The other evening we went to an outdoor concert. It was part of a city's week-long annual celebration. It is a civic orchestra, click here to see it better and get more information about them, they performed selections that varied along the theme of "I Love a Parade". I was distracted by the noise from the cars on the road nearby, pitch, and intonation issues. But the sound for the performers under the shell was well blended, they said.
The sound for the audience was picked up from 10 condenser mics around the perimeter of the group, carried to a 16 channel soundboard and then to speakers. This would never have crossed my mind a year ago. But as I'm now in a worship space that needs electrically driven sound, and we needed sound for our Dew Days parade float, I was curious. There was a nice size crowd at the park that evening, and the rain held off. The city park is nestled near a lake; boaters, volleyball players and children on the playground all enjoyed the music while doing what they do. Several listeners brought coolers and had a picnic; there were grills sizzling, and the lake accompanied the strings with the gentle lap of water on shore.
Their last piece was "Stars and Stripes", to which I sang along the silly words I had learned as a child. See here if you're curious. I was the only one of our group who knew them! Then one friend started playing her imaginary french horn part; she had learned the piece in school, and I joined in with my invisible piccolo; we had a very silly time. The crowd clapped along to the music, and seemed to enjoy themselves.
Wandering the downtown area of this city after the concert, we happened across the cutest ice cream stand and had to stop for a blueberry shake, hot fudge sundae and a banana split.
I lost a dollar bet at this roadside oasis! The owner of this adorable stand IS a former Minnesota Viking football player, and now Coney dog cook. "Paul Krause, #22, a safety, still has the record for the most Viking interceptions, 81 I think." my friend tossed out this random trivia. What a riot. I don't know football at all, let alone stats from the '70's. A Hall of Fame Football player was in the kitchen of the Dairy Delite! He is known to be very philanthropic to the community.
I'm buying! What dairy delight would you like to order today? Yum, what a lovely evening.
I'll take that giant cone, on the counter! But seriously, glad the weather held up for this. Not a lot of towns do this, these days...
ReplyDelete10 condensors, huh? I'd think that should have provided pretty good coverage. Could you see if the condensors were up higher than the performers?
ReplyDeleteTho I hardly follow football at all anymore, I did when I was young & I do remember Paul Krause; he was an excellent player.
G' morning, John! yes, the condensers were on mic stands-that's why I think it was not the equipment...pretty funny that you've heard of Paul Krause too-I guess I would have owed you a dollar as well!
ReplyDeleteI loved this post because it reminded me of a similar event last summer in east London. The British National Orchestra played a beautiful concert outdoors in the early evening. Many thanks for your photos and commentary. I salute your town.
ReplyDeleteGreetings from London.
Cuban and John, you didn't mention your tasty treat? What would you like today?
ReplyDeleteOhh...it's been too long since I have been at an orchestra in the park. So glad the weather held out for everyone. Thanks so much for shairng. :)
ReplyDeleteLooks like a wonderful time. That drive-in is so cute. My first job (other than babysitting and scorkeeping--before automatic scorekeepers) was at a Dairy Delite. It was just about a mile from my house and I could walk which was great because I couldn't drive yet.
ReplyDeleteI'll have a Suicied Slush or a chocolate dipped cone. Thanks.
Hi Ronda!
ReplyDeleteThis Dairy Delite had "new" flavors like Twisted Sour Apple or Twisted Blue Moon-I wonder, did they have trendy flavors when you worked there?