We just got word that we’ve been confirmed for both tonight and next Monday night at New Rochelle High School, starting at 7:30 pm. There will be no Board meeting prior to rehearsal tonight because of the change of venue.
Remember that the Band Room is in the Arts Complex at the north end of campus, nowhere near where GPS devices will take you if you plug in the school address. If you must rely on GPS use “Intersection of Braemar Road and North Avenue,” pull into the parking lot to the left, and park at the far end of the lot, closest to the building.
Please contact your principal or section leader to confirm that you’re read this message and know to go to New Rochelle tonight. Principals/section leaders: please reach out this afternoon if you don’t hear from all players by 3:00 pm.
When you can, please thank David Church for all his efforts on our behalf to secure NRHS again. It’s a lot of work behind the scenes, and David has shouldered the full load.
We had a wrinkle develop last week at TMH when we learned that the administration there planned to move all of our equipment back and forth from the underpass storage area to the Annex six times between now and September, at our expense. This was because of dance ensemble programs in June, and the need for that underpass area for costume changes. Our only other choice was to ask you — the members — to make these moves. I politely said, “No thank you.” But it seemed prudent to reduce the number of moves to conserve funds and also reduce wear/tear on our equipment.
So we contacted New Rochelle High School and we have a tentative approval to move rehearsals there on June 4 & 11, eliminating 2 of the 6 equipment moves, and several hundred dollars. But, by end of business Friday, we did not yet have an iron-clad commitment from New Rochelle. We’re hoping and expecting it on Monday, but we need a Plan B. Therefore:
The pre-rehearsal Board meeting tomorrow is postponed to next Monday, June 11.
Plan A rehearsal site is New Rochelle High School, starting at 7:30 pm. Park/enter as we’ve done before.
Plan B rehearsal site is Temple Kol Ami in White Plains, beginning with access to the chapel at 7:30 pm for setup, and ending by 9:15 pm so we can reset the room and clear the space by 9:30 pm. Percussion – please bring drum set and whatever small personal percussion is possible.
We will confirm the final site on Monday by both email and phone text message. In the meantime, please contact your section leader/principal to acknowledge you’ve read this post and are ready for New Rochelle or Kol Ami for Monday, until we send final news.
We’ll be in touch again on Monday to confirm the final rehearsal site, at noted. Thanks for your flexibility, attention, and response!
I held off sending this note of thanks because 1) I thought you deserved a full week without an email from me, 2) I was really tired, and 3) I wanted to wait to be able to include the link to the 30th Anniversary video which Gina & Stan produced. You’ll find that link below.
Congratulations to everyone! May 12’s concert was a win/win in every way. I am so very, very proud of your diligence, focus, concentration, and musicianship. We tackled a substantial program with lots of guests (weren’t they all wonderful?!?!?) and considerable musical challenges. We had a great house, we sold 30 conducting raffle tickets, earning $1500 for the group, gave Russ Ebersole a conducting debut for the record books, earned recognition with a wide array of political figures, plus ArtsWestchester and Caramoor, and brought musical joy to a whole lot of people on a wonderful Saturday evening.
Shelley, Tom, Lois, and Jack all had high praise for the ensemble. And Barry Ould, the President of the International Percy Grainger Society, who Jack and I met on the morning of the concert, was visibly elated by the performance of LincolnshirePosy. It doesn’t get much better than that!
Thank you so very much for the beautiful silver plate; it’s already found a home, displayed on the bookshelf in our living room. Special thanks go to Barton Green, Rachel Eckhaus, Gina Serafin, Stan Serafin, Marianne Lepre-Nolan, and Dan Harrison for all their work as members of the 30th Anniversary Gala Committee. Thank you to Dan Chiplock for underwriting the reception bar. Thank you to the band directors in the group who brought the additional music stands needed at the concert: Ben Acrish, Joe Bergamini, Erin Dawson,Elliot Semel, Marc Tartell, and Amy Wilcox. Thank you to the Board, with extra special thanks to David Church. Thank you to those of you who made financial contributions, bought raffle tickets, and contributed to the GoFundMe campaign. But all of you, in one way or another, made special contributions to make this a truly memorable event.
Remember that we meet next on Monday, June 4 to start to prepare for the Caramoor Fourth of July concert. We’ve already had a reading rehearsal, so we will start to dig in that evening. As usual, I will post the rehearsal order so you can prepare.
See below for the 30th Gala video. Feel free to share — it’s not only a great retrospective to honor this milestone, but it’s also a great promo video as well!
PS – See the email, sent separately, regarding the Rye Town Community Band. They are seeking additional players for their Saturday, June 16 concert.
Here we go! Here’s a reminder for the schedule for tomorrow night:
4:00 pm – TMH opens for setup. Shels/risers will be in place. Percussion and stands/chairs will be on stage, but we must place them.
5:00 pm – antiphonal brass rehearsal
5:30 pm – full sound check. Note early call time!
8:00 pm – performance
Reception on stage after concert.
Parking – Leave plenty of extra time. Saturday night in Tarrytown, you know.
Jack’s published parts – Please take 5 minutes to proof his published parts, and bring them with you tomorrow. We need 100% of them returned!
K-kov sound check – I was not clear on Wednesday. We will run the section of the piece involving the antiphonal brass, but we will not run the entire piece at the 5:30 pm sound check. There’s no point. I think if we start a m.223 (oboe solo), we’ll give them enough of a running start to remember about how much time remains until their first entrance.
Jack’s video: Here is the link to the video montage that Jack mentioned accompanies Prayers for a Troubled Nation on the publisher’s website. It’s definitely worth the 6 minute viewing.
