Sunday, September 20, 2009

Were you in a music group at one time?

Were you ever in a community music group? Maybe a youth band or a high school band or a drum and bugle corps? If it's been a while since that time, I bet you don't remember much of the rehearsals and practices that you were a part of in preparing for a performance. OR maybe you've never had the chance to perform in a group and really don't know what it's like.

Well, here is a way you can get one person's take on preparing for a community band concert. One of the Clarinet players in the Knightwind Ensemble is posting her impressions of each rehearsal, as the Knightwind Ensemble prepares for it's concert this November 22nd (more on that later). So, once per week you can see what happened at rehearsal and how the music is coming along...all the ups and downs that occur in the preparation of music for a performance. It's an interesting read and definitely worth the time. You can access her blog for the rehearsal season at: http://knightwindmilwaukee.blogspot.com

Now, about that concert on November 22nd. The theme of the concert is Milestones, and it refers to specific concerts and performances that the Music Director, Mr. John Steinke, experienced. One of the pieces on the program is the Finale from Fifth Symphony of Dmitri Shostakovich, the first classical music he heard as a child. It impressed him so much that he decided that music was his calling. Other pieces on the program include Alfred Reed's Russian Christmas Music, and the march from Hindemith Symphonic Metamorphosis. And a number of other pieces as well. The concert will be loaded with band favorites, all of them very difficult to perform well. I suggest you mark your calendar for this concert. You don't want to miss it.

And I'll have more details on the other pieces on the Knightwind Ensemble concert program in future posts.

No comments: