Great Practice and Next Practice

Hey everyone! Great job last Monday night - the open practice was a huge success. However, bear in mind that we have another performance coming up on March 13th - the Talent Show at St. Paul's Lutheran Church. We have a half hour to play at the end of the event, and plan on performing some of the set we've done before...

Intersecting Lines
Nostalgia in Times Square
Theme from Sesame Street
Begin the Beguine

...though not in that order. Also, make sure that you take a look at Straight, No Chaser; we're going to be focusing on the new pieces more, especially after the 13th through the end of April. We have four pieces to learn (some of which we've worked on, some we haven't) to supplement the music we already have. Looking forward to a productive spring!

Abington Junior High School Jazz Festival

Hello all! I have the details here for the Abington Junior High School Festival, and if I get any more I will update this exact same post so you only need to refer to one for information.

The call time at Abington Junior High School is 8:30 PM in the gymnasium for warm-ups and tuning. The address of the school is:

2056 Susquehanna Rd.
Abington, PA 19001

We will be playing some time around 9:15 PM, as the exhibition band while the judges are tallying their scores and after awards have been handed out. The pieces we will be playing include: Malaguena, Nostalgia in Times Square, The Incredibles, Intersecting Lines and Theme from Sesame Street. The encore number, if needed, is Samba Ti Kaye.

Keep your eye on this post for more information, but directions are straightforward with any use of MapQuest, Google Maps or your GPS. Looking forward to this Friday's upcoming performance, and see you all there!

Performance Info: Abington Junior High School Jazz Festival

Hey everybody! We have a new performance coming up (based on everyone's availability) which will be at Abington Junior High School on Friday, February 11th at around 9:15 pm, and the call time will be 8:30 pm. More details to come on this performance, but be prepared to play the following:

Malaguena
Nostalgia

::judges give out awards::
we close with...

The Incredibles
Intersecting Lines
Theme from Sesame Street
ENCORE: Samba Ti Kaye

Expect to practice the latter four charts since we have been working Nostalgia and Malaguena so well in recent weeks. Plus there is the possibility that we will have a second practice next week on the 9th which is completely voluntary (due to work schedules, etc.) but would be useful to anyone who wanted to attend and work on those charts some more.

Rehearsal Tonight, and Long Time No Update

Hey everybody! Sorry that it has been such a long while since the blog has been updated. Well, there is rehearsal tonight, and we will be working on:

The Blue Book
Sing, Sing, Sing, Sing, Sing, Sing (if you get my drift)
Theme from Sesame Street
Nostalgia in Times Square
Rhythm of Our World

Really concentrate on the older numbers on the Blue Book and pay careful attention to articulations and dyanmics. They're very important in these pieces (as they are in all music), but it's apparent when they're not being followed. Let's give these older charts the respect they deserve. See you tonight!

Practice Recaps, Updates, OH MY!!!

Okay, so this blog hasn't been updated in a while. But it's time to focus on the fall, and so that's what is being communicated here.

The focus of our practices have obviously shifted to two major, advanced pieces. As usual, "The First Circle" and more recently, "Rhythm Of Our World."

"Theme from Sesame Street" will sound great on the 12th as will "Incredibles," etc., and we can't forget about "Nostalgia in Times Square" which has taken a seat on a back-burner, but will be coming back. Be ready to work these charts.

The group will be playing for the church at 11 AM on Sunday the 12th, so mark your calendars, and call time is 10:15 downstairs in the choir room for quiet tuning and warming up.

See you all at Monday night's practice, where we will continue with "The First Circle" and "Rhythm Of Our World" and let's see where everyone stands with practicing on the evening of Labor Day as it is the last practice before a gig.

Back on track...

Practice Tomorrow!

Hello all. This is just a reminder that there's practice tomorrow, and we will be continuing work on Rhythm Of Our World, as well as Theme from Sesame Street and something else that's quite nostalgic...

A short message for this week, but thanks to all who played on Thursday - the audience really appreciated us stepping up and stepping in to fill what would have been a void during the intermission at the summer concert series. See you all tomorrow! :)

Practice Recap: 12 July 2010

Hey everybody! Great job at practice last night. We continued with some great work on Nostalgia in Times Square, Sing Sing Sing, and Rhythm Of Our World. The latter is the toughest piece we have that we're working on at the moment, with the exception being that we will be diving back into The First Circle and cleaning that one up until it's absolutely solid - another big task.

