Here it is my Friends! Our step off on the road to “Celebrating 20 Years of Music Making!” It’s 10:00 pm on Sunday night June 9th and I’m sharing with you our plans and brief out line of our first rehearsal in preparation of our August 25th Show plan. We have been all working hard since last Christmas preparing for this leap into the world of Musical Entertainment. We have shared many concert performances over the years and each of them have helped in developing our successful ability to actually entertain our audiences. We have developed a style and a unique understanding of our performance capabilities. We have become a BAND!
Cathy and I will be teaching orientation Classes at 5:00. Our 6:00 rehearsal will simply be split into two groups. Strings downstairs and Winds and Percussion upstairs. These rehearsals will last until 8:00 at which time all four of our staff will meet to discuss our next rehearsal plan. There will be no combined rehearsal at 7:00 this week. You will receive two new selections that you will read and work on during this split rehearsal. Knowing that we have a June 23rd concert coming up please also bring everything that we have given you including “Hands Across the Sea”. Also, we know that we can count on you all to be continually practicing the Moore and the Lisk exercises. Please also know that we have added New Member String Class on Thursday evenings every other week as well as String Sectionals and Full Combined Rehearsals on those evenings.
IT IS EXTREMELY IMPORTANT THAT WE ALL MAKE AS MANY REHEARSALS AS POSSIBLE BETWEEN NOW AND AUGUST 25TH. We have an entire NEW SHOW to learn in two months! You will be expected to read these charts not learning them by repetition. You will be given new music every week! The schedule will change as we move through the next two months with respect to how we spend our time on Mondays and Thursdays. We may even add a small group help session on Wednesdays. Please trust me when I say that YOU ALL CAN DO THIS!! I BELIEVE IN YOU AND KNOW THAT YOU WILL DO YOUR BEST!! I know and completely understand that some of you have job and family situations that will cause some conflicts. As always this will not eliminate your participation as I’m sure we can continue to work together helping you to be at your best on August 25th.
Lastly this evening, I must ask you to understand that it is IMPORTANT for us to know how many people you will bring to our CELEBRATION on August 25th. The Board is working very hard to make this a wonderful event. Something you can be proud of and never, ever forget. It truly is the Performance Opportunity of OUR LIFETIMES! Something that you really want to share with your friends and Family. To be prepared we must have an attendance number. You will be given a form to return indicating how many you know will attend. In my experience the truth is that 1 out of every 4 you ask will attend. However, they will all say maybe! The key is to be excited and get them excited about being part of YOUR opportunity! Talk to them about it every time you see or communicate with them. Make it a GROUP EVENT!! Talk about the FOOD, the DRINK, the MUSIC and most of all how important it is to YOU that THEY attend. Share that this is an opportunity of a LIFETIME for YOU! My friends you won’t be lying!
As always, I’M EXCITED!
Jim