In one of the comments in my last post, I stated that I have played approximately 200 performances of Tchaikovsky’s The Nutcracker. When I was a younger musician, I could barely imagine playing 200 performances of any one piece of music! So how does one maintain interest on their 200th (or 300th, 400th, or 500th) performance of a piece of music?
Well, it could be extremely boring if a musician made it so. For a horn player, the notes are rather uncomplicated, so by performance #100 or so, you can literally play the 50 or so pages in the part with your eyes closed. And from where I sit, I am unable to see the action onstage. There is a small convex mirror (approximately 6” in diameter) that is taped to the audience side of the pit. If you are a musician lucky enough to be sitting near the mirror, you can sometimes see the dancers onstage if you’re not busy. This year, though, I’m unable to see the mirror, so I must amuse myself.
But I’m never bored- I have always played little mental games with myself during performances to make it more interesting. My favorite is “target practice.” The part is very taxing for the horn player, especially in a reduced instrumentation on a high part, and complete accuracy is almost impossible, especially when one’s chops are completely wasted. So I add a point for every note I miss during the performance; the fewer points I get, the better I do! To be honest, I think I’ve gotten a score of zero only once out of 200 tries!
I also like to pay attention to what’s going on in the audience. It’s always interesting to hear what characters are out there, especially the kids. Sometimes you hear kids who are having a great time, and have these really great, silly laughs. Other times you hear screams of “I want to go home!” And last night, some guy yelled out an unintelligible phrase that none of the musicians could understand. It’s something different at practically every performance.
And, there’s always stuff falling into the pit. An awful lot of fake snow has fallen into the pit this year; I’ve been making sure my coffee/beverage is either covered or under my chair, so it’s not dusted with snowflakes by the end of the performance. Sometimes there are other random objects that fall, such as a small green object wrapped like a Christmas present a few days ago. In past years dry ice vapor has fallen into the pit from onstage- very distracting, and cold and drafty besides. The scariest object I’ve witnessed falling into the pit was a fake sword a few years ago. Fortunately no musician was hurt when that happened. There’s a protective screen covering the pit for Broadway shows to keep the musicians safe from fallen objects. It does protect, but it also acts as a visual barrier between the audience and the music, and I’m personally glad that it’s not used for Nutcracker (but then again, I’m out of range of the falling objects, so I’m not too worried).
My favorite diversion during Nutcracker is simply to listen to Tchaikovsky’s wonderful music. There was one year in Columbus when I didn’t play Nutcracker, and that year it was very difficult for me to get into the holiday spirit. It never seems like I get in the mood for Christmas to happen until I start rehearsing/performing The Nutcracker. It really is one of Tchaikovsky’s best works, and I do look forward to performing it every year. It’s very difficult for me to listen to it when I hear it outside of the pit, like on the radio or at the shopping mall, for instance, but inside the pit, I do enjoy playing it.
This will be my last post before Christmas. I will be taking a break of a few weeks from the blog to enjoy the holidays. Merry Christmas and/or happy holidays to you!
