Thanks for a great rehearsal Monday. You always strengthen my heart and soul with the energy and joy you bring with you each week. The rehearsal schedule for Monday, October 7 is posted.

Instead of specific comments on each piece this week, I want to encourage you to think about the art of collective listening that is required to make our rehearsals successful. Do you have a vivid memory of your characteristic sound last Monday? Do you have a memory of your section sound, of the total ensemble sound — and your place within that whole? I want to invite you to come this week armed and be ready to listen with more detail and more energy.

This past Tuesday, I rehearsed the simple canon, Dona Nobis Pacem, with my little orchestra at Masters. I told them that we are going to memorize this piece and perform it with three soloists (in canon) followed by the rest of the ensemble continuing the canon. I invited soloists to audition in front of the ensemble by playing the canon from memory. It was amazing to observe the “hear a pindrop” atmosphere and collective consciousness which materialized when these students played one at a time. Suddenly, everyone was listening for every note, every pulse, every attack and release, every point of intonation. The act of collective listening was palpable.

Can we bring that level of listening collectively and energetically to our rehearsals? Let’s put the challenge before us.

See (and hear) you Monday!

Thank you for the great rehearsal on Monday night. I feel we made some great progress in many areas.

Mackey – The composer loves to write melodies which weave throughout the instrumentation. We need to strive to hear and follow these lines, then balance counter-lines and accompaniment accordingly.

“Funny Girl” – We are starting to sound like a pit orchestra, and that’s the goal. We need to continue to work on listening skills to develop a better feeling of pulse and swing.

Avshalomov – This pieces has so many contrasts, not just programmically, but musically and technically as well. One movement is very straight forward, and the next has some extreme demands. Stay ahead of the curve as we rehearse two movements each week.

Whitacre – This is an extremely demanding piece on this program. The challenges require us to portray an apparition, a mechanical one at that. So precision in interpreting the parts is paramount. Please practice this part with goal-driven precision.

Marquez – I was extremely happy with the change of style that we accomplished, especially in the opening section of this piece. I’m sure many of you have an image of what this piece portrays. For me, I imagine myself riding in one of the cruise boats on the San Antonio Riverwalk. With each change of tempo, I imagine a different bar or restaurant with new music, at every turn in the river. I’m sure you’re envisioning your own scenario. Our goal should be to help our listeners create their own imagined journey. Thanks for the great progress, especially in the first section of the piece.

I’ve updated the Rehearsal This Week Page. Please take a look, and energize your practice for next Monday!

Thanks to Matt Kowalski for conducting the first part of this week’s rehearsal. I appreciate your preparation and work with the group, Matt. Here are my reflections on this rehearsal.

Sullivan – I had asked Matt to specifically work on the barrage of notes throughout all movements at a slower pace. Please consider this as you prepare these movements for the next rehearsal on September 30.

Styne – I liked a lot of what I heard, but we will need to work at creating a “pit orchestra” kind of sound that is filled with big Broadway sound and excitement. Next rehearsal: September 23.

Avshalomov – I have to say that I am liking this piece more as we actually start to rehearse it. I think the success will be in the details. Next Monday, I plan to quickly review movements 1 & 2, then rehearse movements 3 & 4.

Whitacre – We definitely need to approach this movement carefully and steadily. Please practice the section I rehearsed (m.1-65) so we can review it at a higher level, then move on to rehearse the next section, m.65-124. Next rehearsal: September 23.

Marquez – We were right on the edge of starting to listen more carefully to the internal lines and created a more balanced (and therefore more symphonic) sound, when we ran out of time. This will be paramount to allowing this gorgeous piece to blossom. Next rehearsal: September 23.

That’s the basic run-down. Please check the Rehearsal This Week page for the rehearsal timeline and last minute updates. See you Monday!

This post will serve as a friendly reminder about tomorrow evening’s rehearsal. If you didn’t already, please review the notes I sent on Wednesday morning, and double-check the posted rehearsal schedule.

See you then!