Here are a few quick items to remember:

• Rehearsal tomorrow evening (plan is posted) at 7:30, brass quintet is meeting at 6:30 pm.
• Next Monday, the trombones are meeting for a sectional for the HIggins. Could we say 6:45 pm (instead of 7:00, as discussed), so we don’t have to hurry and can have plenty of time for setup?
• Ads are due next Monday, October 21. Find the ad form here.
• For years, I’ve thought rehearsals were essentially a stand up routine with musical interludes. Since I’m teaching several sections of Public Speaking now at Masters, they sent me to the Scarsdale Adult School for a Stand Up Comedy class in an attempt to improve my teaching skills. The class is culminating with a class show at The Comic Strip Live on the Upper East Side next Sunday, October 20 at 5:00 pm. If you’d like to heckle me in person, you can find show details here.

See you Monday evening!

We’re now just a little more than a month away from the Fall Concert. As we’re moving forward, keep these announcements in mind:

• I’m meeting with the Warrington Dixieland soloists on stage this Monday at 6:30 pm for a sectional. This piece will then be up first on the rehearsal at 7:30 pm.
• Ads are due in 2 weeks, on October 21. Please give ad copy, ad form (critical for processing and assembling the book), and payments to Tom Sweezey.
• The Board voted to cancel ONE of these rehearsals: Monday, November 4 or Wednesday, November 6. The decision as to which one will be canceled depends on the availability of an alternate rehearsal site (likely at New Rochelle HS); that availability is still pending.
• The Board voted to add a community outreach concert at Congregation Kol Ami in White Plains, on Saturday evening, February 29 at 8:00 pm (call at 6:00 pm). This was one of the dates we put out as a possibility last spring. This is now posted on our rehearsal/performance calendar; please add it to your personal calendar, and confirm your participation for that date with David. All of the repertoire for this concert (45 minutes of program time, like we did in 2016) will come from the Fall and Winter Concerts, and likely one from Caramoor; there will be nothing new on this program.
• We’re still hoping to find a possible Exchange partner for the high school band coming from Minnesota in April, and for a clarinet player for the Headless Horseman production in November. The details for both are in this post.
• The Maslanka Symphony parts arrived! We need to process and assign the parts, because this is a rental, and then we’ll hand them out, hopefully next week. We’ll dedicate the November 18 rehearsal to the first reading and discussion of this work, which will be performed on May 16, 2020. Clarinets — please reserve 6:30 pm that night for a sectional prior to the rehearsal, to address the “babies” solos. Manny Ramos, our clarinet soloist for the Villa-Lobos from the West Point Band, will be on hand to lead a presentation on the techniques required for these solos. Manny has performed and recorded this symphony with Mallory Thompson, and understands the demands of this symphony very well.
• See the separate email I am sending regarding a jazz project Ron MacKenzie is promoting.

Looking forward to our rehearsal on Monday night. See you then.

As soon as I hit send, I realized that I neglected to include this note of thanks from Bob Bennett, to everyone who played his SOMS Fanfare last week:

“Thank you so much for reading my work and bringing it to life.  My students will no doubt benefit from your stellar interpretation.  If anybody is interested in acquiring the work, please let me know and I will give you a PDF au gratis, as a thank you for your time.  All I ask is that you don’t distribute it.  Thanks again! Bob”

If you’d like a copy of the score and parts, speak to Bob, or I also have a set that I can distribute. 

The American Prize, the final chapter

I’m proud to announce that the Westchester Symphonic Winds has earned its third recognition for The American Prize awards for 2018-2019. Yesterday, the winners were posted for the Ernst Bacon Award for the performance of an American work, and WSW won third place in the community ensemble category for our 2017 performance of Brooklyn Bridge by Michael Daugherty! You may remember that the piece featured clarinet soloist Steve Cohen (professor of clarinet, Northwestern University).
This gives WSW a final standing of Win-Place-Show: First Place in the ensemble competition, Second Place in the conductor competition, and Third Place in the competition for the performance of Brooklyn Bridge. I couldn’t be prouder of all of you! Read the post of this final award here. Note also that May’s guest conductor (and T-Rex aficionado), Joe HIggins, earned an Honorable Mention in both the university conductor and Ernst Bacon categories

Ads due October 21

This year’s program ad form can be found on the Resources page of this site, or just click here. Please give ad forms, ad copy, and payments (checks payable to WSW) to Tom Sweezey by Monday, October 21.

Exchange opportunity

Via Travis Cross (and the miracle of Facebook), I received this message from Matt Dehnel at Roseville Area High School in MInnesota:

“I’m bringing my Minnesota HS concert band to New York, and I’d love to set up an exchange performance. In my experience, exchange concerts are a fantastic performance opportunity for kids. It allows them to share music, but also connect with peers somewhere far from home. Any chance such a thing works with a local HS program I should reach out to?  We’re looking at  [Friday] April 3.”

If you are a high school band director and interested in this exchange, please let me know and I’ll put you in touch with Matt.

Clarinetist needed

Rob DelGaudio, who has played percussion with WSW, is producing a children’s musical, The Headless Horseman, in Briarcliff Manor in late October. He had hired a clarinetist for the orchestra, but the player bailed on him.

Rehearsal Monday

The rehearsal plan is posted. See you Monday.