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!