Busy Times

It is going to be a busy, exhausting week. This is one of those times when everything seems to "hit" at once. I just returned from an impressive Concert Wind Ensemble concert at MSU-Mankato. They did a really excellent job. It is always fun to hear pieces that you have performed or directed done by someone else - way less stress that way! Among the pieces performed were Festive Overture and O Magnum Mysterium, both pieces I have directed with MCB. I could almost see the director's score in my mind...Monday will be the Fall Choral Concert / Mankato Symphony rehearsal and Tuesday another concert at MSU-Mankato. Friday I will be at MSU with students for honor band and Sunday afternoon I will attend the Mankato Area Youth Symphony Orchestra concert and proceed to Gustavus for the start of the honor band festival there. I almost forgot - the quarter is done this week as well!

A reminder to all band students - all first quarter work (lessons, logs, journals, etc.) must be completed and turned in by 4:00 on Thursday! In the words of a popular American (and also the secret phrase) "Git-R-Done!"

Challenges

I feel like posting this sign in the hallway leading up to the instrumental rehearsal room. Seriously. After five days without rehearsals I have confirmed that many of our members need to sharpen their retention skills! Yesterday it took 30 of the 42 minutes of the MCB rehearsal to get the group to sound like "my group." It is amazing the lack of focus a five-day break can create. Today the groups were much more "with me" but in MCB we were missing a large contingent of members due to two school functions. This will be the case the remainder of the week. It is my goal to get the students to realize that even though we are missing people, we must forge ahead. Progress must be made. If the people around you are gone - then it is YOUR turn to lead! Be a leader - assume the position - try it, you may grow into a natural leader!

We are fortunate to have many strong leaders in the bands. What most people (including the vast majority of the band members) don't realize is that so many of the students have the potential to be amazing musicians and leaders! Believe in yourself like I believe in you and just see what we will accomplish! The word is "lead."

Enjoy the weekend!

I hope you all have a fantastic weekend! Thanks for stopping by to check up on the members of the Madelia Concert Bands. While you are here, please take time to answer our current poll question "Who visits Madelia Concert Bands?" so we can find out who is visiting our blog! Band members - there are polls for each band as well. Please share your thoughts! The phrase today is "rain, rain, go away!"

Band Students: On the left side of the blog page I added a section called "Repertoire Practice Links" as a reference source for you when you practice. Although our tempos might be different, these recordings will be a valuable addition to your practicing!

Hard at work

The Junior High Concert Band hard at work! Even though it has been a short week, we are making the most of our rehearsal time. The students have even begun an individual composition process.

Short Week?

We are gearing up for a "short week" of school due to the Minnesota Education Association Convention. While most people put their focus on how quickly we can get to vacation, I put my focus on how much we need to accomplish in our three days! It is the beginning of MAD Jazz and JazzHAWKS this week, and we play for games two of the three nights. I do not attend the conference in the cities. I would rather take my time and resources ($) to attend the Minnesota Music Educator's Association Mid-Winter Conference in February instead. Everything there applies directly to what I do on a daily basis. In case your thinking "Eichhorst gets a long weekend," let me assure you that I have school-related projects lined for those "conference days."

Before I forget - we had an excellent rehearsal on Friday in MCB. We made huge project on the Bach Arioso that we are preparing, and while we did that the flute ensemble and percussion ensemble met in sectional in other parts of the music area. What an efficient use of time!

Back to this week: the Junior High Concert Band members will start working on their 4th piece tomorrow. It is called Ancient Voices and they already love it after just hearing it once. They also will begin composing this week! I have developed exercises where they will write melodies for the entire band to play. If it works out, we will branch on to melody/accompaniment exercises.

MCB must do MASSIVE work on the Vaughan Williams and Brahms. We have spent a little more time than I would have liked to learn new and review old pepband music. I hope we have a great week! The phrase is "short week, but lots of work!"

