Author Archives: Curt Ebersole

Staying the course – rehearsal on Monday

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Remember to care for yourselves

As we continue to navigate this period of the pandemic/endemic, please continue to be vigilant and care for yourselves. I always hope for a full roster at rehearsal, but am realistic too. Self-test as needed, and contact David when it’s necessary. But also be careful of slippery floors, doorways, and busy highways. There’s a lot out there that could disrupt our progress. Just be careful, please, and make good choices.

Saxophone master class with Chris Creviston

Chris is willing to lead a master class with area student and adult players on Saturday, November 5, 3:00-5:00 pm (site will be Fonseca Center Recital Hall at The Masters School in Dobbs Ferry). I put out the registration info and form to all the saxophone ensemble members, but have received only one registration. If you have a saxophone student (or a saxophone quartet – ahem, WSW saxophones!), please consider registering. Advertised deadline is October 10, but obviously I’ll be flexible. Click here for info and registration, or email me directly with questions. Observers are welcome to attend the Master Class; there’s no admission fee.

35th Anniversary Technology Fund

We’ve had a decent kickstart to this fund-raiser, but your help is needed to share our goal. Share this link https://donorbox.org/wsw-35th-anniversary-fund on your social media pages, via email, and on your personal sites and blogs. Much can be accomplished through crowd-sourcing — a large number of small donations ($25-$50) — and this method can go a long way! We’re also thrilled with large donations, but the idea here is to try to encourage lots of donors across all donation levels.

This Monday’s rehearsal includes everything but Markowski

Check here for the rehearsal plan and more for October 10. Michael will be visiting to work with us one week later. (That rehearsal on October 17 will be a ‘late start’ rehearsal because of a TMH musical theater rehearsal. Please plan to arrive at 7:30 pm and be ready to move when the all-clear is given.)

Program ads due October 24

We haven’t had program ad revenue in over 2 years. Please consider contributing to a section ad, or reaching out to family or local businesses to support an ad. If you have program ad forms/payments, please bring them on Monday and give them to Tom Sweezey, who is helping me to organize the submissions. The deadline is firmly on October 24. This only gives me a week to put the book together.

Reminders for Fall Concert performance week

Please book these details in your personal and family calendars:

Monday, October 31 – no rehearsal (Halloween)

Wednesday, November 2

    • 5:30 pm – Hall opens
    • 6:00 pm – Saxophone ensemble rehearsal
    • 7:30 pm – WSW full ensemble rehearsal; focus on Waignein with Chris Creviston, other works TBA

Saturday, November 5

    • 9:00 am – WSW dress rehearsal (Pre-Americana/SSB, Kennedy x 2, Waignein, Markowski). Clear percussion at end of dress.
    • 11:00 am – Saxophone ensemble dress rehearsal
    • 12:00 pm – Clear stage (WSW volunteers needed to stay and listen, and then assist with clearing stage)

Sunday, November 6

    • 12:00 pm – Hall opens (Crew will preset chairs, stands, risers, and percussion)
    • 1:00 pm – Sound check for all
    • 3:00 pm – Performance
    • 5:00 pm – Crew clears stage for us. Reception for all (sponsored by the Herko Family) at Christ Episcopal Church, 43 South Broadway, Tarrytown — one block from TMH.

Monday, November 7 – no rehearsal
Monday, November 14 – Winter Concert reading rehearsal. This will be another ‘late start’ rehearsal; plan to gather at 7:30 pm to await the all-clear.

 

Rehearsal on Monday, October 3

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Our rehearsals are numbered!

Incredibly, we have only FOUR working rehearsals remaining before the concert – October 3, 10, 17, and 24. We will have no rehearsal on Halloween, and then we have the Wednesday, November 2 full rehearsal (the saxes are rehearsing that night as well), and the dress rehearsal. So suddenly this is all happening very fast! The rehearsal plan for this Monday is posted.

Program ads

Click here for the 2022-2023 Ad Form. Please help us by supporting the ad program with an ad from your section, or from a local or family-related business. Ads are due on October 24. Please submit ad forms and payments to Tom Sweezey, who is helping to collect and organize them all. You can submit ad copy by emailing or sharing the file to westsymwinds@gmail.com (type Ad Submission in the subject line).

 

Rehearsal on Monday

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Monday evening

Shana tova to all who are celebrating Rosh Hashanah. As announced, we are rehearsing tomorrow night. If you are celebrating the holiday with family and have not informed David Church, please contact him immediately. The rehearsal plan was posted earlier this week.

NBA Revelli Composition Contest

Looking ahead, MIchael Markowski will be visiting rehearsals on October 17 & 24 in preparation for the concert. This past week Michael asked if he could make some recordings on those two dates, as he is considering submitting Desert Sage to the NBA Revelli Composition Contest. Please keep this in mind as you prepare your parts. I hope you’ll join me in recognizing how important this could be for both the composer (and for us).

Rehearsal on September 19

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Michael’s reaction

First, I wanted to share: I sent Michael the live recording of our read-through of the commission last week. It was unedited and untouched.

His response was, “Wow, this is probably one of the best first rehearsals I’ve ever heard! I think this is such a good fit for the band!” I think that is something to celebrate!

Michael has already added a Desert Sage page to his website. (I had to grin when I noticed that he’s rated the difficulty as “Hard.”) You can find the MIDI mockup recording, perusal score (August 1 version; extended program notes are not yet included in this version), and more.

Rehearsal plan

Please check the homepage for the rehearsal plan for this week.

State of the Band

I have allotted some time on Monday to talk about our financial situation at this point after losing so much audience revenue through the pandemic. We’ll be talking about our 35th Anniversary Technology Fund project, program ads, and strategies we can all utilize to bring our audience back into the Hall.