This week’s rehearsals on Monday and Wednesday are pivotal as we prepare for our concert on Saturday evening. Please continue to care for your health so you are in fine form for the week.

Monday’s rehearsal begins as usual at 7:30 pm, but please remember that Wednesday’s dress rehearsal begins at 6:30 pm. This was necessary because of the AP exams this week and the need to get the NV-Demarest students home as early as possible. Please plan on arriving at 6:15 pm, we cannot get into the hall before 6:30 pm, but will need to set up quickly. I’m not concerned about the time to set up, as it will take some time to organize and the 120 voices settled. (We are rehearsing Carmina first.)

I never shared this YouTube video of a performance of the Fantasia in G on the original instrument. It’s interesting to note that the first and third sections of this piece are almost completely melodic with no supporting chord structure, that the Fantasia as we know it is nested in the middle, and that the piece as we know it ends on a diminished seventh chord. Goldman constructed the ending with plenty of suspensions to match the rest of the piece (like all those theory assignments all of us music ed majors did in undergrad theory). It’s also amazing how the orchestration makes it much more expressive. Clearly, Bach didn’t allow for an extra hand to change the stops during the Fantasia!

You can also examine the full score in the Petrucci library.

Happy Mother’s Day to all, and I’ll see you Monday.

Please remember to go to Scarsdale Middle School tomorrow night for rehearsal. Directions are on the Rehearsal This Week page.

Elizabeth Weissman asked me to pass on this notice about a bassoon for sale. Contact information is included if you are interested. Please pass it on.

I am selling my son’s bassoon since he upgraded to a professional Puchner while studying at Michigan. If you know anyone who may be interested, or may have students interested, in this bassoon please forward the Craig’s List listing.
http://newyork.craigslist.org/jsy/msg/4448499466.html
Thank you in advance for your assistance,
Kerry Tilden
Kerry@LoveTheOcean.com
973-903-8989 (mobile)
Maplewood, NJ

We do not have access to TMH this week, and Jessica Slotwinski was kind enough to help us book Scarsdale Middle School for our rehearsal. This is not the Scarsdale school where we rehearsed in the dead of winter (that was the high school). Please note Scarsdale Middle School is on Mamaroneck Road, not Mamaroneck Avenue.

Click here for the Rehearsal This Week page, which has detailed directions and a Google map. Click on the Directions tab, enter your starting address, and it will create directions (and travel time) for you.

We are rehearsing sections of all four works on Monday, and Shelley will be working with you again on the Bernstein.

See you Monday at Scarsdale Middle School.

Thanks for a great rehearsal on Monday, especially for your diligence and patience to record all those Carmina movements, and to run the Bernstein at the very end of the rehearsal. I’ve passed the videos on to Leslie and Shelley and am awaiting feedback. More later this week as we look ahead to Monday.

As I’m looking ahead to July, I’m investigating some of the new, more modern arrangements of 1812 (especially those with full scores). We don’t own our own set, and it will be impossible to borrow a copy for July 4.

In so doing, I came across this YouTube of a band from Japan performing 1812. It’s worth a viewing. Enjoy the clarinet “choreography,” and the Kalinnikov-style antiphonal brass at the end. It’s a particularly clean and inspiring performance.