Rehearsal canceled for March 9 – action required

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It’s with a great deal of sadness and concern that I’m writing to say that the Board just met via conference call and has decided that it is in the best interest and safety of the group to cancel rehearsal tonight.

IMPORTANT: If you are on the roster for the current cycle, please contact your section leader as soon as possible to verify receipt of this message. They in turn will pass the responses on to David to insure we’ve reached everyone. (The full list of section leaders is at the end of this post.)

This cancelation is for tonight only. The Board and I will review the situation to week to week as we move forward. The reasons include, but are not limited to:

  • Input from Ron MacKenzie, clarinet, who is a physician at Hospital for Special Surgery and has been keeping me abreast of communications to their hospital faculty/staff
  • Direct feedback from the Westchester Department of Health (call to them made by David Church, describing our membership size and demographics)
  • The Head of The Masters School, Laura Danforth, canceled all classes for this week, saying, “Weighing the potential consequences of staying open versus the potential consequences of closing the school for the week, I had to rely on the principles of health and safety. Staying open felt a bit like playing with fire.”
  • At the heart of our ensemble is our love of music and our care for each other. These are uncharted waters, and the last thing any of us want to feel is regret.

It’s my hope that you’ll find solace in practicing the sections which I planned to rehearse tonight, including these passages from the Maslanka symphony: 

Section 1: m.30-359
Section 4b & 4c (review from last week): m.572-711
Section 5 (mirrors Section 1): m.732-801

I’m working with Eric Milkie to correct the issues we’ve had with some emails not going through. In the meantime, please help us by reaching out to anyone you know that may have had receipt issues in the past weeks, and contact your section leader to confirm you’ve received this message. 

Flutes – Deb Dashnaw
Oboes – Gina Serafin
Blassoons – Liz Day
Clarinets, including Eb, Bb, bass – Geoff Katin
Saxophones – Tom Sweezey
Trumpets – Stan Serafin
Horns – Kathy Davis
Trombones – Rich Williams
Euphonia – Marc Tartell
Tubas – Chris Carbone
Percussion – Eric Milkie (on behalf of Mark Dodge, since Eric is on the Board and already working with us on this; better to send all responses to one recipient)

Thank you for your understanding and support.