So, while you're practicing this week, make sure you focus on Rhythm. We will probably go back to Theme from Sesame Street next week two, so it's definitely something to look through at some point.

Again, there is no performance on Thursday, so unless you're playing elsewhere (which it is known that some of you are) or are playing the Summer Band Concert Series in Doylestown, have a happy time focusing on a few charts. And remember, as to active rehearsing, In the Stone, Samba Ti Kaye and Ride the Wind are now on the retired list - we may bring them out again if we have long performances and need more pieces that we know, but they're not the ones to concentrate on right now.

Who knows if The First Circle and Malaguena will ever be retired. It doesn't seem like that... they're just.... beyond it...

Have a good week, and see you at the next practice! :)

Practice Recap, No Performance on Saturday, Practice Monday...

Okay, so three quick messages to update on the blog. The first is a thanks to everyone at practice on Monday - I know it was the very end of a holiday weekend that spilled over into Monday with some people having a day of rest and others with workplaces still open - at any rate, we got a lot of positive work done. As of Friday night, practice had still been up in the air, which is why messages were sent out as to availability for Monday. Since a majority of the band could rehearse, we did. If you couldn't be there Monday, that's fine, and I hope everyone had a lovely holiday weekend.

Also, there will be no performance on Saturday as we are still light on players and personally my work schedule does not allow for it, with a third of my work's staff out on vacation, etc. Thank you all for you willingness to come out and do it to those that could, but we will just have to plan ahead for the next performance.

We will have practice on Monday when we will continue work on the Sandoval, Nostalgia and Sesame Street. We laid some of the foundations for work on these pieces on Monday, and we will continue to do so as we start to "shelve" some of the pieces we've been playing for a while, like Ride the Wind and Samba Ti Kaye.

Don't Mess With Mingus...

So, as all can no doubt figure out, the polls are closed and the votes are final. In an extremely close race, "Nostalgia in Times Square" by Charles Mingus has won versus "Theme from Sesame Street" as written for Maynard Ferguson. We will be ordering this chart in the coming weeks, so expect to start working on it in a few weeks, as we also start to tackle "Rhythm of Our World" by Sandoval (you should already have that music).

See you all next Monday at practice!

Instructions for Voting: Round Two

Okay, it's that time again. Time to VOTE! The three selections for charts are "Nostalgia in Times Square" by Charles Mingus, "Channel One Suite" by Buddy Rich, and "Sesame Street" as performed by Maynard Ferguson. If you are looking for sample recordings of these pieces, there are links on a post below (scroll down on the blog) and check them out.

The polls are posted on the right sidebar beneath "About the Band." Each person is allowed to vote for charts ONCE. (Got that, Andrew? - no shenanigans from the trombones for the Mingus...) The polls will close at 8:00 AM on Tuesday morning, June 22nd, so you have a week to submit your vote.

The chart(s) selected will be purchased using the Change 4 Charts jar. And I say chart(s), as if it is a close race, there is the possibility of the runner-up being ordered as well. But this is just a possibility.

Looking ahead, there is still a lot to do before holiday music in the winter. The fall will consist of the some of the pieces we have already done, but polished, and some we have not done that we have - Work Song and Rhythm of Our World. If that impacts the way you vote, that is up to you. Otherwise, just pick the piece you like the most, and if you don't get the one you like, you can know that the process has been a democratic one. And don't despair, as Winston Churchill so perfectly stated, "democarcy is the worst form of government in world. Except for all the others that came before it."

But to be honest, these are ALL great charts. You know you're selecting from some of the top of the line. And we already play Malaguena...

Happy voting! :)

Change 4 Charts: The Pieces...

Okay, it's that time again. Time to vote on another chart. Through multiple discussions at practice and online, it has been determined that a vote should be had deciding between three charts. And they are...

"Nostalgia in Times Square" by Charles Mingus
http://www.marinamusic.com/detail.tpl?sku=M1001&show=res&cart=12762463323767453&keyword=nostalgia%20in%20times%20square&where=title&where1=comparr&where2=desc1&andor=wo&

"Channel One Suite" by Buddy Rich
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DEST1Qcsq1I

"Theme From Sesame Street" as performed by Maynard Ferguson, arr. Dennis DiBlasio, adapted by Bob Lowden

The links below the pieces lead to samples so that you may listen to the charts prior to voting. Sesame Steet has many online recordings, though most may already know this piece. The actual voting will occur soon.