Author: James Adkins

April 2nd – Spring Recital, Akron Public Library Auditorium. 5:30 report, 6:00 Downbeat.

April rehearsals: 4th- MAPS, 2:30; Full Rehearsal. 8th – NO REHEARSAL. 11th- F.E.C. 6:00; Full Combined Rehearsal. 15th – F.E.C, 5:00; Orientation classes; 6:00 Sectionals; 7:00 Full Combined Rehearsal. 18th – MAPS, 2:30 Full Rehearsal. 22nd F.E.C. 5:00; Orientation classes( No Strings, winds and percussion only); 6:00 (strings and percussion Combined Sectionals); 7:00 Full Combined Rehearsal. 25th – F.E.C. – 6:00 Full Combined Rehearsal. 29th – F.E.C. 5:00 Orientation Classes; 6:00 Sectionals. 7:00 Full Combined Rehearsal.

May rehearsals: 2nd – MAPS, 2:30; Full Rehearsal. 6th- F.E.C. 5:00 Orientation; 6:00 Sectionals; 7:00 Full Combined Rehearsal. 9th- F.E.C. 6:00; Full Combined Rehearsal. 13th- F.E.C. 5:00 Orientation classes; 6:00 Sectionals; 7:00 Full Combined rehearsal. 16th- MAPS- Full Combined Rehearsal. 20th – F.E.C. 5:00 Orientation Classes; 6:00 Sectionals, 7:00 Full Combined Rehearsals. 23rd – F.E.C. 6:00 Full Rehearsal. 24th MEMORIAL DAY PERFORMANCE 2:00 Western Reserve Masonic Community Medina, OH 2:00. 30th – MAPS 2:30, Full Combined Rehearsal.

JIm

Hello Friends and Lovers of Music! Please find below important information with respect to our Monday evening Rehearsal and our Tuesday evening Recital. Please contact me with questions at your earliest convenience.

Monday April 1st will start with Orientation classes at 5:00. We will all meet at 6:00 in our regular Combined Ensemble seating placement upstairs. We will play through five of the Recital selections in performance order. However, we will not move from our Combined Ensemble seating. Each of these Five Small Group will simply perform from their sectional seating area in performance order for no more than 10 minutes. The remaining 4 of the 9 Small Groups will each have 10 minutes of rehearsal time after everyone else has cleared the area. More instructions will be given on Monday.

Monday rehearsal order: 6:00 Full Combined Ensemble (1), (2), (4), (6), (9): 7:00 (3),(5),(7), (8). See titles and ensembles numbers on Tuesday list.

Tuesday performance order: (1). Percussion “Counting Counts” Ozgood Cowsnowski, (2). Woodwinds Ensemble “Celebrated Air” J.S. Bach, (3). Percussion “Mallet Duets” Thomas Brown, (4). Flute Choir “Minuet No. 2 in bm” J.S. Bach, (5). M.K. Players “Just Want to Go Home” Marilyn Katzmark, (6). String Ensemble “Sahara Crossing” Richard Meyer, (7). Arabian Trio “Fantasia Arabesque” Herman Beeftink, (8). Swingin’ Along “Just Because”, “Hogan’s Heroes”, ” Basin St. Blues”, (9). Brass Ensemble “Soul Bossa Nova” Quincy Jones.

Parking at Tuesday performance in the library indoor parking garage is the most convenient. However, sometimes there is a charge. Please dress in black shoes, pants or skirts and our blue pull over shirts. Dennis will be taking pictures on stage and in the audience throughout the recital. (Even while you are playing). The set-up crew and staff will arrive at 5:00. Call time is 5:30 and the downbeat is at 6:00. Remember you will not warm up until you are on stage. Do not take your instrument out of the case until you take the stage. Please bring your own music stand. We will talk through all of this at Monday’s rehearsal. PLEASE PLAN KNOW TO BRING AN AUDIENCE!!!!! I’m Excited!!

