When you think about it, isn’t it amazing that a group of musicians can ever play together in a symphonic setting? Honestly, having all those different instruments, from tuba to tympani, with all those methods of sound production, from blowing to plucking,...
We got sucker-punched by the worst snow storm of the season this year, causing most of the Elgin Symphony Orchestra to be one or two hours (!) late to our dress rehearsal. It took me 1 1/2 hours to go nine miles for one stretch, and three hours for the whole...
The December crush of activity has finally ebbed–only one more New Year’s gig to do this week, and I’m done with performances for a week or two. After a solid six weeks of wall-to-wall gigs, I’m ready for a break. I’ve really dialed back...
As I started to drive up to Milwaukee to begin my annual Nutcracker run, something suddenly struck me–I hadn’t left the state of Illinois since the summer! In fact, the furthest I’d wandered the whole fall was to take a few trips to Elgin, just 35...
This is a post by Bill Harrison – playjazznow.com ___________ I’m a musician. You know – a man with no marketable skills. Civilians sometimes ask me what I do for a living; musicians I run into often ask me what kind of stuff I’ve been doing...
