Dear friends,
I’m looking forward to tomorrow night’s rehearsal. I hope you are in anxious anticipation of our time together to make music and to refine our program. Gary Fagan will be with us to go over For the Fallen. I’m giving him the first half hour after our warmup. Steve will have whatever time he needs to smooth out Sinatra and Miss Saigon. Of the other tunes Russian Sailors Dance will be getting most of the attention, especially the trumpet parts near the end. Chris Sharp will be rejoining us on euphonium for this concert.
FOR YOUR ENCOURAGEMENT: It was brought up at Monday night’s board meeting a player’s concern about performing a very challenging piece like Festive Overture. The last thing I would ever intentionally do is to overburden you with music that discourages you. A piece like this may seem daunting at first but as we gradually chip away at the technical demands of it or any other piece, it gradually becomes more assessable. I’ve heard high school bands play this piece effectively and YOU are better players than most high school bands in central Virginia. Our performance of Festive Overture is not imminent. Once we commit to program it we will break rehearsal into woodwind and brass/percussion sectionals to facilitate the technical demands.
Going forward here are some truths to consider…
1. We are an exceptionally good band for a community band.
2. The music we perform is carefully selected to be assessable to all.
3. Some of our players with collegiate degrees in performance deserve the opportunity to be challenged as well.
4. No one is going to yell at you or make you feel unworthy if you cannot handle some of the harder passages.
5. In every song there are passages YOU CAN perform well. Master those passages and leave the supremely technical passages to those whose training allows them to cover it with ease.
The great principal oboist of the Philadelphia Orchestra, Marcel Tabuteau (1940’s-50’s), founded a school of oboe playing with many students who went on to professional careers and his legacy is still present today. He was once asked about the technical demands of Ravel’s very complicated Daphnis and Chloe Suite. His response, "There are times when even the very best of us must fake it."
WarmUp
For the Fallen
Sinatra
Russian Sailors Dance
Miss Saigon
Runthroughs of the remainder