Adding a Zoom forum just for band directors

We’ve had some great discussions in our weekly Zooms on Monday nights. A lot of the discussion has centered around music education — for obvious reasons. But we also want to give voice to others whose lives may not center around Flipgrid or Kahoot or tomorrow’s lesson plan, or who may just want to have social conversation about a wide range of topics, or just check in with friends who they have not seen in months.

So this coming week, we’ll have two Zoom conference opportunities:

• Monday, May 11 at 8:45-9:45 pm – WSW General Topics Zoom, with our special guest, Joe Greco! This week we alternate to the late time slot.
• Thursday, May 14 at 8:00-9:00 pm – WSW Band Director Forum. All band directors who are WSW members are welcome to join us, to discuss what’s working with distance learning, what’s not working, and share resources. The goal is to help ease the stress associated with teaching large band ensembles online, provide inspiration for the end of this school year, and prepare for whatever may come our way in September. The agenda will include opportunities to discuss successful strategies, advocacy, retention, and resources.

We welcome and encourage members to invite other Westchester area band directors to join us. To invite other band directors:

1. 1. Please share this post with fellow band directors so they can plan on the date/time
   2. Forward the Zoom login info when I send it out OR send me their names/email address so I can send the Zoom login info directly to them for next Thursday evening

All-member canvas

The board decided to canvas the membership to check in with everyone and see how everyone is doing at this point during the pandemic. If you didn’t receive a call to say “Hello! How are you?” yet, you will soon.

Even while we’re not rehearsing, we can make a difference through these outreach programs. I hope you’ll want to join us in one of the upcoming Zooms.

We first performed the music of Michael Markowski in 2012 – Turkey in the Straw. Since then we’ve performed several other works written by Michael, including Elixir, Tidal Forces, Joyride — and City Trees. This was the piece that brought Michael to Tarrytown to hear WSW for the first time, and we’ve enjoyed wonderful relationship ever since.

Michael joined us on Zoom last night. Those present had the unique opportunity to hear him talk about his latest project, released just this past weekend — the collaborative distance performance video of City Trees, performed by the Three Rivers Youth Symphony, and conducted by another friend of WSW, Maestro Brian Worsdale. It was amazing to hear him describe this project, and his unique involvement with it as composer and editor.

We’ve all seen these Brady Bunch-style performance videos, and I’ve talked several times in the Zooms over the past weeks and here on this blog, that we should not be misled into thinking that they are easily produced. Michael (who has an undergrad degree in film, not music) edited both the audio and video of this piece, and he brings this performance form to a whole new level. We all gasped the first time we saw Eric Whitacre’s Sleep video, way before distance learning was a real thing. And I’m definitely not saying we should drop everything and make a video. (The Bach chorale audio project was hard enough!) But, I had goosebumps watching this, and felt I had to share it with you. What Michael, Brian, and these students did is truly noteworthy. The trees were all photographed in Pittsburgh. And there’s a subtle homage to Leopold Stokowski and Fantasia as well.

I hope you’ll find 7 minutes of your time to watch this, and be inspired — like me — to long even more to return to our rehearsals and our real-time musical camaraderie.

This week:

• Rehearsal update for Caramoor cycle
• Anonymous donor funds received – but from who?
• An important letter from Björn Olsson, Executive Director of TMH
• WSW flute section unites for online performances
• Monday’s Zoom Meet & Greet at 8:45 pm, with special guest Michael Markowski – link info was sent earlier today in a direct email

Rehearsal update for Caramoor cycle

As announced last week, we’ve had to cancel all rehearsals in April and May, and cancel the May 16 concert. Hoping that we will be able to reconvene in June for the Caramoor performance, we learned that TMH is no longer available on June 22. So I’ve added a rehearsal on Monday, June 1 as our first Caramoor rehearsal. Please see the updated grid schedule, and this is also reflected on the home page of this site.

Anonymous donor funds received – but from who?

Marge, to whom we are extremely grateful for her dedication as our treasurer, reports that we recently received $855 from Network for Good, the vendor who distributes the charity donations from Facebook. This is a separate donation from the two birthday fundraisers in February, for Curt & Rich. Did someone else create a fundraiser? If so, thank you, and please alert us so we can make the appropriate acknowledgements.

An open letter from Björn Olsson, Executive Director of TMH

This letter was recently sent by our friend, Björn Olsson, the Executive Director of Tarrytown Music Hall. 

During this unusual crisis, the Music Hall has been closed, and like all other venues, they find themselves in a fight for survival. Click the graphic to read Bjorn’s open letter to the community, and please consider joining me in making a donation of any amount to help them at this time. The Music Hall’s success is critical to our success. Please read his letter, then follow the link at the end of the letter to make a donation to help keep the lights on at the Music Hall. Or click here to make a donation directly.

WSW flute section unites for online performances

The flute section has banded together (pun intended) and produced two collaborative recordings, and I’m sharing them here. Kudos! And below it, I added the Bach chorale that I put together from the 11 players who recorded parts and sent them in.

Quantz

Schubert

Bach

Do you want to create another project like the Bach? If so, please write me an email to suggest a band piece you’d like to see us create collaboratively.

In this post

• Rehearsals and performance cancelled
• Zoom on Mondays continue
• Online collaborations

Spring concert and rehearsals cancelled

I can’t describe the sadness with which I must share this news. The Board met this past week, and we felt we had no choice but to come to this conclusion. The COVID-19 pandemic has taken such a huge toll in human lives, and has affected all of humanity globally. And so now it is affecting WSW in this way, right here at home.

All rehearsals are now canceled through, and including, the spring concert originally scheduled for May 16. Our next scheduled rehearsal, for the July 4 performance at Caramoor, remains scheduled for Monday, June 8. Please hang on to all of your music for now, including the Maslanka parts. We’ll make further announcements about collecting old parts and distributing the new parts for Caramoor. God willing, it is my hope that we will meet to rehearse in June and perform in July.

Zoom on Monday at 7:30 pm

We’ll sponsor another Zoom Meet & Greet this coming Monday, April 20 at 7:30-8:30 pm. Our guest this week is Trish Cornett, from Temple University. I remain committed to offering these hangouts, and I hope you’ll join us to maintain your connection with the ensemble. I will continue to send unique login information each week to assure security. Look for that invitation in a separate, direct email.

Online collaboration

As anyone who is teaching online right now knows, these slick “virtual performances” that are appearing in Brady Bunch style require enormous resources of time, technology, and editing. It’s simply not easy. I received seventeen recorded submissions for our Bach Chorale project, and you can find the compiled recording below. Thank you to everyone who participated. The recording we created is in no way a finalized, polished performance. The final release is a bit ragged, but that’s something to learn from to go forward. But it does stress how important it is to keep playing, to band together, and that no virtual performance an ever take the place of actually gathering together to make music. 

Especially in light of the cancellation of our May concert, I’d like to put out another collaboration project, and encourage as many of you as possible to give it a try. It will help you keep up your chops, help keep your spirits high, and help to focus our attention forward to the point when we will rehearse and perform together again. When I have that project ready, I’ll add it to this page, under the Resources tab, and send out a post with instructions. The flute section has already formed their own online collaboration group, so I hope we can harness that energy and interest for everyone. 

I hope to see you Monday evening on Zoom!