Lots to announcement this week, since I didn’t really have a chance to speak to you all last week.

• Rehearsal tomorrow, October 6, at White Plains HS. The rehearsal plan is posted.
• Program Ads
• Trumpet Master Classes with Morris Northcutt
• Gifts from Music & Arts/Marc Perler
• Eastman Wind Ensemble live streaming Maslanka #4 next week

Rehearsal

We’re rehearsing tomorrow night at White Plains HS. Directions and the rehearsal plan are posted on the home page. Next week, our rehearsal on Monday, October 13 is at the Knights of Columbus in Port Chester (bring music stands for this rehearsal).

Program ads

It’s time to fill our 2025-26 program with ads! Please download and use this form. Prices have not changed since last year. This is an easy way for us to develop revenue, and all ads run in all three concert programs. Deadline is October 20. Katherine will have hard copies for distribution. When ready, please give all ad forms/payments to Tom Sweezey.

Trumpet Master Classes with Morris Northcutt

Morris, our soloist for this concert, is offering to give master classes while he’s in the area. We’re looking to put something together on the two school days between his working rehearsal and the dress. If you’re a director and could host a master class — either for individual players or for your entire trumpet section — on Thursday, November 6 or Friday, November 7, please speak to me to set it up. The master class fee is $250.

Amazing gifts from Marc Perler and Music & Arts!

Our own Marc Perler is Area Development/ Retail Store Manager for the Greenwich location of Music & Arts. You may remember that we distributed over 100 boxes of reeds on two occasions that Marc donated. He is now offering “Director Goodie Bags” with valve oil, cork/slide grease, trombone slide cream, rosin, shoulder rests, rock stops, clarinet/sax mouthpieces/ligatures/caps, trumpet/euphonium/trombone mouthpieces, Essential Elements books (all instruments, for band & orchestra), and more. He’s going to bring these to rehearsal tomorrow night. Please see him at the break or at the end of rehearsal if you’d like to claim one of his Christmas-in-September bags.

In addition, he’s running this promotion just for WSW members:

For WSW members, I’m pleased to offer all members a 15-25% discount off of regular online pricing for not only Music & Arts band, orchestra & combo items (guitars, amps, keyboards), but for Musicians Friend & Guitar Center items, as well. Certain items cannot be discounted & for some items, discounts are limited. This WSW promo will run through 12/31/25 and at that time, Music & Arts will reevaluate this promotion for continuation.  Anyone who wants to take advantage of this can contact me for further info — contact me by email Marc.Perler at musicarts.com.

Maslanka 4 at Eastman

The Eastman Wind Ensemble is performing Maslanka’s Symphony No. 4 this Wednesday, October 8 at 7:30 pm, and it will be livestreamed. Kevin Holzman is conducting. Program also includes works by Higdon and Tian. This is an amazing opportunity to experience this cornerstone work that we have programmed for May. Click here for the livestream. The link will open approximately 15 minutes before the concert begins.

Meanwhile, in Croton Point Park today . . .

Thank you, everyone, for your outstanding work today. It’s never easy deploying a group this size to a new venue, especially one in which we’ve never played before. Thank you for being patient, kind, responsible, resourceful, and above all, incredibly musical. We got great exposure (special shout out to Russ for his unique business card idea), and I heard nothing but lauds and praise from the audience members who spoke to me. Someone sent me the photo below. It’s remarkable how it conveys the essence of the day!

We’re back at it for the Fall Concert program tomorrow night at 7:30 pm, in TMH. The rehearsal plan is posted. See you then!

This week is very different than most weeks, leading up to our performance at RevFest at Croton Point Park on Sunday. We have no rehearsal on Monday, a rehearsal on Wednesday at another new location, and a concert on Sunday at yet another location! Please note these important details below.

This week

• Monday, September 22 – No rehearsal. Shana Tova to those celebrating!
• Wednesday, September 24 – Rehearsal at 7:30-9:45 pm for RevFest 2025 at St. Barnabas Church, Irvington, 15 North Broadway, Irvington. (This program is a reprise of the Caramoor 2025 rep).
  Click here for the parts for the Rev Fest rehearsal/performance.
  The rehearsal plan is posted here on this site’s home page.
  Curt will print and bring a stack of maps and parking passes to St. Barnabas, but here are the direct links for you, just in case:
  Click here to download a Reserved Parking Pass.
  Click here to download a map of Croton Point Park for this event.
  Bring a music stand to St. Barnabas, please!
• Sunday, September 28 – Performance for RevFest at Croton Point Park in Croton.
  Attire – White tops/black bottoms; no jackets, no ties (same as Caramoor)
  12:15 pm report time – Allow extra time to cross the 2 lane bridge and park!
  12:30 pm – call time on stage
  1:30 pm – performance time
  2:15 pm – program ends
  Bring a music stand to Croton Point, please!
• Monday, September 29 – Rehearsal at 7:30-9:45 pm (Fall Concert rep) at TMH. Rehearsal plan will be posted by Thursday this week.

