The last Winter Concert we produced was February 9, 2020 – four years ago! So this coming week is pretty special on many fronts. We have our final rehearsal on Monday night at 7:30 pm (including both soloists), then the dress rehearsal is Wednesday at 7:30 pm. Call is 12:00 pm on Sunday, concert downbeat is 2:00 pm.
Rather than emailing them, I’ll simply give notes regarding the Tull rehearsal last week. Please be ready with pencils to mark your parts.
Friends & Family tickets are still available in person from Marge ($10) or from the TMH Box Office ($15, including Box Office fees if you use the coupon code distributed to members). Help us bring in a great audience!
After the concert, our next rehearsal is Monday, February 27 at TMH at 7:30 pm. We will read through the Spring Concert that evening.
Rossi clarinet for sale
See below for a message from Jenn Dashnaw, our clarinet soloist from November 2019 (and Rich’s sister). She’s selling her Rossi clarinet.
Luis Rossi Bb clarinet. Serial #: A1189 (2014). Boehm system/American model/silver plated. Adjustable thumb rest. Comes with 2 barrels & Rossi hard case. Contact Jenn at jdmooclar@gmail.com.
This week: news about our rehearsal on Monday, our concert, inspirational recordings, and a tour of the Grainger House. And — Happy Birthday today to Gerould McCoy!
Rehearsal on Monday evening
We return to TMH this week, and all of our remaining rehearsals/dress rehearsal and concert will be held there. This is a big program, requiring your best musicianship and stamina, and we’re down to the final two Monday rehearsals.
I’ve posted the rehearsal plan for Monday. Our guest conductor, David Blumenthal, will be on hand for his working rehearsal of the Dunton. Jessica will also have her final working rehearsal of the Standridge. We need to include a run-through of the Navarro (keep in mind it’s our opener) and the Tull (to gather all the past week’s work into a cohesive whole). We’ve been working intensely on the Thomas for many weeks; we’ll put that to the side this week and return to it next week on February 6, before the dress on February 8.
Concert on February 12
Click here for our listing in Westchester Magazine. Our press release has gone out to 100+ local media outlets!
Remember this is a 12:00 pm sound check/2:00 pm concert (because of the Super Bowl). Pick up Friends & Family tickets ($10) at rehearsal on Monday. They are also available on the Box Office concert site for an additional $5 convenience fee; use the coupon code shared in the separate email to unlock the discounted tickets. If you are a music educator, remember that you can request free tickets for your school group. Please share info about the concert –including the Box Office page — with friends, family, and neighbors, post the flyers we printed for this purpose, and bring in the audience!
I’m very grateful to Rebecca Weissman for her amazing talents with marketing our concerts, and to my former student Greg Governale, who continues to spearhead our publicity distribution from his home in New Jersey. Let’s pack the Music Hall once again as we did in November!
Lift Every Voice and Sing
If you haven’t yet, please listen to these recordings to help us prepare for our most authentic performance of our concert finale, Of Our New Day Begun.
Click below to hear the powerful recording of Lift Every Voice and Sing that Andrew Hill described in rehearsal this past week.
And click here to listen to the Bear Mountain Brass recording of the same hymn. Many of our members are part of this ensemble, which includes Ben Acrish, Stan Serafin, Chris Larsen, Chris Carbone, Michael Lucke and David Church. (Also in the band are Austin Day and John Hahn, who have subbed with us, and Uma Karkala.)
The Grainger House has invited me to lead the inaugural house tour in their new Third Sundays program. Because this is specifically geared toward conductors and music educators, I’m hoping it will be especially enjoyable for any of you who’d like to attend. This is scheduled for Sunday, February 19 at 2:00 pm. The tour is free, but registration is encouraged. The house is quirky and full of history, intrigue, and surprises. As I move closer toward actually retiring (insert laugh track here), I hope to spend more time volunteering at the Grainger House, especially since I live within walking distance and conduct the closest world-class wind ensemble to Grainger’s home.
We had an incredibly successful ticket sale for the concert in November. We now have the challenge to meet or exceed that ticket sale next month. You can obtain Friends & Family discounted tickets one of two ways:
Purchase F&F tickets at one of the remaining rehearsals for $10 each from Marge Hone. Cash, checks payable to WSW, and plastic accepted. Advantage: $10 is our best available ticket price.
Purchase F&F tickets directly from our TMH Box Office concert page. Enter the Winter Concert coupon code (sent in a separate email) to unlock the F&F discounted tickets for $15 each (price includes the $5 box office handling fee). Advantage: You can share the box office URL, discounted rate, and coupon code with friends and family without having to be the go-between.
Amazon Smile program ends February 20
We learned this past week that the donation program from Amazon Smile will end on February 20. We’ve received several hundred dollars in donations from Amazon since we joined the program, so it’s a bummer this is ending. If you selected WSW as your Amazon Smile designee, please make any applicable purchases by February 20, so we benefit from the resulting final donation. After that date, there’s no more free money.
Hear Andrew Hill’s recording
Click below to hear the powerful recording of Lift Up Your Voice and Sing that he described in rehearsal this past week. Thanks for sharing, Andrew!
This post looks at our return to TMH, a Buffet Prestige for sale, a dynamic album from Matt Podd, and my interview with Omar Thomas.
Rehearsal continues on Monday at TMH
We’re back to rehearsing at TMH on Monday. The rehearsal plan is posted. This is rehearsal #8 of 11 before the dress rehearsal.
Buffet Prestige R13 for sale
My friend Danny Mui (NYC Ballet Orchestra) contacted me to say he’s selling his Buffet Prestige R13. It’s only a few years old, and additional photos/serial number are available upon request. He’s asking $3800.00, so this might be good for an advanced high school player looking for an upgrade, or an adult player looking to replace their high school instrument. Note: he is willing to sell this clarinet with a monthly contract to substitute for payment in full. Contact me for further information.
The Podd Brothers
Following our concert last May, Matt Podd gave me a copy of his new LP, Mimi & the Podd Brothers/Live in Brooklyn. I didn’t have a chance to listen to it until Christmas, when Tim gave me a Victrola turntable. But now I’m wearing out this record! Catch a listen to one track via the YouTube link below, and consider downloading the album. It’s available from this site. I especially love the What Lola Wants/Habanera mashup. The jazz stylings are amazing, Mimi has a world-class voice, and the arrangements are spectacular. Here’s the first track from the album:
My interview with Omar Thomas this past Thursday
The good news: It was a thoroughly memorable and amazing discussion. Omar is incredibly personable, and my students interacted with excellent questions. I have an aspiring composer, a junior studying with one of the composition teachers at Mannes, and she was thrilled to have the chance to speak with him. We talked a bit about the piece’s inception. Of Our New Day Begun was certainly inspired by the terrorist attack at the Emanuel AME Church in 2015, but the piece itself draws its roots from everyday elements of the civil rights movement: the marching, the singing, the jazz influence, the emotional build. He told me “Don’t let the singing sound too pretty; it’s supposed to be church singing, not a choral concert.”
The bad news: After dress rehearsing the tech in my assigned space three times, the room’s sound system failed to put out more sound than a laptop. So playing the planned video of Of Our New Day Begun had absolutely no impact. And in the fray of it all, as I was trying to call our Tech Dept for help and balance the Zoom with Omar and keep the 40 students in the workshop focused, I completely forgot to ask for Omar’s permission and click RECORD on the Zoom. So I have a good story, but sadly no recording to share with you.
