I met and worked with the two sopranos on Friday. Wowee — they sound great! I can’t wait for you to hear them! They will be coming to Monday rehearsals on October 26 & November 2, plus the dress rehearsal. I’ll visit those three pieces one more time before then.

Please keep in mind that we do have rehearsal next Monday night, October 12 (Columbus Day evening). I chose to do this because of the late Labor Day start to the season.

The rehearsal plan is ready. I hope you’ve been practicing! See you tomorrow night!

Several of you have been very kind to reach out to support me during this very difficult week since Tim Tull’s death. Although we accept the end of life as a fact of life, it’s never easy when it’s thrust in our faces like this. I especially appreciate the kind words from those of you who are all too familiar with sudden incidents such as this.

This week I’ve planned to do some in-depth work again on 3 of the 5 major works, and we’ll once again rehearse Tim Takagi’s piece. Mary Schneider was kind enough to send me a manuscript full score for the Latham, which will help a lot with that piece.

This week we will delay the stretch/announcements break until 9:10 pm. After announcements, I’ll dismiss everyone who does not play the three soprano duets. We’ll quickly clear percussion and all chairs/stands for everyone not involved in those three numbers. I will then rehearse those works until 9:45 pm, when those players will clear their own remaining chairs/stands. By doing this I’m trying to be respectful of everyone’s time and integrity of the setup/teardown of the rehearsal. (I’m choosing to try it this way rather than starting with the reduced personnel and adding chairs, stands, and percussion, which I feel will take much longer.)

Enjoy the rest of the weekend. I’m looking forward to seeing you on Monday.

My agent really blew it when he gave away my break-out role as Obi-Wan Kenobi to Ewan McGregor in 1999. I’m so glad I saved the poster.

Rehearsal

Our first Monday rehearsal (finally!) is this week at TMH. We’re going to dig into the big pieces, so be sure to check the rehearsal plan.

Dues

Marge has asked me to remind everyone to please bring a check to pay your dues this week. Let’s get this wrapped up quickly this year! We also have the new ad forms ready so we can fill the program with supportive advertising from local merchants, WSW sections, and businesses related to our WSW membership. Please download the forms and help us sell ads! Imagine if every member sold just one ad!

“Ayre & Space” flyer! Please share freely on social media!

• Full year rehearsal schedule (Schedules > 2015-2016 Rehearsal Schedule Grid)
• The entire season’s repertoire plan, including the instrumentation for all works (Resources > 2015-2016 Rep & Instrumentation Spreadsheet). This is especially important for Principals/Section Leaders.
• Information specific to the current concert and season, including Fall Concert flyers (both print and online versions), ad forms, 2015-2016 season brochures, plus resources for you and your students, including online metronome, staff paper, music theory resources, and much more. (Resources > Resources by concert/season)

Public website

We are in the midst of a total makeover of the ensemble’s public site at www.westchestersymphonicwinds.org. When ready, there will be a major launch announcement!

Here we grow again!

Finally, we want to pass on the news that our WSW family just grew again, as Mandy & Scott Rimm-Hewitt welcomed their third child! Baby boy Hewitt (soon to be named) was born on the 18th of September at 7:51 a.m. He is 20.5 inches long and weighs in at 8 pounds. Mom and baby are happy and healthy. And apparently he will be wearing a Miami Dolphins onesie very soon. Please join me in congratulating his trombone mama and tuba papa!

Practice!

Be ready for the big compositions on Monday night! See you then!

About 25% of the band came to pick up folders last week, so we should have a good foothold on reading down our first program, this Tuesday, September 15, at 7:30 pm at TMH. (If you responded that you cannot attend via the Concert Commitment form, consider contacting someone in your area to bring the folder for you, if you did not pick it up last week. We’re already aware of who cannot come on Tuesday, so you don’t have to contact Claudia separately.)

The only music not currently in the folders are for the three numbers for two guest sopranos. All three have reduced instrumentation, and I’ll hand these out on Tuesday night.

The first rehearsal is always a challenge, as we convene again, greet everyone, introduce new members, and get to work. Please anticipate this — come a little earlier than usual, help set up, and allow enough time to warm up adequately! For those of you who haven’t played a lot over the summer, dust the cobwebs off those horns, and spend some time playing long tones before Tuesday. Otherwise, you could experience some serious embouchure fatigue before the end of the night!

Last piece of news: We’re in the process of updating the WSW public website and are aiming for a launch by October 1. I’m grateful to Tom Sweezey for his flexibility as we move to a new server and a new WordPress platform, and to Chona Freedman, who is helping us gratis to set up the site. I hope you’ll be excited with the results.

See you on Tuesday this week, Mondays from then on.