January rehearsals

We start up again on Monday, but remember that, as announced, the rehearsal on January 7 will be held at New Rochelle HS. Be sure to use these directions; do not follow your GPS.

I’ve posted the rehearsal plan for Monday, as well as the overall plan for the remaining Monday rehearsals and Wednesday dress rehearsal. See the entire plan here.

The Midwest

The Midwest Clinic was just amazing. For the first time in 30+ years, I didn’t feel hurried or compelled to attend events, but I still went to everything I wanted to attend, including the CSO Brass concert . The clinics presented by Tom McCauley and Shelley Axelson were extremely well attended and both were amazing in their own unique ways. The concert by Marjorie Stoneman Douglas High School was moving and of extremely high quality. Although their program was colored by the school shooting tragedy last February, it did not dominate the event. And I can’t say I’ve ever heard a high school band with such a warm sound, combined with technical virtuosity and emotional breadth. I heard a number of pieces throughout the weekend I want to consider programming, most by current living composers.

An idea to consider

Driving back from Pennsylvania between Christmas and New Year’s, I listened to several TED Talk podcasts. One focused on the difference between questions posed by investors to promoters of new startups. In her research, the speaker found that questions posed during investment presentations to male promoters focused on the promotion of the startup (“How do you envision growth of this company?”), whereas questions posed to female promoters focused on prevention of loss (“How do you expect to protect our investments during the first year?”). The speaker’s theory was that female promoters were questioned with a negative focus, compared to their male counterparts. Although not centered on gender, it occurred to me that rehearsal comments/questions, both from the podium to the group and vice versa, mostly focus on prevention, both in our ensemble and in most others: “That sounds terrible at m.13!” “Sarrusophones, we’re missing notes at letter D.” “Do we have to play so loud here at the mezzo piano?”. Instead, in the New Year, I will do my best to address issues via questions and comments of promotion — “Can you speak to me at the break about a possible wrong note at m.13?” “Sarrusophones, what can we do to improve the accuracy at letter D?” “What would a meaningful mezzo piano sound like here?” If you’re on board with the idea, I hope you’ll consider asking questions with the same intent as we move forward.

Creative practice fundamentals for your students (and you)

Marc Tartell found and shared this site, constructed by Gregg Goodhart from California, who has done research and presented clinics on creative practice. His site contains many innovative ideas for approaching practice, and includes this PDF, which suggests routines to assist students with improving practice skills. These could be great resources for your students — and also great ideas for your own practice.

Parking news

Lastly, when we return to Tarrytown on January 14, it appears that the parking lot behind the abandoned Citibank branch at 1 South Broadway will be open again for public use — happy news for us! See this article from The Hudson Independent, found by Eric Milkie.

See you Monday in New Rochelle.

Another calendar year has come and gone. Monday is our final rehearsal of the year, and that leaves only 3 working rehearsals in January before our concert on January 26. YIKES! So we have ground to cover. Check the link above for the plan for Monday.

Rehearsal date notes

I’ve learned from Karina that we cannot rehearse in TMH on our return date, January 7. It is likely that we’ll be rehearsing at New Rochelle that evening. We’ll confirm as soon as possible.

Please note that we are rehearsing on January 21, MLK Day.  With the concert later that week, we have no choice but to use the date. I expect our soloists and guest conductor to both join us on January 21. It’s possible we may also see the soloists on January 14, but at this point I don’t see that as likely. So the rehearsal on January 21 carries a great deal of importance. Please keep this in mind as you look ahead.

See you Monday!

It’s hard to believe the year is coming to a close, but here we are. We have two rehearsals remaining before the holiday break, both at TMH. The rehearsal plan is posted. 

Tim Allport brought in the latest Westchester magazine and showed me this page honoring all kinds of major birthdays throughout Westchester. Take a look, and be sure to look all the way to the right! (This is from the “Cheap Eats” edition, for December.) What great publicity!

And thank you to the trumpet section for inviting the Board to join them for “whiskey and pie” after rehearsal last week. In the course of finding the Bridgeview Tavern, we discovered another viable watering hole for Monday nights and possibly post-concert. And take a look at the view from the parking lot! See you all on Monday.

We’re focusing on Zdechlik, Reed, and Villa-Lobos on Monday evening. David Regner, our guest conductor for the Zdechlik, will be on hand for rehearsal on January 21, plus the dress and concert.

This cycle will go by quickly because of the two-week break for the holidays. Please stay on top of your practice and anticipate our rehearsal schedule for the January 26 concert. This is a Saturday evening concert, the first evening concert we’ve produced in January, so keep that in mind as well as we move forward.

Remember that many of our members are participating in the Chamber Music Concert at Katonah Presbyterian Church tomorrow at 3:00 pm. The concert is free, and a goodwill offering will be taken.

I hope to see familiar faces at the concert and look forward to seeing everyone on Monday night.