Proms Concerts

So last weekend I finally played the Proms concerts with the ASO. I was actually really surprised at what they turned out to be. It's basically a gigantic celebration of England and people are hardcore about it. It felt almost sacriledge for me to be playing in it as an American. I felt like it was something I wasn't meant to witness. The audiences were rowdy too. There were streamers and those little noise makers that you have at New Years parties. The audience was strongly encouraged to sing along. It was pretty wild. During "Hail Britannia" everyone in the orchestra was given streamers to throw at each/at the audience. Some people were making it their goal to get a streamer awkwardly on someone's instrument who had to be playing at the time. I got mine right on the head of a violin player. It was a good time.

Also, in the second half of the program, the orchestra gets to dress up in costume. It was fun. All of the women in the woodwind section dressed up as Morris dancers. It proved once again that suspenders were not designed to be worn by women. All of the brass/men in the woodwind section dressed up in some kind of military uniform. Except for one trumpet player who, for some reason, opted to wear a tux. In addition to the tux, he had a number of accessories that he changed after every song or so. These ranged from wigs to fake noses. It was crazy. The entire trumpet section decided to wear newspaper hats for a few songs. It was a good time.

However, my favorite part of the program was the Sweet Transvestite guy. For some reason, we were playing the song Sweet Transvestite from the Rocky Horror picture show. And the actor for the song was there. In full makeup. And wig. And costume. It was the most hilarious thing ever. On the first night, the orchestra hadn't realized what his costume was going to look like. He comes on with a cape draped around him (we all knew about that) and after the intro of the song, throws it off. This man was wearing possibly the shortest shorts I have ever seen in my life, heals, fishnets, and a corset-type shirt (I guess you could call it that). Half the orchestra stopped playing when we saw. We were just cracking up. It was amazing. The audience was freaking out too.

Anywho... The Proms were a really good time. I was glad to get to play with an orchestra (I miss orchestra) and I got to meet some really interesting people. The people in the woodwind section kept telling me that I will never play in another orchestra like this again, and I've gotta say, I'm pretty sure they're right. They're just so crazy. It was really fun. I was glad Stoven talked me into it, even though it tried to take over my life for a couple weeks.
Peace.