We’re sending messages out to our patron database just to make sure they all know that Mother Nature is not standing in our way. I’ve also posted it on our Facebook page.

The Hall will be open by 12:15 pm for setup. I sent the photo we took of the risers in November so the setup should be spot on. Sound check is at 1:00 pm. We’ll be playing, but we’ll be doing more talking and less playing than usual because of the nature of the program.

And please remember that we are collecting all music folders at the end of the concert. Do not take any home afterwards. Thanks!

A quick check in — We have our regular rehearsal tonight, and our dress rehearsal on Wednesday evening, both at TMH. I am aware that the “gloom ‘n doom” forecasters are calling for “light snow” on Wednesday, and I’m doing my anti-snow dance to keep it as light as possible.

Looking ahead, we need to poll everyone again for the rescheduled date for the Masters School concert in Dobbs Ferry, now proposed for Saturday, March 7 at 7:30 pm (call at 6:00 pm). I need to plan ahead with both the school and the percussion rental. Please fill out the form below as soon as possible, but no later than Sunday, because we won’t see everyone after the concert until our next rehearsal on February 9. I hope we have the same ultra-positive response we had for January 10. The rep would be our Winter concert reprised (without the trumpet soloists and Colas). Thanks in advance.

First, I want to pass on an apology from Marge Hone. She and I worked together this week to mail-merge our spreadsheet of Chicago air/hotel data into separate statements to send to everyone participating, but somehow she emailed all of the pages to the first several woodwind players. Mea culpa for Marge! Please report any errors you may find on your statement to her immediately. In order to keep our payment schedule with the travel agent we need to ask for at least one-half of your current balance to be paid by this coming Sunday, January 25 (delayed from the original published date of January 9). You can pay the whole balance if you wish, but we need to ask for at least half at this point.

Our performance week is here! Admittedly it feels early this year, because it is early. We hoped to snag the Sunday after the Super Bowl again, but that wasn’t possible. Hopefully it will be so in 2016.

I’ve posted the rehearsal plans for both the Monday rehearsal and Wednesday dress rehearsals. Please check the plans and practice accordingly. This is a barn-burner concert (because it’s so cold, you know) so gear up to play a lot of notes this week.

See you Monday.

The rehearsal plan is ready to go for Monday. We have the soloists and Tom McCauley coming in tomorrow evening. I will also play “catch up” with the Bernstein movements I couldn’t get to last week.

Rachel will have tickets to distribute tomorrow night. Please remember to push selling tickets beyond your two comps — this concert is always a tough sell. Let’s pack TMH!

Last week Ben Acrish shared this article from School Band & Orchestra magazine, which features 50 music educators from the 50 states. Our guest conductor from Fall 2013, Rich Guillen, is the featured director from New York! Thanks to Ben for noticing and sharing this. Click the photo to see a PDF of the entire article.

I am very happy to announce that Mislav Forrester, trumpet, who auditioned for us last week, is joining us as a permanent member. He’ll be playing the January 25 concert and also traveling with us to Chicago. Please help us welcome him. We are working on filling in our ranks with subs for those who have conflicts with the Chicago trip and these plans are falling together nicely. We’ll announce the final trip roster when the last subs submit their written confirmations.

Be careful driving in the morning. Fortunately, the bad weather should be contained to the morning and we should be good for tomorrow evening.