Finishing a song before the rest of the band

so now that I think about it, my country band NEVER practices endings, even in rehearsal...our leader just gets through the solos sections and then we stop....we have like 3 standard "country" endings that just sort of happen
 
Anon La Ply said:
I remember finishing Pump It Up a verse early on a fill in gig. I dunno. It sounded so right to end it there at that time that everyone finished the song with me. It was a nice tight ending haha. I only found out when the singer politely let me know during the break. Oops. Oh well, it's a tiring song. The shorter the better ;)
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Great song, too!
 
Whipping Post by The Alman Bros.

Vechicle by the Ides of March

Everyone in this band had their their own way of screwing up the endings , it was more obvious when it was my turn .
 
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ravenson said:
Everyone in this band had their their own way of screwing up the endings , it was more obvious when it was my turn .
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It's kind of nice when everyone has their own special way of screwing something up.
 
I ended late by 1 measure in a college performance.....and I did it with gusto and a flourish.
It was a modern orchestral piece that was....well......bad....and it just meandered never going ANYWHERE musically.
And......it was long with incredibly long tacets.
I knew this and made cue marks on my score where some instrument went BLAP or WAM.....something....anything just to CUE me on where we was at......Well my notes failed me in the pressure of a concert.
I could/did not count the measures correctly. Maybe the BLAP and WAM guys blew it?....probably not.
I think one of the hardest jobs for Orchestral Percussion players is....just counting the measures through tacets and quiet parts to get to that Fortissimo passage. If you get it wrong........it shows........BIG SHOW......and tell.
 
Regardless of whatever band I’ve ever been involved in it always bugs the hell out of me when some musicians don’t make eye contact, or even look up from their guitar at anyone else at the very end of the song - then therefore they often don’t finish at the same time as others.

It’s such a basic thing and it drives me nuts when it happens.

Eye contact or looking for cues is basic stuff on live performances.

As far as I’m concerned (for most songs) the drummer is in charge for starts and ends, so keep eye contact with me or someone else watching me and FINISH ON TIME

Rant over, I feel better now.
 
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IMO song endings are one of the most important things a band should rehearse - any stops, in fact. The train falls off the tracks most easily when it starts up and when it tries to stop, in my experience.

Key to the song stop is who to watch. Who is cueing through the stops and how will they do it? And for heaven's sake, folks, if you plan on cueing the ending with a head or hand or guitar movement, please DON'T DO THAT MOVEMENT UNTIL IT'S TIME TO END. Just saying.
 
Juniper said:
Regardless of whatever band I’ve ever been involved in it always bugs the hell out of me when some musicians don’t make eye contact, or even look up from their guitar at anyone else at the very end of the song - then therefore they often don’t finish at the same time as others.

It’s such a basic thing and it drives me nuts when it happens.

Eye contact or looking for cues is basic stuff on live performances.

As far as I’m concerned (for most songs) the drummer is in charge for starts and ends, so keep eye contact with me or someone else watching me and FINISH ON TIME

Rant over, I feel better now.
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Then again, if a hare-brained drummer (not naming names) has a brain snap and definitively ends the song a verse early with extremely clear cues, everyone can maintain eye contact and finish the song tidily and still be wrong.
 
alparrott said:
IMO song endings are one of the most important things a band should rehearse - any stops, in fact. The train falls off the tracks most easily when it starts up and when it tries to stop, in my experience.

Key to the song stop is who to watch. Who is cueing through the stops and how will they do it? And for heaven's sake, folks, if you plan on cueing the ending with a head or hand or guitar movement, please DON'T DO THAT MOVEMENT UNTIL IT'S TIME TO END. Just saying.
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If another musician sees a drummer rising high in the seat, with arms raised and eyes like saucers, face flitting from player to player, then the band should have some idea that something is going to happen. It's a drummer look, like bassists have their "you're not locking in" look, where their mouth jams tight like they just bit into a lemon.
 
