I hope everyone enjoyed the holiday with family and friends. I felt fortunate to spend three days with my mother, Helen, in Lancaster County. She watched the concert in real time on November 14, and sends her congratulations to everyone.

We’re rehearsing as a full ensemble on Monday at 7:30 pm, the first of three Monday rehearsals before the holiday break. (The posted rehearsal plan is the first half of the program.) We are still waiting for confirmation from the school where we’ve made application to rehearse on the Mondays that TMH is not available (January 3, 10, 24, 31), but will advise everyone as soon as the plan is confirmed. 

Monday’s rehearsal has a late start again

We’ve learned that Random Farms has one final performance, on Monday. So we need to gather again at 7:45 pm outside the marquee entrance, stay out of the way of the doors as parents exit, and then wait for the all clear before entering the hall. Once parents are clear and we can enter the hall, please wait in the concession area until the TMH crew gives us the all clear to enter the seating area and set up the stage. 

The rehearsal plan is posted. Our goal is to read through the entire program, as we’ve done before. This is an exciting program with three new arrangements for solo accordion and band, written specifically for us by Barton Green. We’ll hand out new music to put into your folders. If you play from an iPad, you can find PDF parts to six of the pieces in this folder.  I’ll do my best to push us through all the pieces by 9:45, but please make plans to stay until 10:00 pm again if needed.

I’m still making decisions about the plans for the next weeks’ rehearsals (full rehearsal vs sectionals), and will announce these plans on Monday. Anyone who has family plans for first night of Hanukkah, on Monday, December 29, should advise David, as this information will help me create the best plan.

Marquee Records

Tarrytown Music Hall is happy to announce the grand opening of Marquee Records, coming soon! It will be located on the second floor of The Tarrytown Music Hall. They are now accepting donations indefinitely. All proceeds to benefit the Hall. Thanks for all your support. Please help them spread the word and follow them on social media. 

Kudos

“It takes a village.” I can’t think of a better example of that old adage than yesterday’s concert. So many moving parts, so many solos, so many tricky entrances and meter changes, all compressed in one afternoon with one goal — sharing our love of music — and accomplished with only one full rehearsal inside the Music Hall. When you have a chance, I recommend checking out the archived video on our YouTube channel. And I’m very eager to hear the final audio recording when produced.

I wish I could have thanked you all individually yesterday as we left the stage. Instead, this note of gratitude will have to do. Thank you to each and every one of you for your contributions to such a successful concert. 

Upcoming schedule includes some challenges

There’s no rehearsal tonight. We meet as a full ensemble next Monday, November 22 at 7:30 pm in TMH to read through the Winter Concert program. At that point, I’ll announce how we are proceeding through the next three weeks (November 29, December 6 & 13) before our winter break. In the meantime, if you have an association with a school that might be a potential alternate rehearsal site (must have chairs, stands, and percussion), please contact me. There are five Mondays that TMH is not available in January/February. We have two Saturday mornings reserved in January at TMH, but I want to avoid them if at all possible!

Enjoy the week — thank you again!

Here we go. This is it. We’re finally all going to be together for Saturday’s dress rehearsal and Sunday’s concert. Please encourage family, friends, students to attend — or watch the webcast which will be streamed right on our website at www.westchestersymphonicwinds.org.

All concert details are repeated below.

Saturday, November 13

9:00 am – 12:00 pm: Dress rehearsal. Please enter from the back door. Remember that you need to plug the meters (or use the app). We need to set up and tear down, because there is a Roseanne Cash concert Saturday night.

Be sure to complete the quick health screening form before arriving. My intention is to rehearse sections in every piece that need to be addressed, take a break (use this time to renew your meter), and then run the program. I expect to be finished and clear of the space by or before noon.

Sunday, November 14

IMPORTANT: We must wear masks anytime we step off stage or out of the backstage area. 

12:00 pm – TMH opens for us to set the stage. Please consider coming early to help. Be sure to complete the quick health screening form again before arriving. The crew will have brought up all chairs/stands/percussion/piano late on Saturday night, and set the risers. We are not using the shell. We just need to place everything in place.

12:45 pm – Please arrive by 12:45 so we can start the sound check on time, and end at or before 2:00 pm.

1:00 pm – Sound check rehearsal. 

2:00 pm – Break.

2:45 pm – Pre-show Grainger House video plays on the screen at front of stage. Percussion and rows 3/4 can slip in and take seats quietly while video plays.

2:56 pm – Video ends, crew raises screen. Rows 1/2 take seats (some chair/stand adjustment might be necessary).

3:00 pm – When house lights dim, Gina gives tuning pitches and we go. After the concert, the TMH crew will tear down everything.

Here again are all the concert details published over the past weeks:

• Dress rehearsal is Saturday, November 13, from 9:00 am to 12:00 pm for all personnel. 
• Sound check is 1:00 pm on concert day, Sunday, November 14. The Hall is open to us at 12:00 pm that day for setup. 
• Attire for the concert is concert black, like all previous concerts. Please do not wear cologne or perfume on concert day.
• TMH crew will set up the risers and bring up chairs/stands/percussion on concert day. We just need to move our chairs/stands into place. They will also tear down everything after the concert.
• Concert run time is approximately one hour 15 minutes, with no intermission. The concert has 38 minutes of program time. 
• All audience members must present proof of COVID vaccination and wear masks during the performance. 
• The Grainger House representatives are preparing a short video that will be projected on the screen at the front of the stage at approximately 2:45 pm. The screen will then be raised, and then the players at the front of the stage will take their seats. I’ve invited Susan Edwards Colson, from the Grainger House board, to welcome the audience near the beginning of the program. 
• We are presenting our second Life Achievement Award to Joe Greco near the end of the program. Joe has made innumerable contributions to music education in Westchester County and several of his former students from Ardsley High School play in our ensemble.
• Concert tickets are now available through the TMH Box Office. Please share this link for anyone looking to purchase tickets. (Many thanks to Rebecca Weissman for her help with the box office graphic and press release!)
• We are again offering half-price Friends & Family tickets @ $10.00 each. See Rachel or Marge to purchase these tickets, or contact her to reserve tickets (first and last name/number of tickets) for COD pickup at Will Call. (Note: for this season, the board suspended the quota of six F&F tickets per member.)
• Concert flyers are available for download on the Resources page. I will also have hard copies available on Monday.
• This concert will be webcast by TMH. The webcast can be viewed on our main ensemble site (www.westchestersymphonicwinds.org), and streamed (and archived) via our YouTube channel. Please encourage friends and family outside the tri-state area to join us in this way. We are not ticketing viewership for the webcast, but I will be encouraging those watching to make a donation in lieu of the cost of admission. The board will assess the success of the webcast and make decisions regarding webcasts of future concerts.

Thank you — everyone — for all the effort and dedication you have brought to this ensemble during this difficult time. Sunday should be very exciting!