Concert Dress III The Rebel Bass

I have quite a few performances coming up over the next month or so.   On Saturday I will be playing tuba with the Pelly Concert Orchestra. I am really looking forward to this, they are a lovely bunch and it looks like a fun program with a couple of favorites that I have never played.   It always amazes me that after well over 40 years involved with performing music just how much music there is that I have still to play.   I have played most of this concert before, but only in arrangements for band.   Possibly rather sadly, I am most looking forward to the Thunderbirds and Barwick Green.   This probably says more about me than it does the rest of the program.


I have yet to decide what I shall wear for this concert, but it is a straightforward decision between some posh trousers and a nice black top or the single dress I can wear while playing the tuba.

The following weekend I will be playing twice, with my latest band, but this will present a whole different set of problems.   First it is a jazz / blues band in which I play electric bass, so the safety of the all black concert kit of the orchestral musician doesn't apply.   The second of the two performances is a lunchtime Gig at St Christopher's Hospice I believe this is the oldest Hospice in the UK, and being local I am very pleased to support it.

This band is made up of members of my Church, and I only finally came out to all of the band a week or so ago, so was very relieved on Sunday to be told that they were very happy to have me playing with them.   So on Sunday week I will have to find something appropriate for the environment, the band, and my comfort.   After a while a Bass can get quite heavy which is one factor, another is that standing while playing I will not want to be wearing too much in the way of heels.

I have addressed the Sunday Gig first as that is the easier situation, as on Saturday night we are playing at my Church.   I am no longer in hiding and many of my Church family have met Paula, so far I have not attended a Church service as myself as I want to be fair to my wife, and at any service God should be the center of attention not me, but this isn't a service, and I know my wife is not performing and my daughter will not be in attendance, ho hum decisions decisions, decisions.

Incidentally does this mean that most female Japanese bass players are left handed?