Rehearsal on March 25

We continue to rehearse at the Music Hall this coming Monday. For the Hindemith this week, we will focus on movement III. The evening’s rehearsal plan is posted here. Flutes and clarinets: please bring a folding music stand again this Monday; we may run sectionals again for part of the evening, if the upstairs space is available again.

The Whiskey Crows

Rich Dashnaw plays guitar and writes horn arrangements for the Whiskey Crows, which rarely plays in Westchester. They will be performing at Gleason’s in Peekskill the day before Easter, Saturday, March 30. It is a great venue with great sound and great food. If you’re in the area, check it out!

West Point concert at White Plains was a huge success!

I’m running out of ways to say how grateful and thrilled I am about our West Point project! You certainly hit a high point yesterday with the Day, Giroux, and Markowski — way beyond what I thought might be possible with this quick turn-around mini-cycle, wedged in between the Winter and Spring concerts. I recognize that this kind of success is attained only because of a myriad of personal sacrifices on your part, ranging from great to small. I want to acknowledge this, especially in light of the tremendous success that yesterday yielded.

I want to especially thank (and I do this at great personal peril, in case I miss anyone):

• Katherine, for handling this mega-project of subs and scheduling
• All of the sub players (I just finished a separate note to all of them)
• Kathy, for willingly taking on the additional tasks required of being our host for the performance day and all the alternate site rehearsals
• Our WSW Board, led by Chris, for their support of this venture
• Rebecca, for the amazing work she did on public relations and social media promotions
• Eric, for managing/scheduling/shepherding our percussion section and maintaining our website
• Rachel, for arranging the wonderful Brazen Fox event and for a terrific performance with Katrina on the S&S solo
• Michael, for stepping in on keyboard in place of the harp
• and I’m especially grateful for YOU – for preparing, rehearsing, and performing with us!

What’s next?!?!?

We have rehearsal tomorrow night at TMH at 7:30 pm. I’m still planning the details of the rehearsal, but you can count on:

• Grainger – both Early One Morning and Handel in the Strand
• Hindemith – second movement
• CLARINETS – Please bring a folding stand tomorrow night. If I can get permission to use the upstairs reception room, I’m going to send you all with Chris for a short sectional on the Hindemith, second movement, for part of the evening’s rehearsal. Bringing a folding stand will make the move upstairs and back much easier for you!

And then what???

• I could still use a couple additional volunteers for the Masters Prism Concert on Tuesday, April 9. It’s a once-and-done flashmob rehearsal/performance of Ravel’s Bolero. Sign up here to join us. I promise that’s it’s going to be fun!
• WSW is co-sponsoring the rebooted Wind Conducting Symposium on June 1-2 with the Music Educators of Bergen County, the original sponsor. We need volunteer players for the wind ensemble lab sessions, and I encourage you to consider signing up to come play for at least one session. It’s really a great experience, and I promise you’ll come away enthused and recharged. Complete information about the event can be found here, and you can register here. All the Conductor spots are already claimed, but we have unlimited room for Auditors, and of course, Performers. Robert Ambrose will join me as our guest clinician, and he is very excited to return to the area to work with this group.
• And of course we have our Spring Concert on Saturday, May 11 at 8:00 pm at TMH (dress rehearsal on Wednesday May 8), and our 10th Caramoor performance on Thursday, July 4 at 8:00 pm (call time at 4:00 pm, dress rehearsal on Monday, June 30).

See you Monday night at TMH!

West Point Concert, Part Deux

Please double check the home page for the full schedule for Saturday’s concert with the West Point Band at White Plains High School. Call time is 12:30 pm (please check in with Katherine) for all WSW personnel who are playing this concert. As announced by Kathy, please put your cases/coats in the Orchestra Room (go off stage left and across the hall). West Point has their sound check from 12:45-1:00 pm; you can sit in the Orchestra Room or sit quietly in the hall during that time. Our sound check is on stage at 1:15-1:30 pm; please be ready to move quickly during the changeover at 1:00 pm so we can start our sound check promptly.

Yes, Virginia – there is rehearsal on Monday!

Monday’s rehearsal is for Spring Concert personnel. With the completion of this special West Point Band series it’s now time to really dig in. The detailed rehearsal plan will be posted by Sunday.

Thanks – see you (ie, those of you on the March 16 performance roster) on Saturday no later than 12:30 pm!

Neither snow nor rain nor washed out bridges nor security checkpoints nor closed roads stayed our players from the swift and exciting performance of their appointed rounds yesterday. Congratulations on a wonderful performance yesterday!

Col. Toven, SSG Kile, and SGM Garcia, along with all the West Point band members, were amazing hosts. It was so wonderful to experience the individual and combined musical experiences with them, see the post-concert photos opps with players from both groups, in addition to speaking with audience members who were truly impressed with the performance. I hope you felt that the West Point performance was really inspiring — I know I did! Thank you for your dedication, musicianship, and flexibility. These have all become hallmarks for this ensemble, and this makes me feel so very, very proud.

Remember that we are rehearsing at White Plains HS tomorrow night. The rehearsal plan will focus on tweaking some details for the reprise program next Saturday. After the break, players that are performing on March 16 but not performing on May 11 will be excused. We’ll spend the last part of rehearsal working on the Hazo Arabesque, the opener on the May 11 concert.

Again, congratulations. I’m looking forward to tomorrow night and next Saturday!