Concert Band Christmas Tour

photo by Ian Muttoo, from flickr

 What you need to know for the elementary school tour on Thursday, Dec. 22:

• What to wear:  black pants, socks, and shoes; a Christmassy shirt or top.  Elf/Santa hats are optional.
• Bring your music.
• Bring some money for lunch at McDonald's, or a bag lunch if you prefer.
• Be in the music room by 8:30 am, ready to load the bus with stands and instruments.
• Please lend a hand to the percussionists with loading and unloading.  This will make them happy!

Christmas Concert Fast Facts

image by mag3737, from Flickr

• Call time:  Concert band is performing later in the evening, so you can arrive when your family does, at least by 7pm.
• White shirt, black pants, socks and shoes.
• Bring your music.
• Meet in room 310 for warm-up, tuning, etc.  This is where we'll stay until performance time.
• Be prepared to stay after the show to tidy up stands, chairs and percussion.  Many hands make light work.
• Open invitation to meet up at Dairy Queen after everything is put away.

image by zorbs, from Flickr

Looking forward

photo by blmurch, from Flickr

• Next week the dress rehearsal on Tuesday, Dec.6 will be held in the cafetorium.  From 3:15 to 4:00 pm, it will be a mass band rehearsal with the concert band and music classes.  From 4:00 to 5:00 pm, it will be the concert band rehearsal.
• The Christmas concert will be on Thursday, Dec. 8 at 7 pm.  Tickets are $5 (children 5 and under are free).  Tickets available from any band member.  Concert dress for the band (white shirt, black pants, socks and shoes).
• Some of the funds raised at Band-a-thon will go to subsidize (for those students who participated in fundraising) the band trip on May 11, 2012 to Toronto to see the musical West Side Story and dine at the Mandarin.  Mr. McIlwain will be ordering the tickets very soon, and asks all band members who plan to attend to bring in $25 by Friday Dec. 16 to reserve a ticket.  A letter went home about this on Nov. 29 (here it is in pdf form).
• On Thursday, Dec. 22, the band will goes on a one-day tour to perform for local elementary schools.  This is a busy day with lots of playing, and moving of equipment.  We'll stop at McDonald's for lunch.
• Here's a link to the version of Coventry Carol we are playing (arranged by Mark Williams, as was The Santa of Seville) on the publisher's website. Give this mournful carol a listen.  If you want to understand why the song is so sad, check out the Wikipedia entry on the carol.

Band-a-thon in review

Band-a-thon was a great success!  Thank you to the band executive, and to Mr. McIlwain for organizing the day.

Thank you to everyone who donated to the fundraising effort.  Top fundraiser was Michael T., followed by Trenton, and Mina.

Winner of Best Pajamas was Kiersten.  And Band-a-thon Superstar was Connor McL.

The slideshow up top contains a sample of the cookies that were decorated (email readers may have to click through to the blog to see the slideshow).  Sorry to say, I missed photographing a few.  After much deliberation, certificates were awarded to Shawn, for the Coolest Cookie,

to Mina, for the Messiest Cookie,

and to Ada, for the Best Cookie.  

This was one of those rare contests in which every participant was a winner, though, because we each got to eat our entry.  Some much needed sugar, at a low energy point in the day.

Speaking of food, we'd like to express our thanks to two groups:  first, to Kathryn for sharing her delicious birthday carrot cake with us all.  And second, to James and his support team of Julie and Steve Wood and Margie Morey, for the wonderful multi-course dinner, with customized menus, big fat sandwiches, hot soup and fruit on a skewer.  Yummy.

In all the excitement, we neglected to follow up on our crossword puzzle contest.  As of last Friday, we had no entrants whatsoever.  Now, it's entirely possible that the only people reading this blog are Russian web-crawling bots.  This would explain the lack of entries, as these bots don't do crosswords, and they aren't interested in Dairy Queen-related prizes.  So, if even one band member/non-bot was out there with a completed crossword, their odds of winning the contest would be pretty good.  Just saying.  Contest deadline extended until next week, or so.

It would be great to hear from everyone about what parts of Band-a-thon you most enjoyed.  Leave a comment down below.  Some highlights for me:  watching the relay and blindfold races; meeting a fellow tuba player; Patrick's dance moves; and surviving The Curse of Josh Groban at hour 11.75. 

Thank you to everyone for a most enjoyable day!

Band-a-thon is tomorrow!

Don't forget:

• bring your lunch, or your lunch money
• bring your pledge sheets and all monies
• pajamas are optional

Mr. McIlwain sends along this quote:

A famous conductor said, "The most difficult instrument to play is second fiddle. To find a violinist who can play second fiddle with enthusiasm - that's a problem. And if we have no second fiddles, we have no harmony." - Grit

phot by neoplatonistking, from Flickr

The Santa of Seville

Take a break from practicing your fi tah's for this piece (or are they f'tah's?), and broaden your musical horizons through the study of cartoons.