Anon La Ply said:
If another musician sees a drummer rising high in the seat, with arms raised and eyes like saucers, face flitting from player to player, then the band should have some idea that something is going to happen. It's a drummer look, like bassists have their "you're not locking in" look, where their mouth jams tight like they just bit into a lemon.
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Unfortunately for the rest of us, it's hard to tell if a singer or guitarist is staring at you because they're getting ready to wind it up, or if it's because they're having a stroke yet again :ROFLMAO:
 
I think it's happened to everyone at one time or another. What I do to avoid such kinds of things is tell the band in advance to watch ME for the end, and I will be the one giving the cues. This is for situations that are unrehearsed. In a setting where the band has rehearsed then we outline definitive endings and I make sure that I write them down or add them to my charts, this way there is zero chance of missing it.
 
Anon La Ply said:
Then again, if a hare-brained drummer (not naming names) has a brain snap and definitively ends the song a verse early with extremely clear cues, everyone can maintain eye contact and finish the song tidily and still be wrong.
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Oh yeah, I’m more talking about where the band all knows the end of the song and we’re sprinkling some special garnishes to the ending.
 
green glass drum said:
I ended late by 1 measure in a college performance.....and I did it with gusto and a flourish.
It was a modern orchestral piece that was....well......bad....and it just meandered never going ANYWHERE musically.
And......it was long with incredibly long tacets.
I knew this and made cue marks on my score where some instrument went BLAP or WAM.....something....anything just to CUE me on where we was at......Well my notes failed me in the pressure of a concert.
I could/did not count the measures correctly. Maybe the BLAP and WAM guys blew it?....probably not.
I think one of the hardest jobs for Orchestral Percussion players is....just counting the measures through tacets and quiet parts to get to that Fortissimo passage. If you get it wrong........it shows........BIG SHOW......and tell.
Click to expand...

current orchestral/concert band player here....have been there many times before

the hardest job for ALL percussion players is counting....actually for ALL musicians really - when they are not playing. Sadly, a lot of people are taught to check out when "the music does not directly involve them".

"Just listen and find some cue and come in at some point after that" is the advice given by people that don't get it that counting is what organizes the space. As a percussion instructor who helps out in various educational situations from middle school to college, I am always fighting, and having to change the mentality of not counting in long rests.

Usually it is the music organizers who tell their students not to count who call me in to "fix my drum students who can't get that basic triangle hit correct". SOOOOO MANY MISCONCEPTIONS there. A single triangle hit in the middle of 40 measures of tacet is actually one of the hardest things to do because of the amount of focus needed to count the surrounding space. Relying on others to do their job right by listening for cues is a crapshoot. Just. Freaking. Count!!!!
 
It happens to all of us. It's a clam, not the end of the world. Just move on.
 
All the sudden I lost the feel during the breaks in China Grove, so I had to start counting.
The part leading in when the vocals come back in to say, Talkin bout the China, China Grove, whoa -o-o....

The band I just left would play their parts no matter what. If I bounced out early on 1 of their designed endings they just kept going.
 
Xstr8edgtnrdrmrX said:
Relying on others to do their job right by listening for cues is a crapshoot. Just. Freaking. Count!!!!
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Nice, @Xstr8edgtnrdrmrX! Basic advice that likely gets lost when used as a shortcut. Using a visual or audible cue is like using a crutch. A crutch can help you walk, but only of you're ambulatory to a certain extent. Giving a sleeping person a crutch will not make them walk.

I'll remember this and hone my counting skills.
 
There are a couple songs we do in which the endings are very difficult to predict. The only way I know how to end them properly is to watch the guitar player's right foot. When I see it move to the foot pedal; that's my cue! :)
 
Smoke said:
Nice, @Xstr8edgtnrdrmrX! Basic advice that likely gets lost when used as a shortcut. Using a visual or audible cue is like using a crutch. A crutch can help you walk, but only of you're ambulatory to a certain extent. Giving a sleeping person a crutch will not make them walk.

I'll remember this and hone my counting skills.
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for me, visual cues and aural cues are the last things I rely on...or if i know I am playing with a group of people who i know are not counting, then I have to be more aware of fluctuation

but I just hate giving control to people who are not in control themselves
 
In a jazz combo I was playing percussion with a drummer that did that. I stopped when the drummer stopped. I think there was coda or something in the sheet music, they were sight reading from.
 
hahaha I've done it, got lost at the end of a song, too much room pressure in the small venue, i ended it well and the guys caught on the the slight slow down fill. the crowd never knew and we laughed after I asked the guys if that was the right spot. As long as its at a place that sounds correct musuically, no one really notices.
 
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