Hello Rideau Cadences
Our second rehearsal of the season was a lot of fun. Thank you for all of your effort last night both on the stage and in clinics. Also Thank you for the effort put into such an efficient set up and tear down.
On stage we worked on long tones and on #52 (p.8) in the method book. We concentrated on sending air all the way through the instrument. Using enough air can help solve many technical issues including intonation. We talked about the concept of the tongue starting the sound and not stopping the sound. We worked on legato (smooth) playing. The tongue gently touches the airstream to add clarity to the line but should not stop the line. We also worked on defining the first note of every entry with a clear ‘dah’
We spent time on the opening section of Whispers from Beyond, started to sort out which part should be heard the most and which is accompaniment. We worked on getting the eighth note accompaniment pattern as smooth as possible. This occurs in the clarinets bar 19 and on as well as in the euphonium and bassoon in several places. We worked on listening and playing precisely together. We also worked on playing as smoothly as possible between high and low pitches (again a steady air flow will help with this)
The rest of our short time together was spent on El Camino Real up to about bar 44. We talked a little bit about terminology (lunga = long) Sost = Sostenuto or sustained. We spent a little bit of time working on the faster passages at 5 (in the alto sax and in the horn) and worked a little bit on the staccato passages.
We then had instrument specific clinics. I will look forward to hearing about what you learned and about new concepts that were presented by the clinicians.
Next week Oct. 3rd
We will have clinics next week as well during the second hour of band practice. There may be a couple of room changes. I will send out the schedule after a few modifications.
In our first hour next week, I would like to work on Twas in the Moon of Wintertime, continue our work on El Camino Real and hopefully get started on A Solitary Wish and Abracadabra.
Concert Date: Sunday Dec. 16th Brookfield HS
Help Wanted
If anyone is able to help with the creation of these band notes please let me know.
Also if anyone has a suggestion for a venue for a community concert (either later this term or next term) please let me know.
Listening Links
Here are the links to recordings of our selections (sent previously by email.
World War One Medley (march) (no link just yet)
