A final rehearsal for a Masters
series subscription concert. The first piece is Dukas Sorcerer's
Apprentice. No sign of Bob Hutcheson, the timpanist. We decide to
start without him - one cannot afford to lose too much time at the beginning of
a rehearsal. His colleagues kindly prepare his timpani for him - taking
off the covers, tuning them and so on.
We start off on the ethereal
opening and a couple of minutes after the beginning as we play the brief outburst
which climaxes in one loud wallop from the timpani, Bob appears pelting up the
stairs at the back of the platform, launches himself horizontally through the
air, grabs a stick in passing, and places the note at exactly the right moment
before subsiding to the floor.
The rehearsal, of course,
collapses into a gale of giggles.