I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday season. If you missed my personal story about New Year’s Eve on Facebook, make sure you read the recap at the bottom of this post. How do these things happen to me?

Our rehearsals resume this coming Monday, January 6 at TMH at 7:30 pm. I have posted the rehearsal plan on the Rehearsal This Week page, and have also included a run-down of the remaining rehearsals for our Winter Concert on February 9. The concert is coming up quickly! Amy Wilcox will be coming this Monday to rehearse the Hackett, and Bill Owens will be returning again for 2 rehearsals on the Arutiunian before the concert. (By the way, wasn’t Bill incredible on December 16?!?!)

Because of the truncated schedule and distrust of the weather, the Board has approved my request to reinstate rehearsal on the evening of Martin Luther King Day, Monday, January 20. TMH has been booked since last year, and no schools are available because of the holiday. Marge Hone kindly (and quickly) coordinated two rooms for us at Irvington Presbyterian Church. So we will have sectionals that evening, with Matt and I working with woodwinds and brass, swapping halfway through the rehearsal. Percussion will be excused that evening.

So, for those of you who missed my New Year’s Eve horror story from Facebook, here it is. See you Monday.

This is not the actual NYE black squirrel, this is only an actor.

So this was my New Year’s Eve from HELL. You just can’t make up this stuff.

Six friends were invited for dinner. We ordered a prime rib from Fairway, and put the box (which had cutout handles) on the deck to keep it all chilled. At 5:30 I brought it in, and I when I picked it up, it felt like something shifted inside, like something moved. Before I could think, I set it down on the living room floor, and as I did I felt something furry touch my hand, inside the lift hole. As I put it on the floor a black squirrel jumped out through that tiny hole, and started running around through the condo!!!

The cats, Darren and Jezebel, started chasing it. It crawled up/down the curtains, jumped off, ran under the sofa, crossed to the den, ran under the media center, and back out again. It was scared and completely crazed. I grabbed the cats and locked them in the bedroom, fearing they might be bitten. After about 5 minutes, there was no more scurrying sound, and it seemed like it might have run back out the open deck door without me seeing it. I listened and looked and poked around, but no squirrel. I resumed prepping dinner, but soon heard scratch-scratch-scratch, and located the squirrel inside the den sleeper loveseat. It seemed to be inside, but when I opened the bed, nothing ran out. The scratching continued from inside the back of the loveseat, then slowed and stopped. It really seemed like it might have suffocated or impaled itself on a spring. I lifted and banged the loveseat, but got no reaction. I resigned myself to pulling the loveseat outside to remove the dead squirrel the next day. I finished prepping the meal and my guests enjoyed dinner; what else was I gonna do? (All the food inside the box was completely sealed — just to let you know.)

At 11:00 pm we sat down in the living room to enjoy drinks and await the ball drop — when suddenly, my friend Paul yelled, “There’s the squirrel, behind the couch!” What ensued were 5 minutes of complete mayhem — the ladies pulling back and keeping their distance, one of them yelling “What would we do if this were a bat?!?!” while Paul and I used a bathtowel, mop handle, and doormat to try to corral the squirrel and push it toward the open deck door. Finally, the little guy ran out the door, and we slammed it shut. Somehow through the entire trauma I managed to avoid screaming like a little girl.

Moral of the story: Never store food outside without completely sealing all openings completely shut!!!! And with that, Happy 2014 to all!

So here’s a little Christmas gift if you are a member of the National Association for Music Education (NAfME): Be sure to open your January 2014 copy of Teaching Music. Turn to page 30-31, and you’ll see WSW with soloist Lois-Hicks Wozniak on a two-page spread. The article, “The Renaissance Teacher,” explores the double lives of music educators. Both Lois and Curt are quoted in the article. We are really making the national scene!

Thanks for a great rehearsal on December 16. I appreciate your flexibility in moving to Port Chester High School for this one rehearsal.

I’ll be posting again before our rehearsal on January 6. In the meantime, enjoy the holidays, have a Merry Christmas, and all the best for the season to all.

First, the snow last week canceled a Port Chester elementary concert, which has been rescheduled for this coming Monday, which means the Middle School is not available on 12/16. The kind people at Port Chester have arranged to allow us to use the High School auditorium instead. Please be sure to go to Port Chester High School, not the Middle School, this week!

Port Chester High School is located at 1 Tamarack Road, Port Chester. Click here for the school website’s directions page. Park in the lot off Tamarack, come in the main front door, turn right to the end of the hall, then left into the Auditorium. It’s hard to miss.

Second, we will have two guests on Monday. MSgt. Bill Owens will be joining us for a first reading of the Arutiunian concerto. To be brutally honest, there were just too many wrong notes in our second reading of the piece last week. We simply cannot repeat that level of performance in front of our soloist. Please practice for note accuracy and come prepared. Our guest conductor, Amy Wilcox, will also be coming to rehearsal to rehearse Passacaglia by Ben Hackett. There are a “few notes” in that piece that need individual review as well. So don’t pack up your horn when you’re done with the Arutiunian!

In addition, we will work on all movements of the Elgar. See the complete rehearsal schedule here.

Lastly, we had an overwhelming positive response to the written WSW/NCB Exchange poll. I will be continuing the discussion with the NCB people next week while I’m in Chicago at the Midwest Clinic. (PS – Is anyone else from WSW going?)

Yes, Virginia, there is rehearsal tonight at TMH, starting at 7:30 pm.

See you then.