Spring concert would have been tonight

Frankly, this makes me sad. Joey Bello. Chris Creviston. Maslanka Symphony No. 4. We’ve been building our musical resources, equipment, personnel, and rehearsal momentum over a span of several years in order to foster our physical and emotional endurance for this piece. I imagined all these rehearsals creating mounting excitement, determination, and collaboration, resulting in an exhilarating and memorable performance tonight. It’s hard not to feel the impact of this loss. It’s an effect of the pandemic that has hurt me deeply and personally.

Many of you have written to ask what my plans are for the symphony as we move forward. The answer is exactly the same as questions about reopening beaches, bars, and schools. I just don’t know. Consider where we were two months ago. Two weeks ago. Things keep changing, and this new reality feels more like a virtual reality game than life as we know it.

Because of the concert cancellation, we are permitted by the Presser library to keep the parts if we reschedule the performance before the end of calendar year 2020. I see many pros and cons for attempting to remount this on November 8. But I’d like to hear your thoughts. Please consider joining our Zoom on Monday night at 7:30 pm, where I will encourage discussion on this subject.

Zoom on Monday with our special guest, Joey Bello

Joey would have been our guest conductor tonight, so I thought it would be appropriate to invite him Monday. (This week, it’s the early slot at 7:30 pm.) Keep in mind that we’re now trying to keep Monday night Zooms based in social and WSW-specific topics, and save “shop talk” for the Thursday evening Band Director Forum Zoom. We had a great turnout and exciting discussion this past Thursday. If you’re a band director, you’re invited this Thursday at 8:00 pm. And we encourage you to invite other band directors in the Westchester area to join us. Just forward the Zoom email to those you’d like to invite. (We won’t stop orchestra, vocal, or general music teachers from joining, but be warned that the focus will be on band-related issues.)

I’ll send the links for Monday and Thursday nights in separate/direct emails to maintain a secure “walled garden” for these groups.

These difficult times will give way to better days ahead

Even though we have not been rehearsing, I have been busy behind the scenes researching repertoire and planning for our future. Of particular interest right now are two amazing projects that have literally landed in my lap. I’ve shared the broad ideas with the board, and they are extremely excited. As events unfold, we will share everything with you.

I’m throwing out this teaser because I think it’s important to emphasize that there is good news ahead. Hang in there. Stay safe by wearing masks and gloves when you go out, avoid touching your face, wash your hands — you know the drill. Doing so will assure that the band will be ready when the world is again ready for us.

I’ll leave you with music

It seems apropos to end this post with Mallory’s YouTube video of the Navy Band performing Maslanka Symphony No. 4. I visited her rehearsing the band for this particular performance in 2011. And — ironically — it was at this rehearsal that Joey and I met for the first time.

I hope to see you at one of the upcoming Monday or Thursday evening Zooms.

#wsw/2020-05-16

Adding a Zoom forum just for band directors

We’ve had some great discussions in our weekly Zooms on Monday nights. A lot of the discussion has centered around music education — for obvious reasons. But we also want to give voice to others whose lives may not center around Flipgrid or Kahoot or tomorrow’s lesson plan, or who may just want to have social conversation about a wide range of topics, or just check in with friends who they have not seen in months.

So this coming week, we’ll have two Zoom conference opportunities:

• Monday, May 11 at 8:45-9:45 pm – WSW General Topics Zoom, with our special guest, Joe Greco! This week we alternate to the late time slot.
• Thursday, May 14 at 8:00-9:00 pm – WSW Band Director Forum. All band directors who are WSW members are welcome to join us, to discuss what’s working with distance learning, what’s not working, and share resources. The goal is to help ease the stress associated with teaching large band ensembles online, provide inspiration for the end of this school year, and prepare for whatever may come our way in September. The agenda will include opportunities to discuss successful strategies, advocacy, retention, and resources.

