So here's what I was really going to blog about last night.
Had our second band rehearsal for Bat Boy last night. (Actually the third, but I missed last Tuesday, so it was my second) Going into the first rehearsal, I was majorly concerned that I wasn't going to be able to play to the same standard as the rest of the band. After that first afternoon, I was sure I'd at least be okay. Last night, the band consisted of myself, the new guitarist, and the guy playing three keyboards at once. (Bass player out all this week) In addition, most of the kids who played principals in the cast were there so they could sing through the music with something other than the CD before dress rehearsals start next week.
It. Was. Awesome.
I realized I'm not playing everything quite how it's written on the sheet music (I personally think percussion sheet music for a rock show should be taken with a grain of salt anyway) because I've only actually been reading percussion sheet music for a little over a week, but the music director is perfectly fine with that. (Besides, neither cast recording I've found plays everything by the book, either) I've realized there's a lot less pressure on the drummer in this show, because it's primarily a guitar-and-keys show, so that's helped me really relax into it and pretty much go with the flow for the most part. The kids' reactions to singing with live musicians was fantastic. They were so jazzed to be rocking out with a real band. They were actually convinced we were pretty good, too. And to be fair, with all of us playing, we generally did sound pretty good.
Now, I'm still a little ways away from being show-ready. (I actually did pretty well up until we got to Three Bedroom House. You get behind in that number, and it's all over) We've also got two more rehearsals before we open, though, so I think that, if I haven't quite nailed down those last few numbers, I'll at least have perfected a believable way to fake them.
All this to say that last night was fun, and I'm finally convinced that I'm not horribly out of place in this thing. And that's a good feeling.