Random Thoughts II

*The Junior High Concert Band is having a great week. The past two rehearsals have been outstanding. The band has been playing with great musicality, so much so that I am able to direct things the way "I really want to" instead of directing every little entrance and rhythm - what a treat! Their rehearsal etiquette has steadily improved this week as well - way to go, band!
*Wednesday was the kick-off for our annual food fundraiser. "Pizza Pete" was in the house to get everyone ready to sell. The smell of pizza carried down both floors of the building! I have already had students come in and request additional order forms. Tomorrow I'm starting a series of "commercials" that will be read during the daily announcements. Hopefully this will increase sales!
*It's hard to believe, but the end of the quarter is starting to sneak up on us. Students need to monitor their progress and take care of all required work. MCB students need to complete the Qtr. 1 outcomes and get those practice logs checked off!
*Another great sport-band performance tonight. The students are really playing with confidence so far this year - and the best part - I am having some fun during the performance as well! That means that I can enjoy what they are doing instead of worrying about HOW they are playing - excellent job.
*The word to use is "sport-band."

Finding our groove

Today was a pretty good day. Both bands accomplished a lot during their respective rehearsals. Jr. high is already steaming along on our quest to learn all 12 major scales. This week it is F Major. The next issue to focus on is air stream / air flow. We need to move more (and faster) air through the instruments to make the notes speak clearer and better. I'm sure they will get there - maybe tomorrow will be the day!

MCB had a fast paced rehearsal. We started by working with the first movement of the Vaughan Williams and then I stopped and broke them into sectionals. I occasionally use mini-sectionals to focus on a small section of the music. My purpose today was two-fold; work on the music while using the time to speak with the flute and percussion sections in the hall. We will have a flute choir doing the "Ukrainian Bell Carol" at the December concert. This will sound great performed by flutes. The percussion section will be working on "Yuletide Celebration", a medley that incorporates three different carols. We "talked our way through the pieces" in the hallway while the rest of the band was working the Vaughan Williams in the band room.

Following the sectionals we continued working the sections. The low brass was pretty pumped up about their progress, so much so that they completely covered every other part! Whoa - easy there!

It is so great when the band comes together enough to be "split apart!" It's nice knowing that I can trust them to work on the assigned material while I can work with other groups - great job, band!

"And the Band Played On..."

Friday was a very interesting day. I arrived at school with the intent of preparing for one of the busiest days of the year for us - the Friday of Homecoming Week. So many little details to attend to with parade preparations, pepfest and game preps as well. All of this must be accomplished on an "early out" schedule which means that my rehearsal time is extremely short.

Upon arrival, I discovered that some of the students had decided to "decorate" the front of the school and went a little "overboard." Those involved will know what I am talking about - I will spare the rest of our readers the details. To make a long story short - this was the second time during the week that the students had decorated...and after the first time they were given a stern warning that if anything else happened, events would come to a halt. Well, they did. The activity for the day, the popular talent show, the parade and the pepfest was canceled. To make matters worse (at least from a student perspective) we went back to a full school day.

So we basically had a day of raw emotion on behalf of the students. We had upset students, grouchy adults, and a band director who knew that we still had a performance to prepare for! I will honestly say, that I was concerned that the rehearsal might not happen, given the amount of rumors flying around about mass student protests, or walk outs. I had to come up with a strategy.

I had a full list of every song we needed to play for the game on the board when the students came in. I told them that I knew they were upset and frustrated, and I wanted them to channel that frustration and put that energy through their horns. Wow! They played and played and played....by song nine I could tell they were either calming down or were just getting tired, as the volume started to return to normal. At the end of the rehearsal I told them that there were two types of people - those who make a bad situation worse, and those who work to make a positive change - and I was proud to be standing in front of a group of the latter! I was thrilled that we were able to have a functional rehearsal. They continued by showing up (more rumors of a mass football game boycott!) and give great performances for pre-game and half-time of the football game. The Madelia Concert Band is made up of terrific young adults! The secret word to reply with is "pride."