MLK Day rehearsal at UUFNW

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This week:

  • Rehearsal Monday at UUFNW / Rehearsal chairs
  • Rep underwriting link – please share
  • Advance notes for Maslanka #4
  • Laubin Oboes, Ruthie Garcia, and Scott Bernitt in the New York Times

Rehearsal Monday

It’s almost impossible to find a space to rent for rehearsal on a national holiday (as we’ve learned over the past years), so our access to UUFNW is very fortunate this year on MLK day. As needed, set your GPS to ​236 South Bedford Road, Bedford, NY 10506.

Remember to bring a music stand. As our departure from TMH continues to unfold, we will have standards and procedures to discuss heading into the February 4 dress and February 8 concert.

I contacted Keith Kile, and he will be joining us on Monday to rehearse movement 3 with Alex Gray on the podium. I am sure this will help advance the piece a great deal.

Regarding the chairs at UUFNW: If you find them a bit uncomfortable, you’re not alone. For now, the best solutions are: 1) Sit at the front of the chair, with your tusch on the highest point so you don’t sink into the lowest point at the back, or 2) Consider bringing your favorite folding chair. The board will be looking at potential long-term solutions for this issue.

Donor Relations Committee has been at work – please share!

Our Donor Relations Committee is repeating the repertoire underwriting project through GiveButter.com. It’s our hope to draw outside donors into our circle with this low-impact entry-level fund-raising campaign. Please share this link with friends & family who have attended our concerts and may want to take a step toward becoming more involved:
https://mailchi.mp/westchestersymphonicwinds/winterrepauction

This linked communication also has a reminder for the Box Office link. The Friends & Family coupon code is posted on Slack, and I will repeat it again at rehearsal on Monday.

A few notes about the Maslanka Symphony for May

We were able to secure the rental of the symphony with the credit we earned from the 2020 rental, because we never performed it due to the pandemic. The parts have arrived and I’ll be able to share the parts soon.

I’m hoping that our clinician from 2020 will revisit the “babies” solos with the clarinets to assist in preparing those parts. I will be asking interested players to prepare the solos and audition to perform these solos at the concert. There are solos for the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd clarinet parts. More as that develops. And Matt Maslanka is definitely interested in coming out to work with us in at least one — possibly two — clinic rehearsals.

By the way, the family prefers their name to be pronounced mass-‘lang-kuh, not mass-‘long-kuh. Read more about David, and his son, Matt, at davidmaslanka.com.

Laubin Oboes in the NYT!

This is an amazing article about A.Laubin LLC, posted this week on January 14. Two members of WSW — Ruthie Garcia and Scott Bernitt — work at Laubin. Ruthie works in Operations/Sales and Scott works in production/key making at the new operations facility in Holmes, New York. Both are mentioned in the article, and you can see and hear Ruthie playing in the online article!

You may remember that the owner of Laubin Oboes, Jim Phelan, came to one of our rehearsals at Knights of Columbus to speak about Laubin entry-level oboes for schools. Consider contacting him or Ruthie if are in the market to buy a reliable instrument for your school.

I’ll bring the Arts & Leisure hard copy to rehearsal on Monday. Please join me in congratulating Ruthie & Scott!