Quote:
Originally Posted by eyesore
I agree ; never stop in the middle of a song!! keep going!!
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Agreed, almost every time. But there is an exception to every rule. I've been present a couple of times for do-overs, in very different contexts, and neither one turned into a full fledged disaster. One was Bruce Springsteen's band, and other was in my high school concert band playing a Tchaikovsky piece that was a bit out of our comfort zone. The director was hopped up, and kicked it off at an outrageous tempo. He realized a train wreck was coming, and halted us before we could fully crash and burn, which is where we were headed.
In each case the damage was minimal, and in the concert band situation far less than what it would have been if we had soldered on (it was a large outfit and the various sections were not in sync). I'm not sure 95 per cent of the audience for Springsteen noticed the problem, but it clearly bugged him enough to start over. I was pretty shocked by it at the time, but I think it bothered the musician types in the audience a lot more than the typical fans.
The damage in each case was minimal because the break came very near the beginning of the piece and there was no apologizing, no excuses, no delay. Just stop and go. By the time folks figured out what had happened the show was back on the road. Starting over half way through would be a whole 'nother thing
