Last Regular Rehearsal

Well, this Wednesday was it. Our last rehearsal before the dress rehearsal. One last shot at polishing it up before we get into the actual concert hall. Because, if you've been with the (or a) band before, you know rehearsing in a band room is one thing, rehearsing on stage is another. Even if you've played that particular hall before, there is a whole new set of variables to get used to. You might have to back off on the forte dynamics (and in turn your piano dynamics), your staccatos might have to get crisper. It's just more things to be mindful of - on top of watching John, listening around the ensemble and nailing all of the technical passages.

Overall, I think we are in pretty good shape. I think all of us have been challenged with this concert - between the Sousa Symphony and Sidus. I don't know if any of us are like "Yes, we're going to nail this, and it's going to be perfect!" But, together we are making some really nice musical moments. It's like that teamwork poster on the right. :)

Hope to see you there on Sunday. Afterall, it's not any fun performing without applause coming back at us.

Repertoire

Hey everyone. I had to miss rehearsal last week, so I can't comment on what happened. So, I thought I'd use this post to list the pieces we'll be playing at our concert - Hands Across the Sea (not necessarily in this order).

The White Rose - Philip Sparke
Sidus - Thomas Doss
The Immovable Do - Grainger
Divertimento for Wind Orchestra - Jindrich Feld
The Girl with the Flaxen Hair - Debussy
Hands Across the Sea March - John Philip Sousa
Symphony on the Themes of John Philip Sousa - Mvt. IV, after "Hands Across the Sea" - Ira Hearshen

Should be a good one - we hope to see you there! And, if you haven't yet purchased your tickets, visit this page to find out how, and get $1 off!

Woodshedding

So, we're working on hard on "woodshedding" (i.e. making sure things are very accurate, and attempting to add finesse) parts of the Hearshen (see previous post on Symphony on the Themes of John Philip Sousa). There's a tricky measure, where there's a lot of back and forth play between sections - beats one and three belong to one group of voices and beats two and four belong to another.

John has us work on it slowly - to make sure the notes all fall in line. It's the kind of thing you do over and over a few times and it gets better. But can you believe - the nerve! He wanted not only the right people to play at the right time (in tempo), but wanted all the right notes too! I might have mentioned this before, too, but there are accidentals all over this piece.

Speaking of accidentals, I'm starting to second guess myself with them. Sections I think I know, and I'm sure the F's are sharp and the B's are natural, suddenly I'm not sure. Oh vey.

I need to get my act together - and so do the rest of the woodwinds at 306! It sort of fell apart there this week when we worked on it. Instead of working us to death on it, John just trusted that it would work itself out. I hope he's right - for our sake and the audience!