Late October Update

I thought I'd give a few updates on this seemingly dreary, windy Saturday morning. A week ago yesterday, the marching band had a very successful indoor marching concert. It being my first time, I admit not knowing what to expect in terms of audience turnout, pacing, etc. But we had a good amount of support, there, and the kids seemed excited and focused.

As a good follow-up, we (72 kids, chaperones, and my sister) traveled to Ann Arbor the next night for the University of Michigan's Band-O-Rama. The concert featured the Concert Band, Symphony Band, and Marching Band. It was great because each portion of the concert had something especially worthwhile. The Concert Band is sounding good these days under the direction of Rodney Dorsey (who the band had the good fortune to work with in the Spring). They played "Blue Shades" and played it very well.

The Symphony Band performed "Symphonic Dances from West Side Story," which seemed pretty exciting for all the kids. They got a chance to see, I think, that our arrangement is pretty accurate to the original (rhythmically and motivically). I think we were the only band there shouting "Mambo."

Seeing the Marching Band portion was amazing, and it was a special highlight for the kids to see Andrew Lapin (former BHS band member) marching and playing trombone. When he came out doing entries, I think a few kids almost fainted a la Beatlemania. I'm very proud of him for making these blocks his freshman year--not easy to do in the competitive trombone section. It was really fun for me to see some colleagues from this summer's classes (and before) conducting the band. It's a switch to see my friend Dave Tenerelli up in front after seeing him in front of a recorder class in Jackson. What a fun gig for him.

Tim Cibor (band director at Seaholm and beloved coach at our marching band camp) came with his band, too, which was great.

It's nights that like that make me more and more grateful for the position I'm in.

Concert--This Friday

Just a reminder that the marching band has their annual Indoor Marching Concert this Friday, October 19th. The concert will begin at 7:30 PM at the BHS Auditorium. Hope to see you there!

Tag Days '07

What can I say? Our Berkley band students are the best kids around. Period. If anyone has any Norup or Anderson pictures, I'd love to post those, too...

Photos from Homecoming

On Friday, I had friend and professional photographer Abby Veldman take pictures of the marching band at the Homecoming football game. You can follow this link to view the pictures and buy prints if you like:
www.veldmanphoto.com. Click on "Clients" at the bottom of the home page, and then click on "Berkley Homecoming."

Enjoy! I think she captured some really nice moments from the night...

Pieces for Symphonic Band Auditions

Here is a link to a recording of "Procession of the Nobles."

http://youtube.com/watch?v=Sx-OOsQXhvU

This should give you an idea of the piece. But...warning! They play the piece significantly faster than most ensembles, and faster than we will play it.

Shoot for Quarter Note = 90-96. Not 124 like this band on the recording...

Here's a recording of the other audition excerpt: "Rondo," from "Prelude, Siciliano, and Rondo."

http://youtube.com/watch?v=KRpQPY-yzEE

The audio isn't great. Also, probably an example of the most boring way to conduct...

Remember, auditions for symphonic band will take place the week of October 15 during seminar and after school.

Pictures from Andover

Here are some pictures (courtesy of Robertta Goffeney) of Saturday's Andover Invitational. Enjoy!

Andover Invitational

Last night, the marching band performed at the annual Andover "Early Bird" Marching Band Invitational in Bloomfield Hills. I was proud of how the band did, especially considering we hadn't met since Tuesday evening.

The invitational was valuable for several reasons. First, we received two audio tapes of comments by two long-time music educators and a video tape from the press box. Second, we got a chance to put our whole show on the field before the ensuing football games. Until last night, we had only performed 3 of 5 songs. Last, we got the chance to see 6 other area bands including Troy HS (http://www.troyhighband.org/), Andover (http://www.andovermusic.com/band.htm), Lahser (http://www.lahserbands.org/), Dakota (http://www.cvs.k12.mi.us/dakota/), and Southfield HS and Southfield-Lathrup (http://www.southfield.k12.mi.us/education/district/district.php?sectionid=1).

What might be most fun about the night is seeing the very different styles of the bands. Our band probably had a similar style to Andover and Lahser in the presentation, music, and marching style. In the same way, the Southfield schools have a similar style, modeling their show on the Florida A&M Band (http://www.marching100alumni.com/home.htm). Troy and Dakota had unique styles, at times approximating DCI (http://www.dci.org/index.cfm) groups.

We have the next week off from football and then follow with our last two games. I'll post soon about upcoming October events, including the trip to UM's Band-O-Rama (October 20), Tag Days fundraiser (October 12-14), and the indoor marching concert (October 19).