I hope everyone had a spectacular Thanksgiving, and that you all have recovered from the food coma and Black Friday shopping mobs. It’s hard to believe that the holiday season is already officially underway.

We have one more late start on Monday. It seems that the hall was available to us earlier than the promised 7:30 pm access time the past two weeks, and the setup happened quickly and efficiently. If we can make that happen one more time, we’re in good shape. We’ll begin as soon after 7:30 as possible with the posted rehearsal plan.

If you didn’t pick up your CD’s, thumbdrives, or SD cards from Marge, please bring payment on Monday so Marge can clear off her dining room table. Thanks.

Charlie Gray

You may remember Charlie Gray, who subbed in with us on bari sax last spring. I met Charlie originally last January when his son played in my DCMEA Wind Ensemble. He is an amazing musician and skilled woodwind repairman. Charlie had a massive stroke in September, one day before his 44th birthday. His friends have mounted a crowdfunding campaign to help the family with the massive financial strain. Please consider visiting this page or clicking on Charlies’s photo to learn more, and consider making a donation.

Enjoy the rest of your weekend, see you Monday.

Headlines this week

Errata in the Nelson, start time on Monday, “Third Friday,” Syracuse University, and NYSBDA

Errata – Nelson

The Nelson parts are, in a word, a mess. The piece is infamous for all the errors. Please take the necessary time before Monday to check your parts for relevant corrections from this errata document. There are lots of errors, and we need to deal with these immediately before going any further with rehearsals. I pulled the errata from three sources, and organized the errata by instrument in score order, so you only have to look in one place to find all your corrections.

Another late start on Monday

Again, please meet at 7:30 pm outside the front door of TMH, just like last week. And please be prepared to work until 10:00 pm. (There’s just one more week of this!)

Third Friday in Tarrytown

Many thanks to Chris Larsen for spearheading our first appearance at the Tarrytown “Third Friday” community celebration last evening, and to Marge Hone for helping to help at the table. We passed out brochures and Winter Concert flyers, played “The Best of WSW” on portable speakers, and even received a donation! We hope to continue this promotion in the spring when better weather returns; please consider volunteering when we get to that point. It’s a great way to promote the group, it’s fun, and there’s great food to be had within spittin’ distance!

Syracuse University Wind Ensemble

Thank you again for your wonderful, focused work with Jeff last Monday while I was in Syracuse. Brad Ethington was a wonderful host. I spoke in his undergrad conducting classes and conducted the wind ensemble on the last three works on the Tuesday evening concert, including the Bach chorale, Latham chorale prelude, and Biedenbender Luminescence. The students were simply magnificent. I sent David the recording of his piece and he replied with “Outstanding performance!” so I was very pleased. This whole exchange with Brad here and me traveling there has been a truly engaging and collaborative experience.

NYSBDA update

Brad also took me to the Holiday Inn Convention Center in Liverpool where we’ll be playing on March 4, and I got a tour of the facility. It’s your basic Bb carpeted ballroom, with folding doors to break it up into separate spaces. We’ll have 3 of the 4 rooms as the performance space. (The fourth room will be reserved for us for cases/belongings and warmup.) A parquet dance floor will be put down under the woodwinds to help with resonance and there will be a sound shell behind the percussion. NYSBDA will supply piano, 4 timpani, bass drum, chimes, marimba, vibes, and xylo (no bells, no gong; we’ll have to transport or arrange to rent). I’m waiting for conference prices on rooms at the convention center, but there is also a Quality Inn and a Hampton Inn only 5 minutes away.

As you can see from the third photo, there are 8 Tesla charging stations in the convention center parking lot, so all of you driving your Teslas up to Syracuse need not fear for a charging point.