Jim

Unfortunate New: The performance of the String Ensemble at the Johnson United Methodist Church on April 20th has been postponed because of illness. We will be contacted with respect to our availability as new dates are considered.

Unfortunately, I failed to submit a request for rehearsal dates at M.A.P.S. for the month of March. Please accept my apologies for this oversite on my part. I always double check scheduling but this time I failed to do so until this afternoon. Please share this info with as many friends as you can hopefully preventing a member making the trip only to find that our rehearsal has been cancelled. Only three rehearsals left before our Akron Library Recital. We can make this happen!

Once again, I am sorry!

Jim

Woodwind Ensemble will be performing “Celebrated Air from Suite No. 3 in D” Bach. The Brass Ensemble will perform “Soul Bossa Nova” Quincy Jones. Good News! I tested negative!!!!!!!!! See you this evening! Jim

Hello Friends and Fellow Musicians! HAPPY ST. PATRICKS DAY! Lynne, Eddie and I have enjoyed a day of celebration quietly together in our home. All three of us are feeling much better and enjoyed a quiet day of excellent Irish food and drink prepared with the special love and touch of my very talented wife. I’m now enjoying my last cup of Irish coffee writing this reminder to all of you with respect to our next two weeks of preparation.

I’m so happy to be able to return to performances at the main Akron Public Library Auditorium. It has always been a special performance stage for us as I think back over the last 20 years. I feel like I’m returning home. Here are things for you to recall about the final preparation and performance day plan. 1). Everyone is expected to participate in this Recital. 2). Please invite Friends, Neighbors, and Loved Ones to attend this FREE performance. It’s an important part of your learning experience and should be witness so that you feel the warmth of artistic recognition. 3). You will follow the schedule of ensemble performance as indicated below. You will enter the stage from the right and leave from the right as you look at the stage from the house seats and into the house from the stage. You will only bring your own music stand, music, and instrument (no cases) on to the stage. 4). You will go directly to your assigned stage seat as quickly and quietly as possible when called from the stage. Leaving the stage quickly is even more important. We have found that leaving your cases in the seats in the back section of the house makes these movement much more organized. We have also found that members who have trouble with steps will have less hardships simply by sitting in backstage seats for the evening. Also only bringing a folder with the music you need for this one evening’s performance, not your entire library, is much better preparation. Please see the list and order of performing groups below. Coming to the next five rehearsal will prepare you for the control of your equipment and the professional organization of the night! Much more about this is in fact the order of the day for the next five rehearsals. Be there or be square!

Recital Order as of March 18th: Please make sure you have parts for these selection TONIGHT! Our Staff my add or replace as we move through the next five rehearsals.

1). Ensemble 24 Percussion on stage all other members clapping from the house; 2). Mallet Duet Herman Rubin, “Follow Me Close”, “Calypso Joe”; 3). Woodwind Ensemble; 4). Flute Solo Anna Ayoub “Fantasia Arabesque”; 5). String Ensemble “Sahara Crossing”6). Swingin’ Along; 7). Flute Choir “Minuet Suite #2 in bm; 8). Brass Ensemble.

As a Boy Scout in my youth, I learned a very important lesson from our Moto! “BE PREPARED”. I’m excited!!

Jim

Good evening, friends and fellow Musicians! After four days of negative testing this morning it hit me! I tested positive. Cathy will be conducting Full Combined Ensemble Rehearsal from 6:00 – 8:00 tomorrow evening. Please bring all 2024 music listed especially “Swan Lake”. She will be calling tunes in preparation for or Summer Concert Series. I’m sure you will enjoy her rehearsal. Please remember that our first performance this season is our Recital at the Akron Library Auditorium on Tuesday April 2. All four Sectional rehearsal classes will perform plus soloists and small groups from within our Combined Ensemble.

As always (even with a temperature) I’m EXCITED!!

