Outguessing the Almanac

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Rehearsals

First, the rehearsal plan for Monday night is posted. The percussion section, after careful consideration, has asked that I include the Daughtrey every week until the concert. After the rehearsal last week, they noted the “rehearsal acoustics shock” they felt last week when moving from the sectional space at Eastchester MS to TMH. Add the interaction with equipment on which they don’t practice daily, our pending off-site rehearsals on January 25 and February 1 at White Plains HS (a completely new space for us), and it’s an equation that would make any soloist feel off-center.

The environment in TMH should be better tomorrow. In my 8 years with WSW, we’ve never experienced the combined impact of the wind, temperature, and lack of building insulation as we did last week. Still, it’s wise to be prepared at the personal level.

Several members have emailed or asked me directly about my decision to maintain the scheduled rehearsals on the two upcoming Monday holidays (MLK on January 18 and President’s Day on February 15). This decision has not been cavalier, because of several important factors, with tremendous combined ramifications:

  • I am nervous about avoiding/cancelling rehearsals on two Mondays during an unpredictable winter season. The Old Farmer’s Almanac cites: “Winter will be colder and snowier than normal in the north, with near-normal temperatures and below-normal snowfall in the south. The coldest period will be in mid-January, with cold weather also occurring in late December, most of January, mid-February, and early March. Precipitation will be slightly above normal, with the snowiest periods in mid- and late December, early to mid-January, and late March.” Of course, this doesn’t guarantee anything, but there it is.
  • As I said, we have two rehearsals off-site coming up, because TMH took full-price bookings on January 25 and February 1. We’ve been approved to use the facilities at White Plains HS, but I haven’t visited yet because the band director has been on paternity leave since the end of November. The equipment available (especially because of the solo percussion feature) is a big factor here. So honoring the holiday on January 18 for MLK is a big chance, because it means being away from TMH equipment acoustics and equipment from January 11 until February 8. And I won’t be on the podium again until February 15 because February 8 is the “conductor exchange date” for Brian Worsdale to rehearse the Markowski (and more) and me to rehearse Grand Street Community Band in Brooklyn. We had to go this route because he has a regular Monday night rehearsal commitment.
  • In February, cancelling February 15 means no rehearsal from February 8 (noted above) until the re-scheduled rehearsal on Wednesday, February 24 (again, a TMH full-price booking took over on February 22). And that leaves only the dress on February 27.

Bottom line: Not rehearsing on even just one of these legal holidays puts us in a very compromised position. I hope you agree that this is just not a wise choice.

Small steps to big progress

Lastly, several members have kindly approached me to ask, “What can I do to help this group?” That’s easy. Here is a short list of simple ways to insure our progress and development:

  • Plan to arrive early enough to help set up (even one chair/one stand helps) and warm up before we start to play. Emergencies happen to everyone, but maintaining this standard helps us all.
  • Practice on a consistent weekly basis. Period.
  • Consider a sectional. Although the principal is the best choice to organize this, the suggestion can come from anyone. And there is no downside to having a sectional.
  • Do use your phone to take photos during rehearsal and post them to social media to boost our visibility. Do not use your phone to track and respond to messages during rehearsal. Those of you who keep your phone on your stand during rehearsal maintain temptation for distraction and inhibit our best work. Again, emergencies happen to everyone. If there is an emergency, please get up and leave the stage to respond. If it’s not an emergency, let it wait an hour until the break or end of rehearsal. Otherwise, our mutual concentration will never be at its best. And (my opinion) it’s disrespectful to others.
  • Allow time to tear down. Moving just one chair and one stand makes a huge impact. And offering to help the percussion with just one item has an exponential effect.
  • Read my blog posts. It saves time so I don’t have to repeat it all during rehearsals.

Enjoy the rain. See you Monday.