Doctor Who

Last night (Saturday) we (the whole family - yes all three of us), actually went out together to a concert that none of us were performing in. That may not sound so unusual, but for us it is quite an event. My wife treated us to seats for the Doctor Who Prom. I think this is the second of these, the first was such a success that they decided to put on another this year.

For my wife and daughter it was the first time at the Royal Albert Hall, I think both were suitably impressed, and I had the chance for the very cheesy line "It's a long time since I was here in the audience!)

The programme was a mixture of some short classical pieces and musical from the TV series, for me most of the pieces were a little short, with too much introduction from the stars, but for the target audience this was probably about right. I enjoyed most of the music, and the enthusiasm from the audience was contagious. All round an excellent evening

Of interest to me, of course was the bottom end of the brass section, where the tuba player had two instruments a standard British style EEb and what looked to me like a 5/4 CC which he used for the "Rode of the Valkyries". Next to him the Bass Trombone also had a Contra Bass Trombone, used for some of the Doctor Who music.

In all it was a real monster Orchestra with I think triple wood wind, seven horns, six trumpets, and six trombones, and of course only one tuba. With a lot of use of the mighty organ and an orchestra that big, the poor lone tuba player did get a bit swamped, but overall a very big exciting sound, I hope that a lot of the younger members of the audience were inspired.