First, a little context for the piece.  The Santa of Seville is arranged by Mark Williams, who was a bassoon player, conductor and music teacher specializing in elementary band (here's a tribute to him on his publisher's website). Here's how the publisher describes The Santa of Seville:

What happens when Santa's sleigh accidentally lands in the middle of a production of Rossini's The Barber of Seville? Get ready for the hilarious combination of well-known Christmas favourites and themes from the opera's famous overture. Included are "We Three Kings", "Deck The Halls" and many others.

We are likely all familiar with the Christmas songs contained in this piece.  But what is this Barber of Seville?  According to Wikipedia, The Barber of Seville  is an opera buffa, or comic opera, composed by Gioachino Rossini with a  libretto (the story, lyrics and stage directions) by Cesare Sterbini.  It is a very popular opera, the ninth most performed opera in the world, according to Operabase.  And strangely, wonderfully, one particular aria from the opera has proven extremely inspirational to a number of 20th century cartoon studios.  Check out the following videos for four versions of the challenging Largo al Factotum.  (If you're reading this in an email, please click on the post title to access the blog, and the videos).

Here's the Bugs Bunny version Mr. McIlwain mentioned last week.  Thanks to Elisabeth from the flute section for this link.



This one is Woody Woodpecker's take on Figaro's aria (rather impressive Italian on Woody's part).


Tom and Jerry tackle the aria, as well as each other.


So, lots of stage business involving barber chairs, shaving foam and sharp implements.  Check out this next video to see how the aria is staged in a performance of the real opera.  I believe this magnificent version is from the Teatro Real Madrid and features the baritone Pietro Spagnoli (opera afficianados please correct me if that's wrong).



Finally, to bring this back to the piece we are actually playing, here is a video of a school band performing The Santa of Seville.

Rehearsal notes from November 15

photo by foonus, from Flickr

Band-a-thon

• permission forms are due to Mr. McIlwain by next Tuesday, Nov. 22

Dinner and theater trip scheduled for May 11, 2012

• part of Band-a-thon proceeds will go to subsidize this trip to see West Side Story
• Mr. McIlwain will be asking for a commitment to attend before he orders the tickets, so check your calendars

Band tour of local elementary schools on Thursday, Dec. 22

• a day long performing tour!

Crossword puzzle contest

• check out this blog post for the puzzle pages, and read the blog carefully for the answers
• bring your completed puzzle along on Band-a-thon day, and enter to win a prize

The Trouble with Triples

• after our exercise clapping out  triples and duples, Cameron told us the magic words he uses for keeping the rhythms straight:  Blueberry Cheesecake.  Both delicious, and rhythmic!  Try some today...

Puzzled?

Photo by deadoll, from Flickr

Here are the clues to the Concert Band Crossword Puzzle.  And you'll also need a puzzle page, here it is.

Photo by wallyg, from Flickr

Not all the answers to the puzzle have been posted yet, so please keep on checking in.  Bring your completed puzzle page to Band-a-thon, and it will be entered to win a prize.

Photo by BinaryApe, from Flickr

Good Luck!

Band-a-thon on November 25

photo by Jennanana, from Flickr

Band-a-thon paperwork went home at last week's practice.  It is also available here to download or print.   Click on this link.

Some points to remember (all detailed in the paperwork):

• Band-a-thon runs from 9 am to 9 pm.  If you can't be present for the entire 12 hours, please let Mr. McIlwain know via a note from your parent/guardian, by Tuesday, Nov. 15.
• Lunch will not be provided.  Supper will be provided.
• Please return your signed permission form to Mr. McIlwain asap.
• Bring in your pledge forms and all monies on Band-a-thon day.
• Parents are invited to our final rehearsal, starting at 8 pm.  Following the rehearsal and clean-up, students will be able to leave with their parent(s) shortly after 9 pm.

If you have any questions, please email douglas.mcilwain at ugdsb.on.ca (insert an @ for the "at").

image by daydreamer1203, from Flickr

Happy Saxophone Day!

Photo by sjdunphy, from Flickr

Nov. 6 marks the day that saxophone inventor Adolphe Sax was born, in 1814.  Here's a link to his bio on Wikipedia.

Giant saxophone in Sax's birthplace, Dinant, Belgium.  Photo by Zephyrinus, from Flickr

He was a Belgian instrument maker, responsible for several advances in valved instruments.  His most famous invention was the saxophone, patented by him in 1846.   Altogether, Sax designed 14 types of saxophones, ranging from tiny (the sopranino) to honking (the subcontrabass, so large it was not built during Sax's lifetime).

Intended to form a bridge between woodwinds and brass, the saxophone has proven a versatile instrument for classical and military music, jazz and rock.  Here's a list of famous sax players, both real and fictional.

So, saxophone players and saxophone fans, let's celebrate today Sax's most famous creation!

Here's a video of the San Francisco Saxophone Quartet playing the Hornpipe from Handel's Water Music.



