Sinatra

A few weeks ago I got an exciting phone call. The principal harpist for the LV philharmonic needed a sub for a show she was doing on the Strip and wanted to know if I was available. When you move to a new place, you meet some harpists and then it's just kind of a waiting game until one day all the other subs are busy and you get called in. It's not that you can't do it, it's just that they don't know you that well and they have their usual people they work with. Then, if you can do the gig well, you're on their radar for future jobs. I had met this harpist before and she is good friends with another good harpist friend of mine, but I had never played for her. So, like I said, I was really excited to get called because it was really a good foot in the door for me.

The show is/was a Frank Sinatra show at the Palazzo. Now the music wasn't difficult but the show has been playing five nights a week since January, so they obviously weren't having any rehearsals for me to try playing with them. I sat on the stage two nights with a copy of my music to watch the show and I also had a recording from the show that I practiced with at home, but that was it. Even though it was pretty simple stuff, I was really diligent about being prepared. I didn't want one note, one pedal change, or one rhythm to catch me off guard.

The really cool thing about the show is that they wanted it to the most authentic Frank Sinatra show ever. They put it on this year because he would be turning 100 this December. The man who sings knew Sinatra and an impersonator. He goes through almost two hours of make-up to look like Sinatra and he totally does. The conductor/pianist was Sinatra's personal music director and pianist for ten years, and half of the orchestra was Sinatra's original band that played with him. Apparently they even flew some of the musicians in who were living elsewhere in an attempt to get as many original people as possible. The lead sheets are the real deal, the ones they used for Sinatra. Some of the harp parts are nearly hand-written and have lots of different harpists' markings on them. It is so COOL! 

I was excited and intimidated to work with such amazing musicians. The conductor's name is Vinnie Falcone, which might be the most mafia-sounding name I've ever heard in real life and he's pretty famous. One minute he's conducting, then he's playing the music, then he stands up and conducts by just snapping the fingers in one hand. The main harpist was telling me that every night he plays things differently on the piano, just following the chord progressions. The drummer is Tommy Check and he has no music either, no lead sheets, nothing, just a list of songs. One time while I was watching, the singer just looked at Vinnie and said a random song and they started performing it, drums came in, and then they looked at the bassist, who is also quite well-known, and he jump up off his stool and started playing too. It's just incredible. The other harpist said that they do that a lot - just add in random songs in the spur of the moment and those main guys can just play with no music.

I played on the 24th and am going to play again this coming week. It went really, really well and I was so glad I'd practiced and put the time in to feel comfortable with the music and to have fun. The harpist texted me the next day and said she had heard great reports about me and that everyone will love to have me play with them again. I felt pretty good about how I played, but I was so pleased to hear it from her too. She thanked me for being concientious about the music and taking good care of the job. It was a really big high to play in such a setting with such an ensemble and to be part of something to exciting and professional. I'm also excited to have earned the trust of the principal harpist so that she will call me for future jobs.

Getting ready for the show.

View of the back side of the curtain as everyone is taking their seats.

As a side note, I really feel like being a musician would be a great job for a mom or dad if two parents needed or wanted to work or if you were a single parent. Curtain is at 8:00 most nights and I left at 6:30 to get there an hour early. So I was home with the girls all day, had dinner, helped bathe them, and left as Ryan was finishing the bedtime routine. I was home around 10:00 or 10:15 so it wasn't a super late night either. I mean, you wouldn't be able to support yourself from this gig alone, but if you were also teaching and doing a few weddings or other events a month it would be a comfortable income and you could really be there for your kids.