On Monday night, we have one more rehearsal at Port Chester High School, the same site as last week. Woodwinds and brass will rehearse there, and percussion will rehearse again in a separate sectional at Eastchester MS. The rehearsal plan is updated here.

This is our final rehearsal for 2015. It’s been an honor to work with you again this calendar year, and I’m looking forward to all that’s in store in 2016. Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Happy New Year, and a Fabulous Festivus (for the rest of us) to everyone!

We had to scramble a bit to find a site for our rehearsals on December 7 & 14, once we learned that TMH had taken other bookings for these dates. Thanks go to Jim Savage for helping us secure Port Chester, and to Rachel Eckhaus for doing the legwork to secure a potentially better site, White Plains HS, for future date conflicts.

So this week’s rehearsal is in the auditorium of Port Chester High School, 1 Tamarack Road, Port Chester, NY 10573-2407. Go to the Rehearsal This Week page for directions and the rehearsal plan.

Thank you to everyone for completing the February dress rehearsal questionnaire. This is now a question which will be taken up by the Board, who will make the final decision.

With only 2 rehearsals left before the winter break, it’s important that we cover ground this week and next, and don’t allow the shiny, sparkly signs of the season distract us from progress!

Looking forward to seeing you on Monday night at Port Chester!

Reminder — if you did not complete the form regarding the potential change for the February dress rehearsal, please complete it asap! We need this information to proceed.

Use the form in the post from November 25, or just click here for the link. We were hoping to have 100% response by this evening.

I had lunch today with Roger Zare. He arrived the day after the Kol Ami concert, and we found time to meet today for some Thai food and conversation (I-Thai in White Plains is excellent, by the way).

We talked quite a bit about several of his compositions, including his current work while in residency at the Copland House at Merestead. He’s here until mid-December, and then he heads back to Evanston.

We also discussed our two recent performances of Mare Tranquillitatis, and the plan to reprise it at the Exchange Concert on June 19. He’s very excited that we’ll be playing it one more time on that program! I asked him several questions about the motives and themes, and he was kind enough to show me several instances of the initial motive which recur throughout the piece, which never surfaced during my score preparation. It was a great meeting, and I appreciated the opportunity to ask him direct questions about the composition, which I know will pay off in spades in June.

I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving, and you’re ready to dive in tomorrow night. Percussion is meeting as a separate sectional at Eastchester, all of the rest of us are meeting at TMH. Check the rehearsal plan if you haven’t already, and please try to listen to the two clips from the previous post, “Mackey & U2.” I think these will really help you appreciate Mackey’s work to its fullest.

See you tomorrow night!