Fading out? With my wind band, we’ve never done it.
You can have everyone play pianissimo and also reduce how many players play each voice, but unlike a digital fade, this does change the way it sounds.
It’s also difficult to stay in tune when playing at a low volume with a wind instrument, so it starts to sound horrible before it becomes inaudible.
@Kairos@lemmy.today mentioned mic+soundboard, but for a windband, the band itself would need to be out of earshot, which is rarely possible.
So, yeah, if we ever need/want to cut a song short, we make use of a marching band signal.
Basically, the person on bass drum does two double-hits, which are out of rhythm so you can hear them, and then another hit on the first beat of the next measure, which is when everyone stops playing.
That does not always sound great either, but better than nosediving the whole orchestra. 🙃
