swilly Posted January 20, 2006 Share Posted January 20, 2006 Hi, We are a small community touring company and our LD has got himself a job lighting on cruise ships so we are in need of some advice.We have a brass band project in 7 old churches. The oldest is 900yrs old. Great acoustics and tight on space. Each band sets up differently and here's where we need help. We want to keep the WOW factor in that we light arches in the church and have a back-lit backcloth using LED Par64. But the bands are always saying they can't read their music SO how can we meet their needs without detracting from the lighting effect. The maximum of players is 30. Have been reading this site for months and got some great info. Thanks in anticipation. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stu Posted January 20, 2006 Share Posted January 20, 2006 Do your band use floor standing music stands? If so, think about investing in either lit stands or getting hold of some cheap clip on lights for the stands - this way the music will be illuminated even if your chucking lots of coloured backlight onto it all. Stu Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
swilly Posted January 20, 2006 Author Share Posted January 20, 2006 Hi Stu,Thanks for the reply. The bands are using floor stands none of which are lit. We don't really want to go to the expense of our providing individual stand lights as there are different bands every time. But that might be our only option. Thanks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StevieR Posted January 20, 2006 Share Posted January 20, 2006 How about this.... Assuming your backcloth is rigged on some sort of truss/stand arrangement, rig some fresnels onto this to backlight the band. This will not spoil the lighting of the backcloth or any other front lighting. It will also give the performers a nice halo-type glow and add depth to the lighting. Oh - and they will have light on their sheet music too! Bonus. Perhaps add a little colour to the backlighting too to balance against the other lighting. Not too strong a shade though, or they'll moan at you again. Steve Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
liteman Posted January 20, 2006 Share Posted January 20, 2006 As both a Lighting Professional and a Brass Band Member I am uniquely qualified to answer this one.As a player we need to see the music, so Stu's answer about lit music stands is the best option. Thsi does lead to Black out problems when needed. Running the stands through the dimming set-up solves that. However never go to complete black it makes us nervous. Other than that lots of Golds, Ambers, and Steels bring the best from the instraments. Not forgetting Solo stands. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gareth Posted January 20, 2006 Share Posted January 20, 2006 As both a Lighting Professional and a Brass Band Member I am uniquely qualified to answer this one.Not as unique as you think! (I'm ex Northop Silver and Point Of Ayr ;)) I'd agree, though, that lit stands are the best way to go with this one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J Pearce Posted January 20, 2006 Share Posted January 20, 2006 I've played in brass bands too, as a percussionist though. I agree with the general consensus of lit stands. The problem with using backlight to illuminate the music is you end up casting a shadow on your music, which is annoying. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
swilly Posted January 21, 2006 Author Share Posted January 21, 2006 Thanks to everyone who replied especially the bandsmen - we opted for music stand lights and are £300 lighter but we now know it will work and everyone can see the dots. What a great site this is. Cheers everyone.Keith. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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