All of the information above is duplicated on my home page.

It’s a big week of rehearsing, performing, and connecting with many in Westchester who have never seen/heard of us. I’m eager to share this time with you!

This week:

• Sectionals on Monday at IPC
• Review our schedule
• RevFest 2025 later this month
• Our future at TMH
• Fundraising Committee news

Sectionals this Monday at Irvington Presbyterian Church

Set your GPS for 25 North Broadway, Irvington, NY. This is the same location where we’ve had sectionals in the past. Brass will rehearse in the Parlor in the main building, woodwinds will meet in the annex building (with new upgraded lighting!). The rehearsal plan is posted on my home page. Please help me thank Alex Gray, who is assisting with the sectionals on Monday!

Speaking of the home page, please bookmark that page if you have not already. My rehearsal plans are always posted there. And you can find links and answers to many questions (What’s the rep this year? Where is rehearsal this week? When is the next performance) right on the site.

Review our rehearsal schedule

We have quite a few rehearsals this fall at alternate sites. Be sure to review this schedule (I suggest bookmarking it along with the home page), and I will remind everyone week to week.

IMPORTANT: Katherine has updated the Absence Form for 2025-2026. Please use this form for this season. Trying to open the old form will result in an error message.

RevFest 2025

The week after the sectionals:

• No rehearsal on Monday, September 22. Shanah tovah to everyone celebrating the holiday!
• Our one-and-only review rehearsal is Wednesday, September 24 at St. Barnabas Church in Irvington (literally right next door to the Irvington Presbyterian Church).
• The performance is Sunday, September 28 at Croton Point Park, rain or shine. Call at 12:30 pm, performance at 1:30-2:15 pm. White tops/black bottoms/no jackets or ties, just like Caramoor. We are reprising the 2025 Caramoor rep, without the soprano solos. Click here for the Google Drive music folder to download parts.
• Click here for the RevFest 2025 website. This is sponsored by Westchester County Tourism, and the ensemble is being compensated for our performance.

Our future at TMH

In May, we were asked to move all of our equipment out to make more room for the TMH Academy performances. We managed to negotiate delaying the move-out deadline to December 31. The board has been working diligently to find another full-time rehearsal site, but it has been difficult. Our dress/performance dates at TMH are secure for this season, but after January 1, we have to crazy-quilt a rehearsal schedule based on the availability of our established off-site rehearsal spaces. Insurance requirements makes this an arduous task. We are trying to stay mindful of driving distances for north- and south-based players, but pleasing everyone all the time will be a challenge.

In addition, we are going to have to store all of our percussion equipment and music stands after January 1. We are looking for help from you, our members:

• We will be looking for volunteers who can help store one or two large percussion instruments in secure locations (basements, heated garages). In some cases, specific instruments which are not affected by cold might be be able to be stored in outside garages.
• It is likely that we may ask everyone to take a WSW music stand home, and bring it back to WSW for the next dress/performance.
• It’s possible that the black Wenger chairs can stay (for now) at TMH.

With this plan, we will rent large percussion for the February and May concerts, not move everything back and forth. In addition, we always rent for Caramoor.

If you have space for percussion equipment as described, please contact Chris Larsen (via Slack or in person at rehearsal) so we can start making a list.

Fundraising Committee

Anticipating additional expenses for rehearsal space rentals, percussion rentals, and more, we have established a Fundraising Committee. Chaired by Russ Ebersole, the committee currently includes Marge Hone, Rebecca Weissman, David Marchiony, Deb Dashnaw, Amanda Desperito, and Ron Cole (Caroline Cole’s father). We are grateful to these volunteers and invite any other members who are not currently serving on our board to join the committee by contacting Russ (via Slack, or in person at rehearsal).

Russ made an amazing presentation to the board this past week. We look forward to the committee’s endorsement of this plan and launching the campaign at the Fall Concert.