Wind Conducting Symposium

Thank you so much to the large number of players who responded to the call and are scheduled to play during the wind ensemble labs this weekend! And a huge thank you to Katherine for digging in and helping to fill out the rosters. Note that the entrance to use is around the back of the building. Pull into the school, drive along the right side of the building, go around the Auditorium, park in the rear, and use the doors closest to the Auditorium. The first door inside goes onto the stage.

Rehearsal on Monday at White Plains, NOT at TMH

We are rehearsing again at our alternate rehearsal site on Monday. The rehearsal plan is posted. We will also be rehearsing there on Monday, June 10.

See you Monday evening at White Plains HS!

We start the Caramoor cycle on Monday night. But before reviewing details about that, I need to ask for help with players to populate the lab ensembles for the symposium on June 1-2.

Wind Conducting Symposium

Click here to register to play in one (or more!) of the symposium lab ensembles!

We were so focused on the Spring concert over the past few weeks, which was important, but the symposium is now only two weeks away! The WSW board decided to co-sponsor this event with the Music Educators of Bergen County, Inc., and we need players to play for the lab ensembles.

If you’ve never attended a conducting symposium, it is a professional development workshop designed to give conductors an opportunity to hone their craft. You will meet other area players, and it is FUN! In order to be successful, we need an ensemble for the conductors to conduct. The event will take place at Northern Valley-Old Tappan HS in Bergen County, about 25 minutes from Tarrytown. There are 4 sessions: morning and afternoon on Saturday, June 1 and Sunday, June 2. Click here for the times for each session and to register to play. It’s a great learning experience for everyone — not just the conductors. And our friend Robert Ambrose will be on hand as our guest clinician. Several of you have already registered, but we need to fill more spots on the rosters to match the number of players coming from MEBCI. Please consider the dates and join us!

Rehearsal on Monday at TMH

The rehearsal plan is posted and parts are ready! Download your parts from this folder. As with the previous concerts this season, hard copies will not be distributed, so please make sure to download all 12 selections:

1. arr. Green – Pre-Americana
2. Smith – Star-Spangled Banner
3. Sousa – The Washington Post
4. Bock/Green – Tradition, from Fiddler on the Roof
5. Sheldon – Sixty-Six
6. Williams – The Sinfonians
   Puccini centennial tribute:
7. Puccini – Nessun dorma (Turandot)
8. Puccini – O mio babbino caro (Gianni Schicchi) – no trumpet or trombone parts
9. Puccini – O soave fanciulla (La Boheme)
10. Verdi – Addio, addio/encore (Rigoletto)
    Finale:
11. Tchaikovsky – 1812
12. Sousa – Stars & Stripes

Congratulations!

I hope you share my joy as I reflect on Saturday’s concert. Our ensemble played with great focus, energy, technique, and musicianship throughout the concert. The Hindemith was especially fulfilling, and we received a great audience reaction specifically for the Symphony. I am very proud of your work! We’ll take a short bit of time on Monday evening at the start of rehearsal to reflect together.

The parts for Caramoor are posted and ready to download. We meet again next Monday, May 20 for our first Caramoor rehearsal. The rehearsal plan is posted on wsw.ebernet.biz. The rehearsal plan is a great checklist for making sure you have all the parts you need.

Long day here — I’m hitting the hay. See you Monday at TMH!
Curt

Rehearsal, Dress rehearsal, Performance

We are rehearsing on Monday evening, then we have our dress rehearsal on Wednesday, and concert Saturday. There is a Taconic Opera Orchestra performance at 2:00 pm on Saturday, and they are using our risers, chairs, and stands. Hopefully, this will make for a smooth transition to our concert. The rehearsal plan is posted.

Hindemith rehearsal notes

I took extensive notes from listening to the recording of our rehearsal last week. Please open this Google Doc and mark your parts accordingly. This will save us a tremendous amount of time. I organized this by movement, with broad comments for Woodwinds, Brass, Percussion at the beginning of each movement section, followed by specific notes by instruments below. I tried to do this so you could scan quickly for notes your specific part, and not have to read the entire list of notes. I think you’ll find that Google Doc to be easier to follow than my original handwritten notes:

At the performance, I intend to speak to the audience before the Hindemith Symphony in Bb. Just launching into this work without any warning or explanation would leave the audience completely bewildered and flustered. My goal is that they will enjoy the work, not be frustrated by it. So on Monday I will hand out a short list of excerpts from the Symphony, and we will incorporate playing these excerpts during my comments. Don’t worry, I am being careful in my selection, so as not to tire you unduly before the actual performance.

This will be a challenging, exhausting, and thoroughly fulfilling week! I am so excited to share these final rehearsals and the performance with you, Chris Leslie, and Tim Robblee.

Looking ahead

• There will be no rehearsal on Monday, May 13.
• Parts for Caramoor will be uploaded and available by May 13. The first Caramoor rehearsal is Monday, May 20.
• WSW is co-sponsoring the Wind Conducting Symposium on June 1 & 2. There are four wind ensemble lab sessions (morning/afternoon on each day), and 14 conductors are registered. We need players! If everyone could volunteer for one of the four sessions, we’d wrap up the personnel assignments very quickly. You can register as a performer here, or speak to Katherine.