MEXICAN BANDA

WOW! What a night! Today was my first "on the job" training for an authentic Mexican Banda.

Now, don't get me wrong...I'm not a big fan of the style of music but it does pay well. The second thing I noticed about this particular band is the trombones don't like using valve trombones...they prefer the real thing, which I thought was very cool! Clarinets don't overblow and the trumpets don't all play super loud and in unison. OH, and that whole VIBRATO thing...yeah, it's there but it's done on purpose...it's just part of the style.

We had a quick rehearsal at 22:30 and then went straight to the Cantina where we had to be ready to play by 01:00 hours. The place was packed and of course we all had the same outfits on. I'm glad this band does not wear what some of my friends would call "Chunty or Choonty" outfits that we sometimes see Mexican Bandas wear. We wear nice suits:) and tomorrow we wear black dress pands with yellow dress shirts which actually look quite nice!

Anway, tonight I was totally reminded about what Jeff Jung said to me once about the workforce in Mexico. He said, "you'll notice how everyones assistant has an assistant, who's assistant, assistant has another assistant" and that was exactly the case tonight. Carying around a big sousaphone is no longer a big deal because there is someone always there to help me out! Especially when setting up the stage, stands, mics, music, etc. Basically, I get up there with my sousaphone (which the band has provided me with) and they come over, set up my stand, my music, my water bottle, my chair, my stand light, and then they stick a microphone down in my bell!

Which brings me to a very important point! Have you ever listened to some of those Mexican bands? Well, lets be honest, not all of them sound very good or play in tune but did you notice that the tuba players always sound great and RARELY or NEVER mis a single note?
When the stick a microphone down your bell it is so much easier to play...you don't have to work as hard and you can play for hours on end without fatige or strain. Contrary to the "Marching Band" mentality of the "states" where your tuba players are blasting away and defintiely not soundind very good. Well, tonight I could hear myself very well and wasn't working too hard to get those notes out. The only thing that got me tired was the weight of the sousaphone on my shoulder but that is just the nature of the beast when you play the tuba.

Well, after the first gig we had a one hour break before our next gig at another cantina. These places get packed! The people really like to hear the live bands. The name of the band I'm playing with is called "Los Aces" which translates to "The Aces". I'll find out the story behind it because right now I have no idea why they chose that name.

This next part is 100% true...no BS.

I have to learn 267 songs as soon as possible because their repertoire is HUGE! (as my Astronomy professor Dr. SALAMA used to say in his middle eastern accent..."Universe is....is ...universe is is HUGE...is HUGE...is so HUGE..ya") yeah, the songs range from classics to standard Mexican songs to Reggae to Waltzes to Polkas to Pop and even Rock songs...it's a lot of stuff!

The wonderful things about all this is that some of the songs are written down on paper for me which is good to help me get started. The rest they have given me on a CD which I basically have to completely learn by ear. I think this will be great for me because it's something I have put off for a long time and learning to play by ear is very important.

I once scheduled a lesson with Mr. Jim Self (tuba professor at USC) and what I remembered most about the lesson (it was fantastic by the way) was that he had me play happy birthday in all twelve keys...at the time this was so difficult but it was his way of proving a very important point...we must learn to improvise, we must play along with recordings, we must fine tune our ears and be able to transfer what we hear or sing directly to our fingers so that the same sounds immediately come out of our instruments! I've got a lot of work ahead of me! At least it will keep me busy!

The musicians in the band are all trained musicians...some of our local competition bands don't read music at all..which is not to say that they suck because they don't but being able to read music does make practice more interesting because we can speak "musically" and talk about how we want to work out a particular section. They are all very nice...on stage we're all but 10 maybe 12 and all together with helpers and managers etc maybe 20. We perform 5 days a week mostly at night but done early enough that I can get some good rest before walking into orchestra rehearsal.

So, the next time you see one of those Mexican bands...hold your tounge and don't judge because the tuba player or any member for that matter might just be in a professional orchestra where they play the real deal and where they read music on paper ;)

Good night