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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