Final rehearsal & dress

Like R2-D2, it’s time to plug it in for that last push! We have our last working rehearsal on Monday, and our all-important dress rehearsal on Saturday (10:00 am – 1:00 pm). On Monday, I’m starting again with the soprano solos. As announced on the Rehearsal This Week page, please help us to set up for the 7:30 pm start (all chairs, stands, and percussion in place), but feel free to sit in the orchestra seats to start if you don’t play for the duets, instead of starting everyone on stage. It’ll just save time.

It’s in print!

The Times article was published, as promised, on page WE8 in the Metropolitan section. If you subscribe to the Saturday/Sunday issues, it’s on your doorstep right now. Otherwise, look for it on newsstands tomorrow. Talk about perfect timing for our concert!

Promotions on social media

I will bring our four Star Wars characters on Monday (Luke, Han, Leia, Darth). Please consider taking selfies with them and posting them to Facebook and Twitter to help make one last push for ticket sales. We have a guaranteed “win-win” with the Star Wars connection on this program, so we need to squeeze every ounce of promotion out of it, because something like this is not going to come around again until the next blockbuster triple trilogy (ie, not in our lifetime).

Grand Street Community Band, Brooklyn Wind Symphony, Northshore Concert Band

Lastly, there are two concerts of significance this weekend. Locally, the Grand Street Community Band and Brooklyn Wind Symphony have a double-header concert tomorrow, Sunday, November 1 at 3:00 pm at 850 Grand Street, Brooklyn, NY (Grand Street High School Campus Auditorium in Williamsburg). Yes, it’s Marathon Sunday, which might make the trip difficult, but they are webcasting the concert live on www.michaelmarkoswki.com. The Grand Street program is at 3:00 pm, Michael is giving a pre-concert talk at 4:15 pm, and the all-Markowski program is at 4:30 pm. Jeff Ball and Brian Worsdale work magic with these groups, and a highly recommend this.

Also tomorrow afternoon, at 3:00 pm Central time at Pick-Staiger Concert Hall, our friends in the Northshore Concert Band present their first concert of the season. This will not be webcast, but it’s going to be an amazing program. Christopher Martin, principal trumpet of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, and his brother, Michael Martin, section trumpet with the Boston Symphony Orchestra, are the soloists. They are playing — yes, you guessed it — the Carmen Fantasia. Talk about sibling rivalry! This will make for some interesting discussion when NCB arrives at our doorstep next June!

Enjoy the beautiful weekend weather, and I’ll see you at TMH on Monday evening.

Phil Lutz’s article will be published this Sunday, November 1 on page WE8. Read the online version of the article here.

Congratulations, everyone! This is a huge milestone!

If anyone is interested in having Mary Schneider come to your school for a band clinic on Friday, November 6, please speak to me tomorrow evening.

See you then!

Ummmmm . . . so glad you could stop by. Can I get you a cup of coffee . . . or maybe a new Death Star?

Talk about “awkward.” This guy was really pushy, and I didn’t even know how he’d drink a cup of coffee, even if I did make it for him!

Rumor has it that Darth and three of his friends will be attending rehearsal next Monday. So make sure you bring your selfie-cam. We hope you’ll take and post these pics to Facebook and Twitter to help promote the concert.

Soprano Duets & rehearsal plan

This Monday, our guests are soprano Kyunghee Kim and mezzo soprano Eunjoo Lee-Huls. We’ll devote the first part of rehearsal to integrating their solo voices into our performance. Please plan on arriving at the regular time, setting up the full stage as usual, even though the complete full ensemble won’t be playing at the start. I prefer this to having players arrive later, and having to pull more chairs/stands and percussion into the setup mid-rehearsal. This will save time overall.

The rehearsal on Monday will include a run-thru of the Biedenbender, recording it so I can send it to Mary Schneider, as well as a final run-thru of the Holst/Williams mashup. In addition, Tim Takagi will rehearse his piece. Tentatively, Michael Markowski has indicated that he’ll attend next Monday’s rehearsal to hear his piece (he cannot attend this concert due to a conflict).

Ads

We’ve collected 11 total pages of ads — matching our ad page content from last year. If there are any last-minute additions, I need them on Monday without fail (ad form, copy, and payment, please). In addition, there are several members who gave me ads last week without payment; please bring for Marge this Monday.

Tickets

The Friends & Family ticket program is off to a great start. Remember that everyone is still getting 2 comps to each concert, but in addition, we’re asking everyone to sell 6 Friends & Family tickets (good for any TMH concert) at half-price, $10 each. This will not only add to revenue, but also to filling the hall!

Caramoor

Paul Rosenblum and I had a phone chat yesterday about the 2016 program. He specifically asked for a Herbert L. Clarke-style soloist, so I have invited John Palatucci, euphonium, to join us as our instrumental soloist. John was very excited and flattered to be invited, and he eagerly accepted. As a special favor, Paul also asked if we “could possibly play music from Star Wars.” I think that might be possible.

Benefit Concert

Please keep in mind that we will have no rehearsal on November 9, the day after the concert. The next week we have rehearsal on Monday, November 16 at TMH, dress rehearsal on Wednesday, November 18 at Congregation Kol Ami in White Plains, and concert on Saturday, November 21. We will post directions. Everyone will be asked to bring their own music stand for this dress rehearsal and concert. The program pulls rep from the November 8 and this most recent Caramoor program. Click here to see the complete program.

The New York Times

Lastly, thank you for your work last week when Phil Lutz was here. I was flabbergasted that he stayed for the entire rehearsal. When Rachel asked him, “Is this what you expected?” he replied, “Yes. Anything less and I would have been disappointed.” So the fact that he stayed until we finished is a very positive sign. Although I have no guarantee yet of publication, things are looking good. When we have further news, you will be the first to know!

Thanks for your continued dedication and hard work. It is a very exciting time to be a member of WSW! See you Monday.