(As in “String Bass.”)
Things got very interesting in the second weekend of performances of “The Andrews Brothers” at the RTG- just when we might have started to easily coast into the finish line. The reason was that we had two instances of substitutions in the band- neither of them a surprise but still cause for concern in a show where so much depends on pinpoint accuracy with tempos and in perfect balance with each other and the singers. We had to stir two newcomers into the mix just as we were beginning to achieve an almost scary synchronousness. Saturday night, string bass player Mike Gudbaur had to step out because of another gig – and Sunday afternoon, for our last performance, keyboardist Jane Livingston would be on her way to the first tour stop of her chamber trio. The challenge was to fold in their subs and (we hoped) not miss a beat, literally or figuratively.
The substitute bass player was Brad Karas, who is about to begin his senior year at UW-Parkside, plays this style of music quite a lot, and happens to study with our regular bass player- so he was very much a hand- picked choice. The substitute keyboardist was Brian Schoettler, who is a student at Carthage and a multi-talented musician who – among many things – plays in the pit for most of Carthage’s musicals and is well acquainted with the unique challenges of such a role (in which you are shifting from color to color, depending on the song- and often making up parts rather than reading the notes in front of you.) So in terms of giftedness and experience, we couldn’t have asked for two better people to step in.
Step one was having each of them watch a performance of the show, with score in hand – which they each did. Step two was up to them as they acquainted themselves more thoroughly with the score and its peculiar challenges. Step three was to actually sit down and rehearse together (not the whole pit, but at least with me) just to make certain that everything was clear. That happened Friday afternoon, and although my original plan was to rehearse with each of them one-on-one, it ended up working much better to rehearse together – even though the two subs would ultimately be playing for two different performances. We played in Brian’s living room, where he had two keyboards set up side by side- one for him and one for me- and it turned out that Brian and Brad recognized each other from having both played in the Kenosha Pops Band. The music world is an incredibly small and highly connected world, especially around here, and that’s part of what makes all of this so fun.
What was most fun, however, was when we actually began to play – and it was as though the three of us had been playing together all our lives. It was uncanny! Both of these guys are real naturals, especially in the important matter of listening, and really from the first moment we had our musical oars rowing in perfect parallel motion. And when it came to the actual performances, it was the same thing. They stepped in as if they had been with us all along, and those two performances could not have gone better. (I told the pit after our performance on Sunday that the high quality of these last two performances was partly due to the great work of our subs…. but also due to the heightened attentive- ness of the rest of us. When you suddenly have a new colleague playing beside you, it’s only natural to pay extra close attention and be at the very top of your game in case anything goes momentarily wrong. But really, nothing major went wrong. . . although there was one instance in each performance when I had to extricate each sub from a brief bit of confusion, but that was actually kind of nice because it made me feel useful and needed!
Anyway, my relief was profound. . . especially because I can remember an experience a few summers back when I was extremely stressed out because of a pit issue (I don’t want to name the show or give any hint as to the musician or musicians involved.) I knew I was being eaten up by worry but what was really scary was when I realized that my hands had begun peeling terribly- as though I had contracted leprosy. I’d never experienced that before or since- but it was a reminder to me that music-making is undiluted pleasure when all goes well but a downward spiral of stress when things are far from right. . . and I have to thank my lucky stars that my experiences with the former have far outweighed my experiences with the latter!
pictured above: Our substitute string bass player, Brad Karas (right) – with trumpeter Mike Kowbel. It turns out that they went to the same high school and played together in jazz band. . . one of many instances of how small and connected the local music community tends to be.