Being really clear about the date

Posted by: Peter

Our concert on 26 November has been cancelled, unfortunately. We’ve known about this for a week or so, but after my recent confusing posts regarding the concert on 6 November, I was afraid you might think I meant that concert. But I don’t: now that 6 November is behind us, I feel confident in stating that our concert on 26 November has been cancelled.

Also, Muriel’s been emailing members regarding a possible concert on 11 December, but this has been cancelled as well.

We are still doing a Christmas concert (4 December), so we will get a chance to perform the various new arrangements Roy’s been feeding us recently!

Tomorrow night (10 November) Aaron – our adopted composer – will be visiting us  with the first draft of the piece he’s writing for / with us.  Both Aaron and his mentor Fraser will be coming down next week (17 November) for us to do some more in depth work on the piece.

I think we’ve got off to a good start with Aaron already, as he seems to like us: hopefully Fraser will be impressed as well next week.

I think we already get very good levels of attendance at rehearsals, but we hope that all band members can make a special effort to be at both of these rehearsals and to arrive on time (I will try, but it’s such a long way…), set up promptly, and (in line with David’s Tips for Tuning)  get our instruments warmed up quickly, to make the most of Fraser’s and Aaron’s visit.

And, watch out for David’s second instalment in our Tips for Tuning series, which should be available by the end of the week.

Take a deep breath

We had our annual rehearsal day on Sunday. From 10am to 4pm, we played a few pieces that were a little outside our comfort zone, under the baton of David Kendall, our guest conductor.

It wasn’t non-stop: we had the previously-advertised free lunch and – for me at least – it was everything I’d expected, and more. Thanks to Penny for organising it and even arranging hot food.

I got to speak with David during our afternoon tea break – I thought I should wait until then to give him a chance to get to know the band. So, I asked him “What’s your impression of the band?”. He replied with a series of very strange noises – squawks and whistles, honks and snorts – that sounded like nothing I’d ever heard in my life, before he admitted that actually, impressions aren’t really his forte.

I smiled politely and asked him what he thought of us.

He said that he was very impressed by our sensitivity. We obviously listen to each other and try to get a good balance to our sound. In particular, he said (and I’m not making this up: frankly, I couldn’t) that he was surprised that we can have so many saxes without them dominating or overpowering the band. He was also pleasantly surprised by how good the band’s tuning and intonation are. All very encouraging, I thought, especially about the saxes. Maybe we should recruit some more…

Personally, I thought it was nice to play something a bit different. I liked “Satiric Dances” and Wengler’s “Marsch”, and even “Paris Sketches” grew on me.

I thought David did a good job today, and here’s a couple of things I learned / was reminded of / am still doing not quite right:

1. “Breathe in before you play”. He said it, and it sounds obvious, but for me the key word in this is “before”. Not “just before”.
2. Think “wind choir”, not “wind band” or “wind ensemble”. There’s something about “choir” that implies more cohesiveness and unity, I think.

What do you think? A good day for you too? Any particular lessons you want to share? Feel free to add your comments.

And, yes, I made up the whole “honks and whistles” thing. Sigh.

We’re obviously doing something right…

Roy had a whole series of announcements at rehearsal last week. He started with the Essex Country Show: he’d received a letter from the organisers thanking us for our involvement, complimenting us on our playing, and inviting us to keep 10-11 September 2011 free for what will be the 25^th year of the show. So, we’re obviously doing something right. And to prove it (if further proof is needed), here’s a picture of some band members playing at the show:

As mentioned previously, that was Liam’s last rehearsal with the band – for now at least! Good luck and we hope you’ll be back to lend a hand at Christmas.

There was loads more, but it related to our “adopt a composer” activities and other long term plans so I’ll do a separate post on that.

I did, however, have a chat with David – our principal clarinettist, deputy musical director, and tuner-in-chief* – and it turns out that he and Roy are hatching some diabolical scheme to help us improve our tuning and ensemble playing. Apart from the “diabolical” bit, I think this is really good news and I’m hoping we’ll get some material for the blog in due course…

Annual rehearsal day

We have our annual rehearsal day coming up this Sunday (10 October). This is an opportunity for band members to get together and work through some pieces under the baton of an experienced composer or conductor. The roll call of previous visiting conductors is very impressive, and would be even moreso if I could remember them all. Perhaps someone can jog my memory and I’ll include the list in my post-event analysis. However, in the past, we have definitely hosted Philip Sparke – and we have the photos to prove it!

The conductor this year is David Kendall. He was a founder member and  chairman of BASBWE which he set up with Malcolm Binney (a previous guest of ours) and a few other musicians to champion windband music.  He was associated with the Croydon School’s Windband for many years – a group that was extremely highly regarded at a time when youth bands were still quite rare. David moved to Cleveland Music Services before retiring to France.

The rehearsal day is at Grays Convent (thanks to Penny for organising the venue – again!) from 10am until 4pm. The address is: College Avenue, Grays, RM17 5UX. I hope to see as many of us as possible on Sunday and in the unlikely event that you need any further persuasion, do remember that lunch is free! But, bring your own mug.

*This is not an official band title. I made it up, but I really think every band needs one.