• We’re rehearsing again at the Music Hall tomorrow, focusing on ACB repertoire. Next week is May rep.
• If you didn’t already, or if you’d like to submit another nomination for our Repertoire Bracket Challenge, you can continue to do so until Monday evening. Then I’ll shut it down and create the bracket.
• You should have received the invitation to the celebration at the Serafin’s next Saturday via direct email. Contact me if it didn’t reach you.

See you tomorrow night!

Great rehearsal on Monday night! I was especially happy with the work on the Holsinger. I reviewed the rehearsal recording yesterday, and we really made great progress with that piece this week.

Big news – American Prize awards update

So, yesterday morning I decided to check the website for The American Prize again, to see if they had posted anything yet about our third nomination, for the Ernst Bacon Award for an American Music Performance. And I found this: (click here or on the image for the full article). If you open the link and scroll down, you’ll see WSW listed as a semi-finalist for the Ernst Bacon Award for an American Music Performance, for our performance, with Steve Cohen, of Michael Daugherty’s Brooklyn Bridge!

This means, of course, that we have earned three designations for semi-finalist status with The American Prize. As I searched through the nomination data, I found these ensembles/conductors had two nods for semi-finalist status:

• Allentown Band – Ensemble, Ernst Bacon (works by Morton Gould). Note that this ensemble is also playing at ACB next month.
• Quincy Concert Band – Ensemble, Ernst Bacon (Maslanka – Give Us This Day)
• Quad City – Ensemble, Ernst Bacon (works by Willson, Giroux, Moross, Curnow)

I also found college/university colleagues with two semi-finalist nods:

• Jeff Gershman: ensemble (Capital University Symphonic Winds) and Ernst Bacon (works by George, Runestad, Ives, Maslanka)
• Daniel Cook: conductor (Northwestern University Chamber Ensemble) and Ernst Bacon (Joseph Schwantner – Sparrows)
• Joseph Higgins, our guest conductor in May: conductor (Rowan University Wind Ensemble) and Ernst Bacon (Corigliano – Mr. Tambourine Man)

But — as far as I could tell — WSW is the only ensemble to have received nominations as semi-finalists in three categories: ensemble, conductor, and Ernst Bacon. So, congratulations, and thank you for your dedication and perseverance! Even if this goes no further, this is outstanding recognition!

May tickets released

Also, our tickets were released on the TMH ticket site today for the Spring Concert. Notice that we (finally) made the headline on the ticketing announcement for the week! That’s really significant, I believe.

March 30

Please remember Gina’s invitation for the celebratory event that Gina announced on March 30. I’ll send a private email to give the details, address, etc.

As discussed — and agreed to — last week, we’re starting 15 minutes earlier at 7:15 pm this week so we can take a normal stretch break, finish rehearsal at 9:30 pm, and clear the room by 9:45 pm, as requested by the New Rochelle administration. And don’t forget to follow these directions, not GPS, so you can find the Band Room on this very large campus. We’re rehearsing ACB rep this week: Cichy, Gjeilo, and Holsinger.

And don’t forget to nominate your favorite work for band for our 2019-2020 Repertoire Bracket Challenge! Click here to nominate one or more pieces. We have to collect nominations before we can set up the bracket and begin voting. Nominations will be accepted through March 25.

See you Monday!

Here are the details for the two repertoire projects I described last evening at rehearsal:

And We Were Heard

First, here is the link to the site for And We Were Heard, the project that supports new compositions for wind band by female and minority composers. Please check out the link, I think you will find that this is an interesting, forward-thinking, and worthwhile project for us.

Bracket Repertoire Project

In the past 11 years, one of my goals has been to support ensemble participation, and I think it’s a great idea to utilize member ideas in programming. A few years ago I polled the band to find the most popular work that the ensemble wanted to program the following year. It was a failure, because I got 56 responses and 56 different titles. In the end, I cast the deciding vote – the March from Symphonic Metamorphosis, by Paul Hindemith.

This time, the project will involve bracketed choices, two works at a time, drilling down to the Sweet Sixteen, Elite Eight, Final Four, and two final choices. You can submit multiple works for consideration if you’d like, but know that I have veto power for any work that I believe is too difficult or inappropriate for the group’s growth, or that we have played recently (five past seasons or so). I hope every member will submit at least one nomination. And this project is intended just for our members, not the whole world. (Otherwise, we could end up playing the Baby Shark Dance!) So don’t hesitate to tell friends how cool this is, but let’s keep the nominations and voting “in the family,” please.

For each piece you nominate, please include the composer, arranger (if applicable), title, movements (if applicable), and the URL to a quality recording. When I set up the brackets, you’ll be able to listen to works with which you’re not familiar, and gain some insights into rep you don’t know. It’s a win-win!

When you finish, you can click to submit another nomination if you wish. I’ll keep the nominations open until Tuesday, March 26, then set up the bracket. I’ll then create a separate Google Form for the actual voting. The end goal is to program the winning composition during the 2019-2020 season!

Click here for the nomination form, or use the form below.