If you're reading this post in an email, please click on the post title to access the blog in order to watch the video.

Sneak Attack!

sneak attack by superbomba, from Flickr

Richard Saucedo, composer of this piece, is Director of Bands at Carmel High School in Indiana. This is a school with an extremely active instrumental music department.  He's also a staff composer at music publisher Hal Leonard and has written many pieces for marching and concert bands.  Here's a link to his bio on his publisher's website.

There don't seem to be any videos of bands playing Sneak Attack! on YouTube, yet.  Here's a link to the audio file provided by the publisher, performed by professional musicians.

This piece contains a musical term I was not familiar with:  sub.  I took a look online, and found a couple of glossaries of musical terms which clued me in to the meaning of this term, short for subito.  In case you want to look up sub. or any other musical term,  you'll find links to these two glossaries in the sidebar on the blog page (if you're reading this in an email, just click on the title, and that will take you to the blog page).

Edited on April 17, 2012:  This post is the most popular of any on the blog so far.  This might mean that other bands are performing Sneak Attack! and looking for info about it.  So I went back to YouTube, and found a few new examples of bands performing this piece.

Here's a high school band:




This one is labelled as an all-city band, maybe a sort of mass band made up of smaller groups.

Upcoming Events

Photo by bryankennedy, from flickr

Just a reminder about these upcoming events.

Commencement is on Friday, Nov. 4.
Bandathon is on Friday, Nov. 25, from 9am to 9pm.
Christmas Concert is on Thursday, Dec. 8.

Tuesday Nov. 1 Rehearsal

This final rehearsal before Commencement (on Friday, Nov. 4) will be held in the first French step classroom (room 810?).  We may have to bring in chairs and stands from the music room, and return them after the rehearsal.

Commencement Repertoire (expanded from last week)
O Canada
Graduation Suite
Saxes Will Rock!
Allegro from Water Music
Valiant Fanfare
The Winner Takes It All
Malagueña
Meadowlands
Sneak Attack!

Standing Room Only by harry harris, from flickr

Malagueña

Malagueña (pronunciation here) is a very famous piece, written by the Cuban composer and pianist Ernesto Leucona (1896-1963) as part of the Suite Andalucia, and originally copyrighted in 1928.  Leucona's Wikipedia page tells us that the piece was originally composed for piano, and that the composer's music was brought to American attention largely through the efforts of Desi Arnaz (a Cuban musician, actor and tv producer you may know from I Love Lucy).

The piece has been recorded many times over the years (here's a partial list).  It has been especially popular with guitar players.  Here are some interesting, and surprisingly different versions.

This one is by Roy Clark, famous from the comedy/country music show Hee Haw, playing a 12 string guitar.  Rather passionate.

Here is Canadian classical guitarist Liona Boyd with a more tender version.



And here's a surfer version by the Argentinian band Los Kahunas.



This one's a jazz version by the Stan Kenton Orchestra.



If you search YouTube for Malagueña, you'll get many pages of results.  It is a very popular piece for marching bands.  I wasn't able to find any performances of the Paul Lavender arrangement, which we are playing.  Leave us a note in the comments if you can find one.

Malagueña is clearly a versatile piece of music, with much room for interpretation.  Yet, each version is very stirring.  What do you think?

Commencement on Friday, Nov. 4

Image by CarbonNYC, from Flickr

Commencement Repertoire
O Canada
Graduation Suite
Saxes Will Rock!
Allegro from Water Music
Valiant Fanfare
The Winner Takes It All
Malaguena


Concert Dress
Black:

• Pants
• Socks
• Shoes

White:

• Shirt with a collar for the bow tie (a tie and vest will be supplied by the band)

Call time

TBA (the ceremony begins at 7pm)

Saxes Will Rock!

Here's some info for you about this piece:

The composer is Larry Neeck.  He's an instrumental music teacher in New York state.  Here's a link to his biography, on his website.

There are three versions of the piece on YouTube, each slightly different.

Here's a version, perhaps by a band camp group, which features some young sax players.

This next version is by some adult musicians.

Finally, here's a version which puts the emphasis on the tuba section.

Which one do you like the best?

Band Social on Friday, Oct. 14

The band executive invites you to an evening of fun, games and food, from 7:00 to 10:00.  The purpose of this event is to build social bonds between all band members by having them engage in group activities.  We have found that this type of event promotes a sense of team which is vital to building a healthy band program.

Games and activities are planned, dress appropriately for evening outdoor activities.  Snacks will be provided.  The cost:  $5.

For more information talk to any member of the band executive.

Food, friends and fun - on Friday!
image by Josh Russell, from flickr

Thanks to the Smith family for making this event possible!

No rehearsal on Tuesday, Oct. 11

The Tuesday rehearsal has been rescheduled to Thursday, Oct. 13, due to a staff meeting.  Back to normal schedule next week. See you on Thursday!