This week:

• Rehearsal on Monday at White Plains HS, and review of final rehearsals leading up to November 9 Fall Concert. The rehearsal plan is posted.
• Donor campaigns revisited
• Friends & Family tickets update
• Trumpet master class – looking for one more school opportunity
• Ad review

Rehearsal at White Plains HS on Monday night

We have only two remaining working rehearsals before the dress rehearsal. Here is the rundown of our final rehearsals leading up to the concert:

• Monday, October 27 – rehearsal at 7:30 pm, at White Plains HS
• Monday, November 3 – no rehearsal/there are already three services this week
• Wednesday, November 5 – rehearsal at 7:30 pm at TMH. We must wait under the marquee for the previous rehearsal to clear, then enter/set up as quickly as possible at 7:30. Morris Northcutt will join us to work on his three solos.
• Saturday, November 8 – dress rehearsal at 10:00 am – 1:00 pm at TMH.
• Sunday, November 9 – setup at 12:00 pm, sound check at 1:00 pm, performance at 3:00 pm at TMH
• Monday, November 10 – no rehearsal
• Monday, November 17 – read-through of Winter Concert program at White Plains HS

This is also posted on the home page.

Donor campaigns — please share!

The key to these campaigns is sharing them out via emails and social media. When players ask, “What can I do to help?” this is the answer. Please help us broadcast these campaigns for maximum exposure.

1. Annual Giving Campaign – This will support the band broadly in all areas, and will continue all season until next June.
2. Repertoire Sponsorships – Individual underwriting and program acknowledgements for each/all of our Fall Concert selections. If this is successful, we will relaunch this for the concert selections in February.

Friends & Family tickets update

The Music Hall has made changes in the way tickets are processed. This includes our Friends & Family discounted tickets and our comp tickets.

• Friends & Family tickets – Unfortunately, we are no longer be able to sell $15 F&F tickets directly to band members to distribute. All patrons must go through the TMH Box Office site. Enter the coupon code announced for this concert and the discounted tickets will appear ($15 + $6 box office fee, total $21). I will repeat the code again on Monday night, and it’s currently posted in the WSW Members Slack workspace, in the #general_band_chat channel.
• Comps – Marge is handling all comps directly with the Box Office. Speak to Marianne if you have a school group planning to attend.

If you have any trouble with the online Box Office, please call the Call Center at 914-233-3856, 10:00 am – 8:00 pm Monday through Saturday, and 10:00 am – 4:00 pm Sunday.

Morris Northcutt master classes

I’m still hoping to schedule one more school master class with Morris for Thursday, November 6 or Friday, November 7. Please speak to me to schedule.

Ads — thank you!

Thanks to everyone to submitted ads for this season’s program, and thank you to Tom Sweezey for helping to collect everything. On Monday night I’ll review the total list of what I received to make sure nothing has been left out.

Launching our new donor campaigns!

Today’s mailing list email!

Really big, big, BIG news today — after much work by our new Donor Relations Committee, chaired and spearheaded by Russ Ebersole, we are formally announcing two major campaigns today:

1. Annual Giving Campaign – This will support the band broadly in all areas, and will continue all season until next June.
2. Repertoire Sponsorships – Individual underwriting and program acknowledgements for each/all of our Fall Concert selections. If this is successful, we will relaunch this for the concert selections in February.

Please take a look at the informative email that Rebecca Weissman created to launch these two campaigns, and then please share both links with associates, family, and friends!

Please share these links to optimize our campaign efforts!

This week:

• Remaining rehearsals
• Program ads due on Monday!
• Tickets
• Trumpet events

Remaining rehearsals

We have only 3 working rehearsals remaining: this Monday at New Rochelle; Monday, October 27 at White Plains HS; and Wednesday, November 5 at TMH. Our dress rehearsal is Saturday, November 8 at TMH, and the performance is Sunday, November 9 with the sound check at 1:00 pm and performance at 3:00 pm.

Program ads

Please give remaining ad orders to Tom Sweezey by this Monday evening, October 20. Please give Tom all three:
• Ad order form (may seem unimportant, but it’s actually crucial for helping me decipher and plan the layout of the ads)
• Payment (cash, check, Zelle to treasurer@westchestersymphonicwinds.org; if paying by credit card please ad 3% to cover the admin fees)
• Program copy (can also be emailed as an attachment to westsymwinds@gmail.com)
Thank you!

Tickets, Tickets, Tickets!

We need to push ticket sales — we do not want to play this concert to a mediocre house! Please send friends & family to our Box Office page:
https://tickets.tarrytownmusichall.org/eventperformances.asp?evt=3115
To access the Friends & Family discount, enter coupon code Pines25 first, then the discounted rate will appear on the screen.

Rebecca has been hard at work advertising our concert on social media. Please like, forward, repost, and engage with the WSW posts on Facebook and Instagram. Search for @wswinds on these platforms! This is the easiest way to create excitement about the concert. Let’s get to it!

News a la Trumpet

• We have one confirmed master class with Morris Northcutt. I’m hoping to schedule one more. Any directors interested in having him in to your school for a session? Please contact me. To learn more about Morris, visit morrisnorthcutt.com.
  
• Bill Owens, associate principal trumpet of the West Point Band, is sponsoring Trumpet Day at SUNY-Purchase on Saturday, October 25. See details in the flyer below.
  

Thank you, everyone, for rising to the occasion last Monday. I heard excellent reports regarding Alex and Katherine leading the rehearsal, and I’m grateful to both of them for stepping in. That was the first rehearsal I have ever missed in 18 years. My Influenza A symptoms were really severe; I was taking opioids and was in la-la land through Thursday morning. It was ironic that my flu vaccine appointment was yesterday, but now I’m good to go. If you haven’t been vaccinated, I really encourage you to go. You do NOT want to get this!

Quick review of announcements:

• Rehearsal Monday is at Knights of Columbus in Port Chester. Please bring music stands! The rehearsal plan is posted.
• A big thank you to Marc Perler and Music & Arts! I hope the goodie bags have found good homes!
• Program ads are due next Monday, October 20. Sorry for the quick turn-around, but losing the September 29 rehearsal had its impact. Download a form here, or pick one up on Monday night.
• I’ve had one inquiry about a Master Class with Morris Northcutt on November 6 or 7. I’m hoping for one more! Please speak to me on Monday or email me.