I hope everyone has enjoyed the holidays so far. The New Year brings some particular challenges for me, and this affects all of us. Please be sure to read all of this post.

Percussion move

First, please join me in thanking Eric Milkie and the crew of volunteers who moved all of our WSW percussion equipment out of TMH on December 20, and transferred it to the storage area at the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Northern Westchester. This was the only viable storage possibility for us in order to meet the December 31 deadline. Please help me to thank Eric and his crew: Mike Benoit, his daughter Ava Benoit, Diane Surís, Chris Larsen, Nate Brewster,  and Russ Ebersole.

As announced, the board voted to accept the offer presented by UUFNW. Our percussion is now stored there, and we will alternate rehearsals between that site, White Plains HS, and New Rochelle HS. It is our intention to rotate around among these sites to try to be as fair to all members’ travel as possible.

January rehearsals

The sites for our upcoming rehearsals will be as follows:
January 5 – UUFNW*
January 12 – New Rochelle HS
January 19 – UUFNW*
January 26 – White Plains HS
February 2 – UUFNW*
February 4/Dress rehearsal – TMH**
February 8/Sound check & performance – TMH**
* Please bring a music stand. This can be your adopted WSW stand if you wish.
** Please bring all adopted WSW stands for this dress and performance.

We have acquired the acoustician report created for UUFNW from 2018. We will have an acoustician visiting the January 5 rehearsal to listen and then hopefully make some recommendations to deaden and balance the sound in the room.

Conducting reassignments for the Winter Concert

In late December, I was diagnosed with a basal cell carcinoma about 3 inches below my left collar bone. The surgeon determined that I am an excellent candidate for Mohs surgery, and he expects a full recovery. However, I found myself in a position in which I could not delay this surgery, and so it is scheduled for January 5. The surgeon told me that I will not be able to exercise or conduct for four weeks after the surgery, to allow for the site to heal completely, but it is my hope to return to conducting with my right hand only after two weeks of complete rest. In order to facilitate this development, I recruited help and have made some reassignments for conducting on the Winter Concert.

• I will conduct the Mackey, Beckel, Nelhybel mvmnt II, and Barker on this concert. Jessica and Alex Gray will assist me to rehearse these works through January 19, then I plan to take over for the final rehearsals and concerts. In these first three rehearsals, Jessica and Alex will conduct, and I will coach from the sidelines. (“Coach” and “Sidelines” were never words I ever thought I’d use in a self-description!)
• Devon will continue his rehearsals and will conduct the Sheldon at the performance. Jessica will now conduct all the rehearsals and performance of the Dunton and Nelhybel mvment III. Jasmine Britt, our guest conductor, will rehearse and perform the Barfield as scheduled, but will also take on the rehearsals and performance of the Nelhybel mvment I.

I am extremely grateful to Jessica, Alex, Jasmine, and Devon for stepping up to assist me during these next weeks in January. Thank you!

In order to help everyone anticipate what will be happening within these new conducting assignments, I have planned all the rehearsals from and including January 5 through the dress rehearsal on February 4. January 5 is already posted on the home page, but please click here to see the plans for the remaining rehearsals.

Midwest Clinic 2025

I had a very successful trip to Chicago earlier this month for the 79th annual Midwest. My clinic presentation, “Architecture & Inspiration: the Percy Grainger Home & Studio,” was very well attended and very successful. The Grainger Society would now like me to reprise this clinic at the Grainger Symposium in Provo, Utah in March and the NYSSMA convention next December.

I connected with many composers and conductors at Midwest this year. The most noteworthy meeting was with Viet Cuong, which was extremely positive and productive. I’ll reflect on this in person on January 5. I also spoke with Matt Maslanka and gained a number of insights about our performance of his father’s Symphony No. 4, and also made initial plans for a rehearsal collaboration with Dr. Daniel Cook and the Ithaca College Wind Ensemble, who will perform the same symphony a month ahead of us in April. And the closing concert was a special performance by the Northshore Concert Band, a thrilling performance which brought the attendees to their feet.

Symphony No. 4 on May 9

The rental parts from Presser have arrived, and I will post the parts asap on my home page. I’m making plans with Manny Ramos to help the clarinets prepare for the “babies” solos and will share that information when finalized. We have two Mondays off between the Winter Concert and the first rehearsal for the Spring Concert on March 23. Please plan now to use that time to prepare the Maslanka parts for that first rehearsal — especially the bebop section.