We welcome and encourage members to invite other Westchester area band directors to join us. To invite other band directors:

1. 1. Please share this post with fellow band directors so they can plan on the date/time
   2. Forward the Zoom login info when I send it out OR send me their names/email address so I can send the Zoom login info directly to them for next Thursday evening

All-member canvas

The board decided to canvas the membership to check in with everyone and see how everyone is doing at this point during the pandemic. If you didn’t receive a call to say “Hello! How are you?” yet, you will soon.

Even while we’re not rehearsing, we can make a difference through these outreach programs. I hope you’ll want to join us in one of the upcoming Zooms.

We first performed the music of Michael Markowski in 2012 – Turkey in the Straw. Since then we’ve performed several other works written by Michael, including Elixir, Tidal Forces, Joyride — and City Trees. This was the piece that brought Michael to Tarrytown to hear WSW for the first time, and we’ve enjoyed wonderful relationship ever since.

Michael joined us on Zoom last night. Those present had the unique opportunity to hear him talk about his latest project, released just this past weekend — the collaborative distance performance video of City Trees, performed by the Three Rivers Youth Symphony, and conducted by another friend of WSW, Maestro Brian Worsdale. It was amazing to hear him describe this project, and his unique involvement with it as composer and editor.

We’ve all seen these Brady Bunch-style performance videos, and I’ve talked several times in the Zooms over the past weeks and here on this blog, that we should not be misled into thinking that they are easily produced. Michael (who has an undergrad degree in film, not music) edited both the audio and video of this piece, and he brings this performance form to a whole new level. We all gasped the first time we saw Eric Whitacre’s Sleep video, way before distance learning was a real thing. And I’m definitely not saying we should drop everything and make a video. (The Bach chorale audio project was hard enough!) But, I had goosebumps watching this, and felt I had to share it with you. What Michael, Brian, and these students did is truly noteworthy. The trees were all photographed in Pittsburgh. And there’s a subtle homage to Leopold Stokowski and Fantasia as well.

I hope you’ll find 7 minutes of your time to watch this, and be inspired — like me — to long even more to return to our rehearsals and our real-time musical camaraderie.

This week:

• Rehearsal update for Caramoor cycle
• Anonymous donor funds received – but from who?
• An important letter from Björn Olsson, Executive Director of TMH
• WSW flute section unites for online performances
• Monday’s Zoom Meet & Greet at 8:45 pm, with special guest Michael Markowski – link info was sent earlier today in a direct email

Rehearsal update for Caramoor cycle

As announced last week, we’ve had to cancel all rehearsals in April and May, and cancel the May 16 concert. Hoping that we will be able to reconvene in June for the Caramoor performance, we learned that TMH is no longer available on June 22. So I’ve added a rehearsal on Monday, June 1 as our first Caramoor rehearsal. Please see the updated grid schedule, and this is also reflected on the home page of this site.

Anonymous donor funds received – but from who?

Marge, to whom we are extremely grateful for her dedication as our treasurer, reports that we recently received $855 from Network for Good, the vendor who distributes the charity donations from Facebook. This is a separate donation from the two birthday fundraisers in February, for Curt & Rich. Did someone else create a fundraiser? If so, thank you, and please alert us so we can make the appropriate acknowledgements.

An open letter from Björn Olsson, Executive Director of TMH

This letter was recently sent by our friend, Björn Olsson, the Executive Director of Tarrytown Music Hall. 

During this unusual crisis, the Music Hall has been closed, and like all other venues, they find themselves in a fight for survival. Click the graphic to read Bjorn’s open letter to the community, and please consider joining me in making a donation of any amount to help them at this time. The Music Hall’s success is critical to our success. Please read his letter, then follow the link at the end of the letter to make a donation to help keep the lights on at the Music Hall. Or click here to make a donation directly.

WSW flute section unites for online performances

The flute section has banded together (pun intended) and produced two collaborative recordings, and I’m sharing them here. Kudos! And below it, I added the Bach chorale that I put together from the 11 players who recorded parts and sent them in.

Quantz

Schubert

Bach

Do you want to create another project like the Bach? If so, please write me an email to suggest a band piece you’d like to see us create collaboratively.