I’m writing a quick post to let you know that it looks like Michael Markowski will be attending this Monday’s rehearsal, to hear his City Trees. If that isn’t a practice incentive, I don’t know what is! (Follow the link above to his site, then click Performances to see our concert listed!)

Also on Monday: Jeff Goodwin will be coming for our first outing on his three vocal solos. And the guest players from the New Westchester Symphony Orchestra will also be joining us for their first shot at the Frank Gulino’s piece as well.

I’ll update the Rehearsal This Week page from Queensbury, NY this weekend, where I’m conducting the Saratoga-Warren County Music Educators All-County Band. I’ll send a quick reminder when that is posted.

Reminder: If you’re ever searching for anything in particular here on my blog, use the Search field in the upper right hand corner. For example, if you are looking to re-download this concert’s newly updated flyer, type “flyer” in that search field, and it will lead you to the October 16 posting with the updated flyer and press release.

Have a great week. I’ll be in touch this weekend.

I have updated the rehearsal plan for Monday night. Please check that page. I have planned a vigorous rehearsal.

We have updated parts ready for Some Enchanted Evening. I’m grateful to Zach Kampler for his help on this project. Please download, print, and bring the new Version 4 parts to rehearsal on Monday. Click here to download the most recent parts.

Our new chairs are on their way from Wenger! They will arrive on Tuesday or Wednesday. We have a group who is accepting and transporting our old chairs, and we need to load them out of the Music Hall Monday night after rehearsal to make room for the new chairs. Please plan to help us for an extra 15 minutes after rehearsal to help us load out the chairs into the truck. If everyone helps it will only take 10 minutes. Thank you in advance!

Finally, the Board acted on Tuesday night to release the travel agent with whom we were working from further actions on our behalf. On Wednesday I contacted another agent with whom I worked for over 10 years at NVOT, and am confident that he will be successful in helping us put a more competitive package together. We’ll share that information as soon as we have it.

Don’t forget: Ad forms are due this Monday. See you then!

REMINDER: The ad deadline for our first concert is this coming Monday, October 20. Make sure you give me a completed ad form for each ad. The ad forms are the only way I keep track this complex project. You can email ad copy to me directly. PDF’s are best!

I’ve updated the Press Release and Flyer to reflect our new soloist, Jeffery Goodwin. Please feel free to share the release and print/share the flyer. Here are the updated downloads:

• 2014-2015 Ad Form
• Updated Press Release
• Updated Flyer

I’ll post the rehearsal order for Monday shortly. There are only 3 Monday evening rehearsals remaining before we open the season!

The rehearsal plan for Monday is posted. Please read everything in this important post, and follow the two links to download/print your part for Some Enchanted Evening and our first NCB Chicago Trip Bulletin.

How are you doing?

We are now at the half-way point of our rehearsals for the Fall Concert. Time is flying fast! How are you doing with your weekly practice? Do you make a habit to practice (or at last warm up) at regular intervals during the week? I know it’s not possible for adults with careers and families to practice every day, but you play so much better when you do have some sort of regular warmup/practice on a weekly basis. Skipping time to play between rehearsals and then running into Monday evening rehearsals with no warmup is detrimental to both you as a player, and to us as an ensemble.

Baritone soloist for November 9

Yesterday I learned that Matthew Scott, our baritone soloist, is unavailable for the concert. But he has a good reason. Stephen Sondheim himself called him and asked him to take the lead in a new production of his first professionally produced musical, Saturday Night, which will run concurrently with our concert. It’s understandable why Matt feels he has to accept this gig, and we wish him the best. I’m on track with a new soloist, and hope to confirm him by Monday evening.

Some Enchanted Evening parts

The parts for our arrangement of Some Enchanted Evening are ready. I’m indebted to Zach Kampler, the new conductor of the Sound Beach Concert Band, for his help with this Sibelius project. Zach helped me to take a Philip J. Lang arrangement of highlights from South Pacific and revise it for our use with baritone solo. Click here to download/print your parts, just as we did last June, from this Dropbox.

NCB Exchange Bulletin #1

We have preliminary information to share regarding the flight and hotel information for the Northshore Band Exchange Trip to Chicago. Please download and read this Bulletin, and bring any questions you may have to the rehearsal on Monday night.