This is the beginning of spring break week in the public schools, but for many there is no break in sight on the front lines battling the pandemic. As I write this, I am mindful of the members of our communities — including many of your own family members — who are putting their essential duties ahead of their own safety, as they serve as medical caregivers, first responders, workers in the grocery industry and delivery services, and more. By supporting you, I am hoping to support them.

I’m offering several diversions this week:

1. We’ll have another Zoom Meet & Greet on Monday night, this week at 7:30-8:30 pm. I will send out the Zoom URL info in a direct email. Starting this week, I’m inviting a special guest to join us every week to check in, say hello, and reflect on how they are dealing with this situation with their own ensemble. This week’s guest will be Dr. Robert Ambrose, who was our guest conductor in November, 2018. I hope you’ll join us to say hello to Robert.
   In addition, if you’d like to have a Zoom session for just your section, or any kind of group within the band, independent of the Monday evening sessions, write me an email and I’ll set you up with a Zoom meeting from our WSW account.
2. We’re launching our first collaborate performance project – a chorale by Bach in F major. Many music educators are giving this kind of project a shot as part of their distance learning plans, so it feels right for us to give it a try. I will supply PDF parts and a click track. Select one of the SATB parts, play the click track, record your part and upload it to the Dropbox folder link. I’ll assemble it all in a sequencer and hope for the best. The process is more important than the product; please participate if this will give you a practice goal and a performance outlet. Find the instructions and files you need here. We’ve test driven this, but if there are glitches, please notify me.
3. A suggestion that came from last week’s Zoom: Upload some of the recordings from the February concert, especially those that are programmed for reprises at Caramoor. So, below are excerpts from our Winter Concert 2020. Enjoy — and I hope to see many of you on Zoom on Monday evening.

Shooting Stars, by Richard Saucedo, conducted by Nathan Brewster

Graceful Ghost Rag, by William Bolcom, conducted by Trish Cornett

Steampunk Suite, by Erika Svanoe
I. Charlie and the Mechanical Man Marching Band

II. The Strange Case of Doctor Curie & Madame Hyde

III. Bertie Wells attends Mr. Verne’s Lecture on Flying Machines

IV. Barnum & Tesla’s Tandem Bicycle

Zoom meetings

We’re going to continue the Zoom meetings on Monday nights, but will alternate times between the first hour and final hour of our regular rehearsal times biweekly to help accommodate parents who are in the midst of dinner / bath / bedtime at 7:30 pm. The next three Monday sessions will be:

• Monday, March 30 at 8:45-9:45 pm
• Monday, April 6 at 7:30-8:30 pm
• Monday, April 13 at 8:45-9:45 pm

I’ve pasted this information on the home page of this site as well.

I’ll send the Zoom URLs/meeting codes via direct email instead of posting them here. Watch for a follow up.

New York Philharmonic

Several members have pointed out that the Phil has begun fee Thursday evening webcasts of concerts. Last week was Mahler 5. Click here to get connected this coming Thursday at 7:30 pm.

Collaborative performance project

We’re going to move ahead to try to create a collaborative performance project of our own. Later this weekend, I’ll send out parts for a straight-ahead Bach chorale. If you wish to participate, you’ll listen to the click track (or possibly a video/audio track) and record your part, then upload the resulting MP3. I’ll send instructions with the parts.

This is admittedly a whole new arena for us, but many members have indicated their desire to participate in something while we’re not actively rehearsing. So we’ll start small and see where it goes. No pressure — participate if you feel so motivated — and let’s see where it goes. We’ll talk about this on Monday night on Zoom to answer questions and share tips.

Call for updated photos!

My blog site is looking dated. I haven’t renewed or updated the background photos in years. If you’d like to contribute some new photos, please email them to me. Thanks!

Watch your email – hope to see you Monday night!

I’ll send the Zoom details and project instructions via a direct email later this weekend. Once again, the coffee meet-up promoted earlier is cancelled, but we hope to see you on Zoom on Monday, 8:45-9:45 pm.

Bad news/good news

Please read this entire post. Sadly, it contains important news on many fronts that affect our organization. However, I think I’ve fixed the blog email problem that has plagued us for months, so I’m hopeful that this reaches everyone without a hitch.

The world situation is crazy right now. I’m sure this is affecting you and your family in ways never imagined. I have to admit that these days remind me of 9-11. That day was so frightening, mainly because there was this huge enemy out there that we couldn’t see, but we clearly felt the effects of its actions. Likewise, COVID-19 is a similar enemy: unpredictable and unseen. But the good thing that came from 9-11, once the initial shock passed, was a strong united sense of purpose and sense of gratitude for what we have as a community and a nation. I’m trying to concentrate on those two things right now to help me navigate through these difficult days. I hope you can, too.

Rehearsals are canceled through and including April 13

The board met this morning via a phone conference and decided that we must act in the best interest of all our members, and take steps to actively and responsibly curtail social interactions during this phase of the pandemic. We chose to cancel all rehearsals through and including Monday, April 13, thinking that public schools are scheduled to be out of session anyway for spring break on April 6, and April 13 is the Monday right after that break ends. This will allow time for everyone to concentrate on their own needs and the needs of their families, and then give a bit of wiggle room before starting up again. And so we are planning to restart rehearsals on Monday, April 20. This, of course, is tentative, depends on many factors, and I’ll be in touch to confirm.

