This weekend has been kinda rough for the chorale. I originally thought the most exciting/anxiety-provoking thing I'd have to report from our concerts was the missed cue in the Rutter yesterday (which wasn't really that big of a deal, we recovered by the next entrance and only those who know the piece well would have noticed).
But then this afternoon one of the basses passed out during the Agnus Dei (also during the Rutter). We were rocking that movement today and we'd just finished the most intense and built-up part of it when I saw a flutter of movement out of the corner of my eye, then heard a tremendous thud, and when I looked over toward the source of both noise and movement, there was one of the basses, flat on his face on the floor, not moving at all, and his fellow basses were getting down off the risers and onto the floor next to him to see if he was alright. Bill stopped the orchestra, and when his comrades rolled him over, his glasses were broke, his face was bleeding, and from where I was it was hard to see if he was breathing. Another bass pulled out his cell phone and called 911, and there were some tense moments as we waited to see what was going on. Thankfully, the three doctors in the house (one in the chorale, one in the orchestra, one in the audience) all came to his aid right away. And thankfully, he regained consciousness quickly. And thankfully, it happened during the first half of the concert, when there was space in which to fall. During the Gounod we had a larger orchestra, with instrumentalists all the way up to where the risers began - had he fainted then he would have fallen into the French Horns and may have hurt himself even more seriously (as of now it seems he has only suffered a broken nose and the embarrassment of the whole situation).
We took an intermission so the first sopranos' riser could be moved to give the paramedics access, they braced his neck and took him out on a stretcher and were going to check him out further at the hospital. Then, as they say, the show must go on, so we started the movement over and finished the first half of the concert without further incident. During the second half, I noticed a lot more squeaking noises coming from the risers than normal - I think we were all a little paranoid of being the next person to pass out, so we were consciously shifting our weight and wiggling our toes and bending our knees.
So, that's the big excitement in the Valley this weekend. Hopefully the next concert will be as musically dramatic but less personally dramatic!
2 comments:
Oy vey. The lengths to which people will go to put a personal stamp on a piece!
Just kidding--glad to hear he's OK!
Once we realized he was ok and conscious, Bill our conductor started joking with him "I know you're upset you didn't get a solo this time, but this is really an extreme way to get some attention!"
We got an email today that he checked out alright at the hospital - just stitches on his nose and some aches and pains from the fall. He's more upset about disrupting the concert than anything else.
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