Nash County All - County Band

Monday and Tuesday of this week was the All - County Band for Nash county. The high school clinician this year was Dr. Evan Feldman, Director of the UNC-CH Wind Ensemble. This dude is such a great clinician. He is laid back, relaxed, smart, funny, energetic, etc. He picked great music that the kid enjoyed performing and they sounded great. It has been a great opportunity for me to get to know him over the last few years through the brass band. Every year UNC-CH hosts us for a day long rehearsal where he, as well as other faculty members, get a chance to work with our students. It's a great recruiting opportunity for them and a great learning experience for the kids. Everyone, including myself, gets so much out of those rehearsals. Watching him work with the band inspires me to get better at my conducting and rehearsing. I wish I could conduct as relaxed and fluidly as he does......he makes it look so relaxing and fun. Hopefully I can bring him in to work with the band again soon....

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NABBA Rehearsals 5-6 and Pre-NABBA Concert

I am behind once again.....I know, I know. The last two weeks have been pretty busy with the TYBE. Last Monday's rehearsal went pretty well and I was looking forward to the concert. It wasn't where we needed to be, obviously, but we were making good progress. All three pieces were playable and we could get through them without falling apart......that's a success at this point.

Last Saturday was our dress rehearsal at the church and, ouch, did it not go well! I'm sure it was a combination of the acoustics being really different and the fact that reality had set in; we were actually doing the concert whether we were ready or not. The concert Sunday went far better than the rehearsal and we didn't make a joke of ourselves. There were actually some really nice moments to go along with a few rough moments. All in all it was a success for us.

The next night we had rehearsal as usual. It went great. The kids seemed to be more calm after getting a performance under their belts. It still wasn't perfect but it was much better than even the concert. Hopefully they work hard over spring break and nail this music down so we kick but at NABBA. We are so close...

Stay tuned for next week's report....

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NABBA Rehearsal # 4

This post will be the first of a few this weekend as I am behind on the blog....

Last week's rehearsal went pretty well. I feel very confident about 2 of the 3 pieces we are performing. The Shostakovich has improved tremendously but there are still just a few spots to clean up in the melody as well as a couple spots in the background that could tear us apart. Hopefully they will come in Monday and do their jobs like they are supposed to do and we will have nothing to worry about. Either way, they have been pushed hard in the last 4 weeks and I am proud of them. Are we really doing Festive Overture on 5 rehearsals?......That's how we roll in the Youth Brass Bands!

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Lazy weekend

This is the first time in a long time that I can remember a weekend with nothing to do. No concerts, no family trips, nothing. It's been nice to relax and get a little work done around the house. I managed to clean the garage and mow the lawn. It would be nice if I had a student that would do it for me...hint, hint :)

Thursday was spent traveling with my wife and her band down to Jacksonville, NC for their MPA performance. It was a good but long day. My wife's bands play very well and her brass players make great sounds. It was nice to hear her bands without having to critique them.....It made the drive home better too :)

Today I took my son for a walk just before he pooped all over me on the couch. I guess the walk relaxed him...He proceeded to poop 2 more times while in the tub which makes it very hard to clean him! Sorry for the word poop. I know it's not the most formal word, but who cares, it's my blog.

I will leave you with a picture of my 2 year old, Noah, on a clean day!

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back on blogger

This is the first post since I have revamped my website and started JesseRackley Music. Unfortunately, the platform I use to run my website does not do a great job of hosting a blog so I have decided to go back to the standard Blogger website. It has always worked, so maybe it's best if I just stick with it. Hopefully, I can get back in the habit of posting once per week, if not more. I reposted my blogs about the TYBE's NABBA preparations on here as well so you can track how things are going.


Sending good vibes to my students auditioning for the NC All State Band today. I hope they all make it! Results to be posted once I know!

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NABBA Rehearsal #3

Monday was a lot better! Since everyone showed back up, I decided to start with Fanfare and Jubiloso right away. Time to see if they could actually play it. Sure enough, they could. I spent some time working on balance and blend and a little style work and the piece sounded pretty decent. Good work people!

The Shostakovich and Sparke were also better. It is still a work in progress but progress we are making.  Hopefully this coming Monday will be even more improved and we can get a lot more done. I'm so glad to be able to finally work on real literature with this band. This has ben a fun year so far. I will let you know how next week goes. Stay tuned......

Here is a video of the Triangle Brass Band playing Festive Overture with me on Principal Trombone. This recording was pretty decent. Enjoy!

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NABBA Rehearsal #2

Last night went a lot better than last week. This band has done an amazing job at practicing and improving between rehearsals. I don't think that there has been one week all season that the band hasn't improved. THAT'S AMAZING.

The Shostakovich was a ton better tonight but we are still struggling with keeping tempo in the background parts. People who know this piece, know that it is not the runs that make this piece difficult, it's the upbeats. The trombones also need a lot more more practice playing in the orchestral style. They have a hard time playing loud and marcato without slowing down. We will get there though..

The Sparke, was what it was. Not a whole lot to do other than getting more continuity out of it. Still a few tiny parts to clean up.

Fanfare and Jubiloso was less than okay.....There was not much improvement shown. Needless to say I was very unhappy. I told them at the end of the night not to show back up unless they could play it. Let's hope they show back up :)


I am hard on them and push them to their limits. I want them to know exactly how far they can go. Most of them never get out of their comfort zone, musically. My job is to make that happen. Let's see how next Monday will be.......

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NABBA Rehearsal #1

Monday was our first rehearsal for the North American Brass Band Association (NABBA) competition in April. I have picked a hard program for the band but I think it is achievable. We will start our concert with Dmitri Shostakovich's Festive Overture. Those that know this piece, know it has lots of notes in it, especially in he background. The entire band plays upbeats for most of the song. This is a problem when you are used to playing downbeats all the time........We are also doing the Hymn of the Highlands again, as well as Fanfare and Jubiloso by James Curnow. This is a challenging but fun and musically entertaining program.

For a first rehearsal I thought the band did well. We could get all the way through the Shostakovich at a respectable tempo. There were a lot of things that were rough, but considering we could get through it in the first rehearsal I'm excited. It usually takes a couple rehearsals to get through everything. The Sparke was fine. We worked on a few trouble sections from the concert and made those better. Fanfare and Jubiloso went, well,......pretty terribly. The have a lot of work to do to get that up to par. I'm excited to see where the band will be next week. Stay tuned for more updates.....

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Post concert review

This past Saturday was the first youth brass band concert of the 2012-2013 season. The TYBE had some very difficult music in front of them and I thought they did a great job. Our first piece was Strauss's Festmusik der Stadt Wien. It is a short fanfare that has quite a few notes. It was a bit faster than we had rehearsed it but it held together just fine and was exciting. Next was the Suite from the Hymn of the Highlands by Philip Sparke. This is a long (18 min) piece that has a Scottish feel to it. The band did an exceptional job considering it was over most of their heads. We are continuing to work on it for our trip to NABBA. Tony did a wonderful job on his solo, He Wipes the Tear From Every Eye. It was great to share the stage with Tony, since he has done so much for the youth band program. Our last piece was Hinode by Peter Graham. The piece has a Japanese sound to it and features many soloists throughout the group and has a big Hollywood style ending.

The band has improved tremendously since I took over in 2009 and the only credit I will take is that I have set a standard for the band. The kids have met the standard every concert and have worked really hard to make the band what it is today. I will be sad when I move up to the TYBB next year. Hopefully, we get someone who can keep it growing.

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