The board also discussed having a coffee meet-up for all members who’d like to join us on Monday, March 30, at 5:00 pm, prior to our next scheduled board meeting later that evening. The idea would be to gather informally — no requirement, just whoever would like to come. We are tentatively planning to meet at Coffee Labs in Tarrytown, next to the Music Hall, just to check in with each other personally and make an interim, in person connection during this elongated layover. Obviously, we’ll weigh the overall situation in two weeks, and I’ll confirm the viability of this meet up when I write to you again on March 27.

Maslanka Symphony is postponed indefinitely

As you can guess, this is breaking my heart. With all these rehearsals canceled, it’s simply impossible to prepare this massive symphony for the concert in May. I’ve written to the rental library to inquire about possible choices we may have, including rescheduling it on our November concert.

For now, please hang on to the Maslanka parts. They are extremely valuable, and must be returned to the rental library. We’ll announce how/when we’ll collect them when we have a clearer idea of our confirmed return to rehearsal schedule. (We will not collect them at the tentative coffee meet-up on March 30!)

May 16 concert is still a GO for now, program TBA

As of now, we intend to continue to work toward performing, as scheduled, on May 16. I’ve written to Chris Creviston and Joey Bello to explain where we stand. If they still feel that it’s possible to join us, we’ll include both the Glazunov and Ticheli on this program. Otherwise, I’m examining repertoire to add to this program, in place of the Maslanka, that is fun for the ensemble, as well as our audience, smart choices musically, and (most importantly) could be performance ready in 3 or fewer rehearsals. As March forges ahead, and the world situation evolves, I’ll make decisions about the program and share them with you. Then, we’ll figure out a way to distribute parts so you can practice these newly programmed pieces before we gather again to rehearse.

Caramoor

Our hope is that this pandemic will be under control by July 4, and proceed with our planned repertoire for that date. However, like everything else, keep an open mind to what world events may force us, and Caramoor, to do.

The impact of not rehearsing

I recognize that many of you depend on our rehearsals every Monday to replenish your stamina, engage your mind, and connect with your basic human emotions. Finding a regular personal practice schedule during this hiatus is crucial, not only for your chops and your emotional health, but for us as an ensemble. There’s nothing wrong with continuing to practice the Maslanka! If circumstances allow, we’re still going to perform it. And practicing the Ticheli and Glazunov is logical and practical. But like a second language, if you don’t practice your instrument on a regular basis, you’ll lose your skills and your focus to improve.

If you are feeling “blue” through all this — and that is understandable — know that you can contact me or David directly. We have resources within the ensemble to which we can direct you, or we can put you in touch with other members to simply vent, share feelings, ask for advice, etc.

In closing

I wish I had some profound words to make all this right, to rally us together, to quickly overcome this public health emergency. Sadly, I do not. But in the words of Stephen Sondheim, “No one is alone, truly. No one is alone.” We’re going to get through this, together, even if we’re not meeting regularly for a while.

Contact me as needed. My next post will be on Friday, March 27. In the meantime, wash your hands, bump elbows, and hang in there.

It’s with a great deal of sadness and concern that I’m writing to say that the Board just met via conference call and has decided that it is in the best interest and safety of the group to cancel rehearsal tonight.

IMPORTANT: If you are on the roster for the current cycle, please contact your section leader as soon as possible to verify receipt of this message. They in turn will pass the responses on to David to insure we’ve reached everyone. (The full list of section leaders is at the end of this post.)

This cancelation is for tonight only. The Board and I will review the situation to week to week as we move forward. The reasons include, but are not limited to:

• Input from Ron MacKenzie, clarinet, who is a physician at Hospital for Special Surgery and has been keeping me abreast of communications to their hospital faculty/staff
• Direct feedback from the Westchester Department of Health (call to them made by David Church, describing our membership size and demographics)
• The Head of The Masters School, Laura Danforth, canceled all classes for this week, saying, “Weighing the potential consequences of staying open versus the potential consequences of closing the school for the week, I had to rely on the principles of health and safety. Staying open felt a bit like playing with fire.”
• At the heart of our ensemble is our love of music and our care for each other. These are uncharted waters, and the last thing any of us want to feel is regret.

It’s my hope that you’ll find solace in practicing the sections which I planned to rehearse tonight, including these passages from the Maslanka symphony: 

Section 1: m.30-359
Section 4b & 4c (review from last week): m.572-711
Section 5 (mirrors Section 1): m.732-801

I’m working with Eric Milkie to correct the issues we’ve had with some emails not going through. In the meantime, please help us by reaching out to anyone you know that may have had receipt issues in the past weeks, and contact your section leader to confirm you’ve received this message. 

Flutes – Deb Dashnaw
Oboes – Gina Serafin
Blassoons – Liz Day
Clarinets, including Eb, Bb, bass – Geoff Katin
Saxophones – Tom Sweezey
Trumpets – Stan Serafin
Horns – Kathy Davis
Trombones – Rich Williams
Euphonia – Marc Tartell
Tubas – Chris Carbone
Percussion – Eric Milkie (on behalf of Mark Dodge, since Eric is on the Board and already working with us on this; better to send all responses to one recipient)

Thank you for your understanding and support.