Although not confirmed in ink yet, this is my best impression of the program for March 4. It will be a merge of conference-appropriate repertoire pulled from the January and May concerts:

• Boerma – Friedman Fanfare (May)
• Maslanka – On this Bright Morning (January)
• Galante – Resplendent Glory (January)
• Hazo – Solas Ane (May)
• Holmquist – Play! (January)
• Nelson – Aspen Jubilee (January)
• March TBA – (Sousa, Black Horse Troop or Bagley, National Emblem)

Daniella Ashbahian has already committed her availability to travel with us. And I’ve had a round of emails with Ron Nelson himself concerning the soprano part. I’ll share that conversation with you in rehearsal.

Have a great weekend — see you on Monday!

Monday’s rehearsal

It’s always a little scary as a conductor to schedule a rehearsal and not attend. Thank you to everyone who welcomed and supported Jeff Ball last evening to make the rehearsal successful. It’s one of the characteristics of this group that makes me most proud. I hope you enjoyed the new repertoire and will return next Monday night challenged and excited. Daniella Ashbahian (soprano from Angels in the Architecture) will join us next week, so the Stamp and Nelson will make a little more sense with the soprano part added. I’ll post the rehearsal plan later in the week, but plan on those two works being cornerstones of the next rehearsal. 

Syracuse University Wind Ensemble Webcast

Brad Ethington has been a wonderful host, and I’ve really been enjoying myself up here in Syracuse. I spoke to three conducting/methods classes yesterday morning, and then conducted the Wind Ensemble rehearsal. Tonight’s program includes Daugherty’s Desi, Vaughan-Williams Folk Song Suite, Grainger Country Gardens, Latham Break Forth, O Beauteous Heavenly Light, and Biedenbender Luminescence. I’m conducting the final two pieces on the program. I never expected to see my photo next to Desi Arnaz, but there you have it. If you’re inclined and interested to watch the webcast, point your browser to: http://riverbendmedia.com/jwplayer/syr.html. The link will go live about 7:55 pm. Desi is especially interesting. Written 25 years ago as a tribute to Desi Arnaz, the percussion section (especially mallets) is truly challenged. I conducted this work in the 90’s with the OCMEA wind ensemble, and I’d love to program it again (after we give the percussion section sufficient time to recover after Black Rainbow.)

Hudson River Museum event

Erin Dawson asked me to share this with you: Her sister is the media/communications coordinator for the Hudson River Museum in Yonkers. This weekend they are opening a Civil War music exhibit. She asked me if I could pass this information along to everyone at WSW, hoping that some of the members of the group might be interested in attending.

I’ll write again before next Monday. Thank you again for the successful rehearsal!

Special schedule for November 14, 21, 28

Access to TMH on the next three Mondays follows the Random Farms performances. Please gather at the front door at 7:30 pm, and then set up as quickly as possible once we’re allowed inside. Please remember that the rehearsals may extend to 10:00 pm as needed because of the late start for these three critical weeks.

Please welcome Jeff Ball on November 14!

Jeff brought great perspectives to his clinic rehearsal of Moth last spring, and now he’ll be our guest conductor for the Winter concert, conducting Maslanka’s On This Bright Morning. Jeff has graciously agreed to cover Monday’s rehearsal for me while I’m in Syracuse, and this will give him a chance to read the Maslanka and introduce it right at the beginning of the cycle. I’ve posted the rehearsal plan, but be aware that I’ve given Jeff the latitude to rearrange the order if it suits his needs.

Be sure to bring Mussorgsky parts for collection Monday

In order to expedite the return of this loaned music, please hand your part to your principal at the start of rehearsal. Principals, please carefully collate the parts in score order, and then hand to Nancy.

European wind orchestra trip opportunity for adult musicians

My friend, Kevin Sedatole from Michigan State University, asked me to advertise the World Adult Wind Orchestra Project in Schladming, Austria this July 9-16. It’s geared for adult musicians, age 30+. Conductors include Kevin and Jerry Junkin (Dallas Winds and UT Austin) and several composers will also be participating, including Eric Whitacre, John Mackey, Michael Markowski, Jonathan Newma, and Steven Bryant. The opportunity to spend a week with these amazing musicians makes it look like an amazing trip!

I think the deadline is soon, so if you are interested, act quickly.

Have a great rehearsal Monday!