Preparing for an outdoor summer band concert

Scout the site before you commit

A successful outdoor concert is decided long before the first note. Visit the performance space at the same time of day as the concert, if you possibly can, and stand where the band will stand. You are looking for three things: shelter, surface and sound. Is there a wall, hedge or bandstand that blocks the prevailing wind, or does the site funnel it straight across the band? Grass is forgiving underfoot but can turn soft after rain, so ask where heavy percussion trolleys will go. Hard standing is firmer but reflects sound back at the players, which makes tuning harder and can feel uncomfortably loud on stage.

Check the practical details too. Is there power within reach of the front-of-house position? Are there toilets, shade and drinking water for a long afternoon? Where will the audience sit, and can they arrive and leave without walking through the band? A twenty-minute walk round the site with a notebook will save you an hour of improvisation on the day.

Plan for four seasons in one afternoon

British summer weather rewards pessimism. Build a weather plan into the running order rather than bolting it on if things turn. A lightweight gazebo over the percussion and the conductor is worth the effort, but it must be weighted with sandbags at every leg; a gazebo that lifts in a gust is a genuine hazard, not just an inconvenience.

• Rain: keep a tarpaulin within reach to throw over amplifiers, keyboards and percussion. Plastic wallets or sheet protectors for every part are cheap insurance.
• Sun: brass and dark-coloured cases get painfully hot. Ask players to bring hats, water and sun cream, and provide shade for anyone who needs to sit out a number.
• Heat: pitch rises as instruments warm. Tune again after ten minutes of playing rather than trusting a cold tuning note.
• Cold: fingers stiffen quickly on an evening job. Encourage layers, and keep a flask of hot drink at the back of the band.

Agree in advance who makes the call to stop, move indoors or abandon. One named person, with a clear signal, removes all argument when the sky darkens.

Keeping music on the stand when the wind picks up

Wind is the outdoor musician's oldest enemy. Standard folding stands tip easily, so bring the sturdiest ones you own and weight the bases with sandbags or water bottles. Where the ground allows, peg solid stands down; on hard standing, gaffer tape across the feet works well and lifts cleanly afterwards.

Clips matter more than stands. Spring-loaded bulldog clips at the top and bottom of each page hold a part far better than a single central clip, especially for a march with a page turn in an awkward bar. Photocopy or scan any part you cannot afford to lose, and consider a lyre for the players who prefer to march or who are sitting in an exposed position. Never leave loose music on a stand during a break; one gust can scatter an entire pad across a park, and the parts that blow into a pond never come back.

Amplification that suits the space

Outdoors there are no walls to help you, so what sounds balanced in the band room can vanish in the open air. Speech is usually the first casualty. If there is any spoken introduction, a vocal microphone on a stand, with the level checked from the back of the audience area, is far more useful than shouting.

For the band itself, think about what genuinely needs reinforcement: soloists, a keyboard, a bass line that disappears over grass. Wind shields on microphones are essential, not optional, on anything more than a light breeze, and they also reduce the handling noise from a stand that is moving in the wind. Position speakers so they project towards the audience and slightly past them, and keep them well forward of the band to avoid a howl of feedback. If the site is large or oddly shaped, ask whether a second, delayed speaker further back would even out the coverage. Run a proper sound check with the band playing at performance volume, not with a single player testing a channel in an empty field.

Seating, layout and player comfort

Give players more room than you would indoors. Outdoor chairs are rarely the right height, and a low seat forces players into cramped positions that tire them within an hour. If you can, hire or borrow proper music chairs, and leave a generous gap between rows so that percussion and larger instruments have clearance.

Place percussion at the back but not so far back that it becomes disconnected from the beat; a little separation is fine, a lot is not. Keep the conductor visible to every player, which may mean angling the band slightly rather than arranging them in a flat block. Leave a clear, level route for anyone with mobility needs, both on stage and in the audience area, and reserve a few seats near the front for those who find it hard to hear.

The day itself

Arrive early, and publish a simple schedule: set-up, sound check, break, downbeat, interval, finish. Build in more time than you think you need, because outdoor set-ups always take longer than indoor ones. Keep a band kit box with spare reeds, valve oil, string, pegs, clips, gaffer tape, a torch and a basic first-aid kit.

Finally, agree the small things that keep an outdoor concert feeling professional: a tidy stage, a clear programme, a warm word of welcome to the audience, and someone at the front to hand out leaflets or collect donations. Then play as though the sun has come out, whether or not it has.