A weekend with the Dutch Civil Engineering and Construction Band

Yes, you read that right, one of the orchestra’s I play in is called the Dutch Civil Engineering and Construction Band. It’s a silly name for an orchestra, but the reason is that most of the members are employed in the engineering and construction industry. I’m a history student, with a part-time job as computer assistant and definitely don’t fit in that category, but it doesn’t matter. I play in two orchestra’s and this one is quite good. We’re not playing Verdi’s Overtures with ease, but with a little practice we do manage to create some pretty awesome music. Last weekend we went for a mini-tour in the Dutch province called Zeeland (Sealand), which is a province close to the sea (if I may play captain obvious here).
We were going to play in Zierikzee and Goes, two nice old Dutch towns. Both the concerts would be outside so I was keeping my fingers crossed for nice weather!

Saturday – Zierikzee
On Saturday at 9 a.m. I was being picked up by a fellow orchestra member and we drove to Zeeland. Our orchestra was invited by an orchestra from Zierikzee (Kunst en Eer); we could use their building for rehearsal and a lunch was served. We arrived there right on time. We started to play and everyone was baffled by the BAD acoustics in the rehearsal room. No wonder, considering it was converted from a gym to this. If someone whispered it created a very irritating level of noise; let alone if more people started whispering. With 60+ people, there’s always some noise it was very tiring to practise there. I was very glad for the lunch break 1,5 hour later.

Two other girls from the orchestra and I booked a hotelroom together and at 1 p.m. we decided to drive to the hotel and check in before the concert. (it would start at 3:30 p.m. only). At our hotel room, we had time to change in our concert-outfits. Back in downtown Zierikzee the weather was pleasant. No sun, but no wind and a nice temperature. There was plenty of public and I was getting excited to play.

We played:
– Viscount Nelson (a march)
– Ross Roy
– Sinfonia Pastorale (L. Mozart)
– Romance for Horn (Saint-Saëns)
– I Vespri Siciliani (Verdi)
– Leroy Anderson Selection
– Atlantic Avenue
– Overture to “Candide” (Berstein)
– Washington Post (a march)

Everything went really well, and although the concert was really informal (people were walking by and there were no seats) there was a pretty big crowd watching. This was a great try-out for the more formal concert in Goes the next day.

After we were done playing it was 4:30. I wanted to group up with some people and have dinner somewhere. First, we went back to the building of the other orchestra to have a cold beer, one thing we really deserved! Some people of the other orchestra were also there and it was nice to just hang out and chat.
Finally, we decided to have dinner with a group of six people. We had some delay, because Rudi (a fellow clarinet player who also wanted to join us) broke his car key while he was just trying to open his car, wtf!? We called the ANWB but there wasn’t much they could do but remove the broken key parts out of his lock. Rudi called his family and the solution was as follows: his mother would get his spare key out of his home and drive to the concert in Goes the next day (a three hour trip!!). Very kind of his mother!
We went to a greek restaurant, and I was hoping for some vegetarian option (Greeks are meat-lovers). There were only two options and I chose the filled bell peppers with tomatoes and rice. I didn’t order an entree; instead I went outside to take some photo’s while the light was still optimal. Zierikzee is a real nice looking town.

The main dish was served and it wasn’t too sublime. The taste was okay, but my meal only hád one taste. And everything was really soft as baby food. The dessert made all up for that, I ordered ice cream with strawberries and whipped cream. OMG, it was good. The strawberries were fresh and warm…yum! We left the restaurant at 9:30, with full tummies. The day had been really full and I couldn’t stop yawning. We gave Rudi a ride to his hotel and then drove back to ours. We drank a cup of tea and talked about the concert before we called it a night. I had a very cute small room by myself and read a bit before I went to sleep.

Sunday – Goes
I woke up at 8 a.m. but couldn’t get out of bed! I opened the curtain and to my horror it was raining! A shower woke me up and at 9 us three ladies were all dressed and pampered, ready to go down. Breakfast was really nice and certainly lived up to my standards of good food. Soft yoghurt with muesli and fruit to start off. Then I had one bread-roll with scrambled egg to make sure I wouldn’t get hungry for quite awhile. The sky started to clear out as well while we were eating. After breakfast we changed to our formal concert outfits and drove to Goes. We were really early. The concert would start at noon, and it was just 10:45 a.m. It was okay by me, another opportunity to take pictures! Some other early birds from the orchestra were also there, and, of course, the people from the rhythm section were already unloading their stuff (the drums, timpani, tubular bell, bass drum etc). I’m so glad I only have to bring a small clarinet-case with me. The sun was shining and that gave the Manhuistuin a very nice atmosphere. The Manhuistuin is a garden surrounded by buildings, which gives it a secluded feeling. You wouldn’t guess there was a garden behind those buildings if you didn’t know it. The stage is too small for our orchestra so some of us had to sit in front of it.

I was basking in the sun, waiting for the others to arrive. At 11:20 a.m. we all unpacked and played a little march to ‘taste’ the acoustics. It was quite windy, which kind of sucked because the sheet-music blew off the standards. This concert attracts music lovers, critical music lovers! Not just any orchestra gets invited here, so the pressure was on us!
At noon, we were introduced and we played the same setlist as the day before. After the fourth song we had a quick break and people were coming up to us saying they were really enjoying it. That was good to hear. The older people liked the Verdi overture mostly, because it’s very classical. I’m glad they liked it, because that Verdi-thing is frikkin’ hard to play.
After the break we managed to continue the same level of playing. There were few mistakes and the sound of the orchestra in general was really good. It’s really hard to tune all the clarinets the same. Everybody plays a different kind of clarinet and that makes it almost impossible to sound the same.

Playing in orchestra’s is the main thing in my life that I NEVER want to give up. Making music with a group of people that are dedicated to it is such an amazing experience. Giving a concert in a nice place like the Manhuistuin makes it extra special. The audience enjoyed the concert and that made me really happy.
Tired but mentally fulfilled, I left Zeeland to go home.

Summer break
Yesterday evening (wednesday) I went to my other orchestra (KNA) for the last time before the summer break. The orchestra will rehearse two more times, but I cannot attend those rehearsals because I’m going to London next week and the week after I’m going to see Neurosis (wahhhh!!!). That makes me a little sad, because I hate missing rehearsals. Yesterday was so much fun! The youth orchestra had a special evening, in which all the children performed a song of their own. I played a duet with Renée, a girl that also plays the clarinet. She just plays a year or two but her technique is already very promising!
In the summer I have to entertain myself musically, with the clarinet and piano. I’m thinking about setting a goal. I’m gonna pick a difficult piano or clarinet piece and study like a crazy woman. Sigh..sometimes I still regret my choice of quitting the conservatory….:(