Jim

Good evening, Friends and Fellow Musicians! The Covid Monster returned and invaded or family. My dear wife Lynne began feeling symptoms and tested positive Friday. I have tested negatively three times but have decided not to attend tomorrow evenings rehearsal. I will continue to test through Thursday morning. I believes that it is possible that I am not a carrier and that wearing a mask Thursday may be sufficient. That being said I will post my decision after testing on Thursday morning. Your Health is most important to me, and I will not chance passing this on without continued negative testing results. I have contacted Cathy Fogle, and she has no issue with me attending Thursday if there are no negative changes in my health. That being said tomorrow’s schedule will be changed because of my absence. I will post again on THURSDAY MORNING with respect to that evening’s rehearsal schedule. Please pass this information on to your friends. Here is tomorrow evening’s schedule revision: Monday March 11th – 5:00 Orientation Lessons (Strings Only). 6:00 Sectional Rehearsals Woodwind, Brass, Strings (Percussion rehears “24 Percussion Ensemble” on Landing with drums). 7:00 Full Ensemble upstairs; Flute Choir Pull Out downstairs.

Now on a more positive note I would like to share with you two experiences provided me by our Founder, Jim Stahl. Jim and Pat as you know are Snowbirds. Immediately on our arrival in Naples Florida Jim made arrangements for me not only to attend rehearsal of the famed Naples Concert Band but also personally introduced me to J. Steven Moore, the Music Director and Conductor and John Salminen the Associate Conductor. I was seated within the Band (which by the way Jim is now a member) and enjoyed the amazing opportunity to learn and absorb the techniques and secrets of the fame of their conducting success’s. I was restored, renewed, and reinspired. They share many of the same concepts and strange techniques that I understand and present to you continually. Sitting surrounded and completely inspired I felt recharged and rededicated to teaching more than just the noted in this wonderfully language we call MUSIC.

Then came the PIECE DE RESISTANCE! Every New Years Day I seat myself in front of the TV. But it is not to watch Football! I watch the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra performing live from the famed “Golden Music Hall”. Just like a dream come true I was treated with tickets to the “Artis-Naples” home of the famous Naples Philharmonic. The Vienna Philharmonic conducted by Franz Welser-Most (present Conductor of the Cleveland Orchestra) was performing Mahler Symphony No. 5 that evening. Jim and I studied the Symphony all morning with nonother than Leonard Berstein on television. I thought I was prepared! Ready to understand what I was about to hear and feel. From the moment the orchestra walk onto the stage, I was completely mesmerized by the Eruopean Instruments and their expertly controlled sound. The percussion instruments that I had admired on television in that moment, as all of the others did become alive. In an hour and a half, I was experiencing the understandable feelings of life. From Beginning to End. Without words. Without acting. Without explanation. Solely through the language of FEELING in music. Surrounded by hundreds, who all sat motionless while the diminuendo of the last note, controlled by the continuous downward motion of Most’s right hand, finally ended in silence. It truly was the end, and we all experienced it.

Mondays the 4th, 11th, 18th and 25th, at the F.E.C. Bev, Cathy, Cal, and Jim.

5:00 String Orientation with Cathy downstairs. Winds and Percussion Book 1 members with Jim at Sanctuary entrance. 6:00 Sectionals; Strings with Cathy, Brass with Bev, Woodwinds with Cal, Percussion and Book 2 Winds with Jim at Sanctuary entrance. This month’s sectional time will be used to prepare our April 2nd Recital selections. 7:00 Full Combined Ensemble upstairs. Strings will come upstairs, and Flutes will simply go to string room for choir rehearsal with Cathy.

Thursdays the 7th MAPS 2:30 Full Combined Rehearsal with Bev; 14th F.E.C. 6:00 Full Combined rehearsal with Jim and Cathy. Cathy my Pull Strings or Flutes as needed. Thursday the 21st MAPS 2:30 Full Combined Rehearsal with Bev, Cathy, and Jim. Sections may be pulled as decided by the Directors. Thursday the 28th F.E.C. 6:00 Full Combined Ensemble with Jim.

Have a Super Great Month! Keep working! As always, I’m EXXCITED!!!!

