We have a lot going on today/tonight, all at TMH:
But no snow in the forecast! See you tonight.
Thank you for a great rehearsal last night! I am so very proud of your work on this difficult and diverse program. Every week we come closer and closer to what is surely going to be a knock-out concert!
I am so very, very excited to have Peter Sis joining us next Monday. Thanks again to Ben Acrish for putting me on the trail to find him. Take a look at his NYT bestseller, The Wall. We are indeed fortunate to have found someone who witnessed the Soviet invasion of Prague 50 years ago. I really think his visit will put an entirely new spin our our experience with Husa’s masterpiece.
A few of you reported that my posting of the rehearsal schedule over the next few weeks was confusing. I’ve made edits and corrections to make it all clearer. Next week’s Master Class and rehearsal are all at TMH. The following two weeks’ rehearsals (January 22 & 29) will be held at New Rochelle High School. On January 22, the percussion section will gather for a sectional at 5 pm, and Tom McCauley will be on hand that evening to listen to Prague and clinic our work thus far. I know his insights will be tremendously helpful.
I flew down here to Tampa this morning and am giving a clinic on Thursday at the Florida Music Educators Association Conference. It’s in the mid 70’s here and I miss the sub-freezing temperatures of New York. (NOT) When I return, I will drive back up to Amherst, Mass for the second rehearsal and concert of the Western Mass District Band. And then, suddenly, it will be Monday again! I doubt I will have the time to send another rehearsal reminder for January 15, so this will probably be it. I’m looking forward to seeing all the brass players who indicated attendance at the Master Class. It’s open to anyone who’d like to observe, so don’t hesitate to come. And member band directors’ students are welcome as observers as well.
Have a great week — I’ll see you Monday at TMH!
Although there’s a little precipitation starting now, current forecasts show it turning to snow and ending by 7:00 pm. I think we’re good to go for tonight.
We’ve asked Andre to make sure the heat is up and running in time for the start of rehearsal at 7:30 pm.
Also note — no percussion tonight, due to the sectional. See you all soon!
The holidays seem like a distant memory, because all we can do now is concentrate on keeping wam! I’ve got several updates in this post:
We’re back to work tomorrow night (the rehearsal plan is posted), and we’re watching the weather forecast. Currently, there’s no precipitation in store until about 2 pm Monday (20% chance), rising to 55% chance at 5:00 pm, then receding to 10% at 7 pm, and 15% at 10 pm. I’m hoping (praying, actually) that this will not affect us negatively, and all will be “go” for rehearsal as usual. However, Check your email again tomorrow after 3 pm for an email confirmation from me that all is still a go. If anything happens to force us to make a change after 5 pm, look for a text blast from David that will get to everyone quickly. And if you need to contact David, call or text him separately instead of replying -to the text blast – otherwise your reply goes out to everyone.
Notes from Keith Hodgson
Keith sent on some notes after his first rehearsal with us. Click here to download his notes. Please take a look and mark your parts accordingly. We will rehearse this again on January 15.
We’re all set to host our February soloist, Don Batchelder, for a Master Class on MLK Day, January 15, at 3:00-5:30 pm, before our rehearsal with him that evening. Dave Marchiony has sent out a couple emails asking for volunteers who’d like to play a trumpet solo or excerpt. We really need to finalize that list tomorrow night. Don is also willing to do full brass sectional sectional work (Hello, Mr. Husa!), but again, we need to finalize knowing who to expect tomorrow night. This is a remarkable opportunity — please join us!
Mislav wrote to me this week to inform me of an arts administrative assistant position which has been posted at The Harvey School, where Mislav teaches. Please click here for the formal notice and job description. Talk to Mislav if you have questions.
Björn wrote to me this week to announce the arrival of the Music Hall’s new “baby.” It’s a Steinway D and he is so very excited and proud! We’ll definitely have to make use of this instrument in coming seasons.
In case you’re wondering what the D stands for, here’s the list of abbreviations Steinway uses for their various size grand pianos. I took the factory tour in 2005, and this has stuck with me ever since. Crazy, but true!
S – small (baby grand)
M – medium
L – large
B – big (7 foot grand)
D – damn big! (9 foot grand)
See you Monday!