Hey Blog! Friday two weeks ago I went to something I haven\u2019t seen for years \u2013 a concert!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I realise that you don\u2019t go to see<\/em> a concert. You listen<\/em> to one. And this was a very good one, by my (very limited) knowledge of concert standards. Moreover, it was given by the National Scout and Guide Concert Band and Symphony Orchestra, the NSGCB\/NSGSO. And due to my ever-growing circle of contacts within the Scouting movement, there were three if not more people I know or have met playing; one from my own Explorer group, one from the Jamboree group, and one that I randomly met while taking exams. As you do.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The concert was held in Birmingham, so we stayed in the same Travelodge as we did for some of my exams this year. As such, we knew exactly where to go for transport, sustenance, and sleep. We went down in the evening, dropped off our bags, and went straight out to the venue to attend. Even though we\u2019d booked relatively late, our seats were very good \u2013 in the front row of the top balcony, and directly in front of the middle of the stage, so there was a very good view of what was going on. The Friday night programme, when we went, was the Concert Band first and the Symphony Orchestra second, with a short interval in the middle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In total, there are nearly a hundred Scouts and Guides in both the Band and Orchestra, so about 200 put together. They come from across the whole country and there are even some from overseas. The Orchestra started 51 years ago, and the Band 11 years ago \u2013 we missed the huge anniversary one last year, but I think it might be a regular thing now (except that the next one will be when I\u2019m in Poland on the Jamboree \u2013 might have to get the CD for that one!). The pieces they played range from Queen\u2019s Bohemian Rhapsody to Tchaikovsky\u2019s Romeo and Juliet Fantasy-Overture, and were all full of musical passion and Scouting enthusiasm. I think the Orchestra had the harder pieces, and playing second at nearly 10 o\u2019clock at night had to work harder to keep an audience that was already saturated with the Band\u2019s playing. The Band had a larger selection and from more diverse styles, as well as having the people I knew in it. Both, however, were astonishing \u2013 especially as all members only have one week to learn their part of the arrangement, including solos! Having a lot of people playing at once means that even when one makes a mistake, the others can keep going, and they can catch up \u2013 still, having such as short time to learn makes it even more impressive!<\/p>\n\n\n\n As a person who hasn\u2019t gone to many concerts at all \u2013 probably less than 10 in my life \u2013 I have some catching up to do. Maybe I\u2019ll go to some more now I\u2019ve got the inspiration\u2026 and who knows, I might even learn another instrument and take part one day!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Hey Blog! Friday two weeks ago I went to something I haven\u2019t seen for years \u2013 a concert! I realise that you don\u2019t go to see a concert. You listen to one. And this was a very good one, by my (very limited) knowledge of concert standards. Moreover, it was given by the National Scout […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"set","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-905","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-home-ed-in-a-shed-2"],"yoast_head":"\n