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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