What a wonderful sunshiny day! I hope that you all got a chance to enjoy the warmth and brightness of the afternoon. It’s the same feeling I get during a rehearsal or performance when we are locked in and balanced during a soft legato section or a contrasting ending statement. It’s hard to put these private moments into words. It is however my goal to share them with you utilizing the magic of this language which we call MUSIC! It may be hard for some of you to feel but I really can sense our improvement and realize that it is simply because you are cooperating and feeling your own personal growth. Bravo!

We are also in the middle of what appears to be a never-ending health issue. Covid like many other contagious menaces is surrounding us and contaminating or atmosphere. We presently have some very responsible members who have reported their illness and elected to stay home and attend by Zooming in on our classes and rehearsals. Please understand that we appreciate everyone who gets the shots and continues testing! Your personal health is actually an important aspect and responsibility of what an ensemble really means! Each of us is important!! If you are ill and you elect to stay home, please understand you are taking the correct action. Please let us know so that we can appreciate your thoughtfulness! Please make sure you are cleaning your instrument and doing everything you can to keep your health and the health of our Musical Family under control.

Thanks goes out to Dennis Glazer and John Bikis for a very productive and successful Picture Day! We will be doing more of this on Mondays and Thursdays at both rehearsal locations! Dates will be posted! Also please mark your June Calendar of Concert Performances with respect to these June dates and times. We will be performing outdoors at 6:00 at the Western Reserve Masonic Community on Wednesday June 5th, and the Granger Methodist Church on Sunday afternoon at 2:00 on June 23rd. More info to come!!!!

Looking forward to Monday’s rehearsal! “Queen on Stage”

Jim

Good afternoon, Friends and Lovers of Music! Please find below the Summer Performance Schedule and Music List as they exist today. As always changes of times, places and dates may change or be adjusted as the needs of our membership and hosts both develop. Thanks for your cooperation and support as we continue to prepare for these performance opportunities. Please make sure that you have parts for all the music listed. “Queen” parts will be available starting on Monday the 26th.

Our Thursday February 22nd rehearsal this week is VERY SPECIAL. We will be photographed and recorded for advertisement purposes. We will be taking shots of the entire Combined Ensemble upstairs and downstairs with smaller groups and planes at the MAPS Museum starting at 2:30. Please wear your blue shirt and black slacks and report upstairs before 2:30. I’ll have more instructions Monday. We realize that not everyone can make the afternoon rehearsal therefore many more photo opportunities will present themselves as we move through Spring. That being said, we do need as many members as possible in attendance this Thursday the 22nd.

2024 Performance Dates:

1). April 2nd SPRING SMALL GROUP RECITAL 6:30 Akron Public Library;
2). April 20th “Mad Hatter Tea Party” 1:00 Johnson United Methodist Church, String Ensemble;
3). May 24th Memorial Day Celebration 2:00 Western Reserve Masonic Community, Combined Ensemble;
4). June 5th Western Reserve Masonic Community Outdoor Concert 6:00 Combined Ensemble;
5). June 16th Granger United Methodist Church Father’s Day Outdoor Concert 2:00 Combined Ensemble;
6). July 4th Stillwater Lake Picnic Concert Deerfield, OH;
7). August 25th “PANS, TUBS, AND BREWS” Fundraiser, Royal Docks Brewhouse in Canton ….Live entertainment, good food, good friends and much, MUCH MORE!!
8). September 29th Barberton Mum Fest 2:00 Concert Combined Ensemble.

2024 Concert Music List: Knights of Destiny; With Valor and Honor; Benediction; God Bless America; Stars Spangled Banner; Ukranian National Anthem; William Tell Overture; Stars and Stripes Forever; Hands Across the Sea; Invincible Eagle; Semper Fidelis; Queen on Stage; Bohemian Rapsody; Evil Ways; Sweet Georgia Brown; Satin Doll; The Blues; Hallelujah.

Without a doubt……..I’m Excited!!!!

Jim