It's not often that musicians are faced with dramatic problems minutes before they go on stage or in the pit. A recent diary entry made by the Metropolitan Opera, however, claims a hairbrush and a tuba can make for a disastrous evening.
A post by a musician of the ensemble, an associate tuba player at the Opera, to the Met Diary online recounts a bad day in the life of a concert performer. This one story paints the plight of the performer on a November evening, when during the minutes before a production of Lulu a fellow musician, a principal player, dropped his hairbrush into the bell of their tuba.
In an effort to secure a working instrument, as theirs was impaired by a Seinfeldian hairbrush incident, they demanded the two musicians switch instruments:
"Musicians were warming up all around us as the backstage public address system announced, 'Five minutes to Act 1; ladies and gentlemen of the orchestra to the pit.' The principal player said, 'I should be warming up and my hair is a mess.'
"To which I responded, 'This is when we trade instruments; let me have yours.'
There won't be any spoilers in this post, so be sure to check out the entry while it's still up for a quick read. It goes to show that musicians of any stripes can encounter what may be a seemingly innocuous problem but ultimately have to retreat with an a unfair solution.
Fairness in the workplace, that's probably an idea we can all get behind.
Nonetheless, an orchestra or band may share the same plight time and time again, though in dealing with different instruments or varying degrees of chaos.
Since there's no video evidence, preview a performance from the Metropolitan Opera below in the meantime.
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