skills are limited to checking/adding oil. As far as I know, the rest of the car runs by magic. Or calculus. Or some form of wizarding calculus you can only learn at Hogwarts. At any rate, this means that whether we have to replace a timing belt, recharge the defibrillator, or add more gurdyroots to the cosine, it's always going to be labor-intensive and budget-breaking.

GOOD
2) Tomorrow Flock of Uncles is recording "A Very Uncles Christmas." We have never actually sat down together and attempted to record the same musical number at the same time on purpose, so this will be an interesting experience. Since we need a quiet environment without distraction Hayden and James will be coming. Man-paste will be made, festive drinks will be passed around, and all musical ventures will surely be successful on their first attempts. If we can get a few tracks we like, the CD will be an excellent gift to the many relatives who we love dearly but can't afford to exchange gifts with on any regular basis. (Especially on the Dudley side, this would be like trying to get individual presents for the entire population of Portugal.)

BAD
2) J and I have five different Christmas Eve services between us, and only one functional car. The Gaxmobile, of course, will not be completed before Christmas Eve. (The bobotubers have to soak overnight before they form a parabola.) We aren't exactly sure how Christmas Eve will work. I suggested last night to J that I could drive her (and James) down to Warsaw at 3:30 and drop them off with enough time to drive back for my services at 5, 8, and 11. If I leave straight from midnight mass at 12:15, I should be able to pick her (and James) up by 1:30. Maybe we'll see Santa!

GOOD
3) We have money in the bank. We have money in the bank. I admit with some embarrassment that we are not particularly good at budgeting. We usually have some money left over at the end of the month because we are both thrifty by nature, but we are very VERY bad at sitting down with the bank statement and figuring out month-by-month exactly how much is left over in each budget category. (Or, in the case of groceries, how much we're in the red.) Thank goodness we've had lots of gigs and extra work these past few months, and we've had a little left over even after buying a PT Cruiser and a plane ticket to San Francisco and repairing the PT Cruiser the first time and buying Christmas presents for everyone. I sense, when I think about it, that we have no idea how fortunate we are most of the time.

BAD
3) We have a cute advent calendar hanging in our kitchen with little chocolate pieces inside the flap for each "day." We give James the advent chocolate after dinner every night, and he has decided he LOVES advent. He reminds us of the calendar several times a day, especially when he's in his high chair. There's an extra big piece for Christmas Eve, but a storm might be brewing when we get home on Christmas Night and the advent calendar has disappeared. The current plan is to get him really REALLY tired at Smith/Smith/Smith/Dudley Christmas and have him totally sacked out by the time we get home. (This won't be hard...I usually don't make it through the 3rd Christmas either.) Then we'll leave super early in the morning on December 26th (presuming we have a working vehicle) and maybe by the time we return from Pennsylvania he'll have forgotten about chocolate.

Or maybe we'll just keep more chocolate in the house. It doesn't seem like a bad idea.