By now, a lot of us have had, or are about to have, our first performances of the winter season. Throughout the season I will drop some thoughts and tips as they come to mind either from teaching, judging, watching, etc.
Today's tip is to double check your electronics. It is super easy to get wrapped up in what the students are doing that it is easy to forget about your electronics. Not only are they making sound, does it sound "good," are they balanced, but do they enhance the production value of the show?
We talk about visual aesthetic, but does our musical aesthetic match that? If you are doing a show about snow, or winter, of course we are going to use blues and whites. We will probably obsess about the texture of the blues and whites so it looks like snow as well. However, will we hear footsteps through the snow? Will we hear wind howling like it usually does when it is bitter cold? If we create a snowball fight moment, will we hear kids laughing and snowballs making impact?
This is not something I have really thought of until the last handful of years. I was definitely a move well, play well driven instructor/director. I still very much am, but at the end of the season everyone should be moving and playing well. Your soundscape is one of the things that can make your program truly unique.
Besides that, you electronics are truly the one thing that you can almost "set it and forget it." Especially if you have a digital mixer. Meaning once you save everything, it is consistent (as long as it works). Humans will grow and develop and get stronger over a season. I recommend taking some time to make sure your electronics are balanced among themselves the way you want them to be. Then if they are too loud for where the ensemble currently is, turn the whole electronics package down. This is especially helpful if you have a bunch of layered sounds and/or a number of different patches. Then, if the ensemble gets stronger throughout the season you can turn the whole electronics package up.
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