Thanks to everyone who called or emailed to ask about my cataract surgery. I was “off the grid” for almost 6 days because I wasn’t supposed to read or use my MacBook until the second follow up. Dr. Ettenson, my surgeon, seems very pleased so far. I am so glad to be rid of the cloudiness that has plagued me, especially in the past 6 months. He inserted a new lens prescribed to give me 20/20 vision in that eye (I don’t need a contact lens anymore), but without correcting to an advanced degree, because that would compromise my 18-24″ clarity (which I desperately need for score reading). I’m on 5 different eye drops for a while, but I can go back to all regular activities as of this Friday.

Monday’s rehearsal is at Scarsdale Middle School. Please be sure you go there, not to TMH. Directions are on the Rehearsal This Week page. I’ve read your comments from last week and am using them to construct the rehearsal plan. I got a lot of positive feedback from the rehearsal strategy used on May 18. I hope you agree that was a good direction that evening.

We have two working rehearsals before we leave for Chicago. It’s hard to believe that this trip is finally here! Please make smart decisions in your day-to-day routines to make sure we have no last-minute personnel drama. You are all irreplaceable at this point!

Also – I didn’t make a big deal about the conducting symposium this weekend because of the recent concert and upcoming trip. But, if you’re interested in play on Saturday and/or Sunday afternoon, 1:00-4:30 pm, in the wind ensemble session, you are most welcome. Mallory will be there, and it will be a great connection vis-a-vis for our upcoming concert in Chicago. If you’d like to play, please register at: http://wcs.ebernet.biz/registration/

Enjoy the rest of the week. I’ll see you (more clearly!) on Monday at Scarsdale MS.

And . . . Go Rangers!

Thank you, one and all, for such an exciting and dynamic concert last evening! Percussion, brass, woodwinds, string bass — you were all wonderful! It was a thrill to have Emily joining us, and clearly Chris needs to quit his day job to devote time to his new fan following. Lots of good things happened, and we have much to remember and consider from the experience as we move on.

Tomorrow night’s rehearsal is for the Chicago personnel only.
7:00 pm – Pack the Herkomobile for those who have indicated interest to have their instruments transported with Ed & Ed (rear parking lot of TMH)
7:30 pm – Rehearsal in TMH (Bernstein, Bryant, Maslanka; I will save the two marches for a later date)

I was able to capture decent video and sound from each of the eight pieces. It’s not CD quality, but it’s great for immediate feedback. See below for a playlist link to the entire concert. Currently, all videos are “unlisted,” and therefore unsearchable without the link. That may change in the future, but at this point, they are hidden from search engines.

Chicago personnel: See you tomorrow night!

This is it. Rehearsal Monday night focuses on the second half of the concert. We get one more working rehearsal on these three big pieces, plus the encore. And then we have the full dress on Wednesday.

Sell tickets. Invite someone new. And their wife, or nephew, or daughter, or boyfriend, or dog walker — whoever has a pair of ears and can applaud. Don’t assume that the hall will fill itself. Please do your part.

See you Monday night.

Dr. Emily Threinen will be here to work with us on Monday on the two Ives compositions. Please make sure you have the errata pages I handed out last time handy. She’ll be working the first half of rehearsal through the break. Our goal is to give her the best rehearsal possible, and hopefully eliminate the trip from Philadelphia for her on May 11. Regardless, she’ll be back for the dress rehearsal on Wednesday, May 13.

All of the transportation and housing data has been sent off to our Northshore hosts for June, and now it’s their turn to match homestay hosts with our homestay members. We also have the breakdown for our two group flights from Newark, and I’ll share those two lists on Monday. The formal invitation to Northshore to complete the exchange here in June 2016 has been written, and now we just wait for their official acceptance before formalizing the groundwork for that concert with us here next year.

Please read and refer to the Exchange Bulletin, which has the most current information, including our trip itinerary. As news develops, the Bulletin automatically updates, so bookmark it for easy reference. The Bulletin is also available from the Resources tab on the home page of this site (click on Resources > Resources by concert > Exchange Concert June 2015).

Lastly, our friend Bob Sherman, who narrated Lincoln Portrait with us several years ago and will be the concert host at Caramoor again this July, has invited me to be his guest on his radio show, “Speaking of Music,” on WVOX 1460 AM, this coming Tuesday, 2:00-3:00 pm. It’s a call in show — so don’t be shy. The  call-in line is 914-636-0110 (on air only). Bob has asked me to bring WSW CD’s with me to play on air, and we’ll be talking about the May, June, and July concerts. This is great PR for us — spread the word!

Remaining for May: two working rehearsals and a dress. Lock and load. See you Monday.