Notes for 18 May rehearsal
1. COMPLIMENTARY TICKET. go to our website and click on the Neal Haworth poster and it will take you directly to the Academy ticket page. Look to the upper right hand corner and find the work PROMO and type over that word in all caps BANDMEMBER, all one word and hit APPLY
2. Gentlemen: Black shirt/pants/socks/shoes/belt, remember the purple band tie you borrowed and if you returned yours, I will bring the box with the remaining ties. Ladies, black slacks/blouse/dress
3. Polo shirts, get your order in by clicking the link in WhatsApp and bring your check to rehearsal next week if you didn’t do it this week. $15. If you don’t have the WhatsApp app on your phone, you should. It is the primary way we communicate because it is fast. Ask a section mate to let you order your shirt on their phone right now and bring a check next week.
4. Summer Concert on the Dell, Randolph College. Requested dates in order of preference are August 5, August 12 second choice, July 29 third choice. 4:00 pm. These dates are all on a Saturday. By a show of hands, how many of you think you will be able to play on August 5 , 12 July 29 ?
5. May 29 concert. team of 6 will meet at Heritage High School at 4:30 pm to load percussion equipment, chairs, stands and the conductor’s podium. They will arrive at the Academy for off-loading at around 5:00. Todd and the stage set-up team will meet and 5:00 as well. I have written to the Academy giving them the time line to ensure we are not locked out like last time. These same teams will clear the stage after the concert, load up the truck and return all the items back to Heritage High School before they go home and celebrate a brilliant concert with their friends and family. We are all very grateful to all of you who will be moving and setting up and tearing down. It’s a big job.
6. No dinner on the 29th. Water will be provided backstage. The room downstairs will be available if you wish to leave the stage and relax. Please set up and put back your chair in the large meeting room. The Green Rooms and Bathrooms on the lower level will be available for your instrument cases again, as well. Please keep up with your bottle and make sure the empties make it into the trash or recycle. please don’t leave your bottle for the tear-down crew. You are to report to the Academy through the front doors of the Academy no later than 5:45 pm so you can be warm-up and in your seat ready for Jim and run-throughs at 6:00 pm sharp.
7. Speaking of Sharp, Dr. Chris Sharp will be working with the Academy sound person making sure the band is balanced in the mics and the sound being fed to the audience is constantly being scrutinized by a qualified band-literate person.
8. Sales numbers for tickets are up from last week but we probably will not have a sell-out crowd as we did for Sousa. There may be a variety of factors for this. The concert is on Memorial Day. Sousa sells. Todd said that in his very well established community band in Pennsylvania, their Sousa themed concerts were always 2-3 times bigger than any other concert they offered. We were not able to promote this concert during the Sousa concert because EC Glass stage had sprung a leak in the roof above the stage just days prior to our Sousa concert and we had not had time to find a date at the Academy.
Whatever the reason or reasons may be, we will have an enthusiastic audience expecting a superb concert, which we are more than capable of giving. There was more synergy between the audience and the band during the Sousa concert than any of the many, many concerts I’ve been a part of in the last 5 decades as performer or conductor. The energy that flows from an audience energizes the musicians. The reverse is true, as well. The energy the musicians on stage display can energize an audience. You should expect this audience to display a different level of energy than the Sousa concert. The Warrenton Chorale would do 3 Christmas concerts back to back, and for about 10 years 4 concerts, and each time the audience numbers were pretty much the same, but each audience displayed a different energy level. We came to expect that and did not let it affect the quality of our performance or the energy level we exhibited. This band is still very young with little experience as a group. I would ask you to remain calm, focused and professional as you go into this Memorial concert. The music is great, our two conductors are great, and you are sounding great and the audience is going to love it.
Steve Aiello, President
The Lord is my strength and my song…