Did you ever wonder?

Were you ever curious about what happens behind the scenes at a concert? The Knightwind Ensemble concert was Sunday (and went very well, thank you). My job on concert day is all of the things that happen in the lobby. I thought I would list a few of the interesting things that happened this weekend.


Saturday - We picked up the rental truck (to transport all of the percussion equipment) and had to replan our weekend when the rental company told us they no longer allow off-hour truck returns. Took a while, but we were able to complete the change in 3 people's schedules to comply with this surprise (never had that problem before). The dress rehearsal went very well.


Sunday - Arrived at the concert hall and set up the ticket table. We had about 12 to 15 sets of tickets held at Will Call. The good news is that almost all of them were picked up. Even though it was a nice day, we had a good number of "at the door" sales. So far, so good.


Once the concert was underway, I had to change the lobby to the intermission layout, so that people could congregate and visit. We could show off our commendation from the Milwaukee County Board and promote our Friends group.


One of my duties on concert day is to address the audience before the second half begins and alert them to our different fund raising programs. That also went well. The audience laughed in the right places. At the end of my presentation I invited people to stop by and view the Sudler Silver Scroll, the International Award from the Sousa Foundation that we received in 2005. This time three people stopped by to take a look after the concert, including a grade school student just starting in her school band. That's always nice.


After intermission, I set the lobby for people to pass by two of our fund raising programs on their way out. We ask the audience to help us buy new music and we place an old field drum on the table near the center of the lobby. Setting that up quietly is sometimes a challenge!


After the concert, one very nice lady complemented my side burns....that doesn't happen every day!


Just one other note: I was able to hear only one piece of music because of all the activity in preparing the lobby.




Now, wasn't that a fun way to spend a day?