Farewell

Once again, it has truly been my privilege to be the Director of Instrumental Music for Madelia Community Schools. As I reflect on the past ten years, the memories and the music we made in rehearsals and performance is the legacy of the hard work and commitment of all of the students. I hope that you will continue to participate in the bands and make wonderful music in the future.

Thank you for all of the well-wishes, the parties, the special gifts and the laughs. I plan on creating a shadow box filled with many items from "the Madelia experience." I will check in from time to time to see how it is going - and I sincerely hope that it is going well!

Take care and all the best, always!
--Mr. E.

Making Decisions

By now you all have heard the news. I have accepted a teaching position for next year at Mankato East Junior High School. I want to write a little bit about decisions. Those life-changing decisions are never easy to make. As you get older, you realize that every decision has a ripple effect on many different people. Such is the case with this decision.

You should know that we are seldom able to "choose" when these big opportunities for change are offered - we have to take them as they come. Was I "looking" for a change? Not really. But I can't decide when opportunities like this are going to come along - they just do. It could have been next year, or the year after that. But it wasn't. It was now. This job is an opportunity for me to "get a life" as I told the students - an opportunity to do the things I always want to do but never seem to find the time.

Will I miss Madelia and the students in the band program - you bet. Will the bands at Madelia "survive" without me - you bet - IF - the students continue to strive for excellence and stick it out. The students are (and always have been) in charge of the program. As I am fond of saying "my baton doesn't make sound." The best thing band students can do is to approach the new year as an "opportunity" to get even better, and to do everything they can to support and help the new director.

Madelia music students should know by now that they have an incredibly supportive group of parents and community members that want them to do well. This new "community member-at-large" expects that too!

Almost there

We are almost at the end. It seems hard to believe sometimes, but other times it seems like it has taken forever! You know what I mean. That's just the way it goes. Even though the end of the year is rapidly approaching, we still have a bunch of stuff to do and we have to make the most of the time we have. Hopefully this will be a good week to get some stuff taken care of - lots to do!!!!

"Checking it off the list"

It has been a busy 3.5 months. There have been many things I have been involved in that are in addition to my regular MHS duties and they have taken an extraordinary amount of time. For those of you who don't know me very well I am someone who makes lists. I have found it extremely helpful to write down all the "things that must get done" even if compiling the list can be a little depressing at times! In any case, with the MAD Jazz performance last Monday and then formal picture day on Thursday I realized that they were the last of the "big things" on "the list!" It is amazing how good it feels. All year long as I complete another event or a big project I always make a big sweeping gesture in the air and "check it off the list."

Now let's not kid ourselves - there is a lot to do before school wraps on June 2 - but these things will be much more manageable - now that "the list" is smaller! The phrase must include the work "check." Have fun!

"And we're back!"

After a whirlwind 96 hours we are back! Above is the group of students on stage following the band performance and the Acrobats of China show. All in all it was an excellent tour. I will have more later, but as they say..life goes on - on to the jr high festival on Thursday - work to be done! Later.

HERE WE GO!

The tour is upon us! We leave on Wednesday at 10:00 p.m. from the east parking lot doors. Although it seems like there remains lots to do (and there is!) at least I feel like we will get it all accomplished before we leave - we don't have any other choice!!! Today we got out of school at 9:30 a.m. due to snow and I spent all afternoon working on things for tour, the junior high band festival, summer camp , spotlight on senior citizens, and a variety of other things - never a dull moment! I feel like I accomplished a lot though.

Congratulations, part II

Congratulations to MAD Jazz for their superior rating today at solo / ensemble contest! Excellent work. Congrats also go out to the soloists and accompanists for all events - playing a solo for a judge is truly one of the hardest thing we can ever do as a musician. Even if the result wasn't what you hoped for - it is the process that is important. You won, simply by going and doing! I'm proud of all of you!

Congratulations!

Congratulations, Concert Band! The band traveled to USC High School on Monday for the Minnesota State High School League's Large Group Contest. The band performed Mannin Veen by Haydn Wood and Persistence by Richard Saucedo. Both pieces were on the Class I literature list which is the highest (hardest) level of music. The band received scores of 32, 38, and 38 on a 40-point scale. This means the band received an overall rating of Superior.

This marks the 10th consecutive year that the Madelia Concert Band has received superior ratings at contest and the 7th consecutive year that the band has done so performing Class I literature. Way to go!

What is truly impressive to me about this is that we are a 9-12 band with around 70% of the students in grades 9-10. Most of the bigger districts have a 9-10 band and an 11-12 band. The 9-10 bands usually compete performing class III literature. So our MCB 9-10 graders have really done impressive work! It is great working with student musicians who work hard during rehearsals and perform wonderful music with expression, sensitivitiy, and maturity.

MCB members - give me your comments on our contest performance!

March Madness

We say it every year. Every year it is true. While the NCAA has its tournaments, we in the music world have our own version of "March Madness." It is a super busy time and this year it is even worse. The pic above says it all - this is how I feel most days! Monday we go to large group contest, having had incomplete rehearsals for the past two+ weeks. I honestly can't remember the last time everyone was there - perhaps the December concert? That in itself is just crazy. This week we have: contest, our concert, honor choir rehearsal, All-State auditions and preps for next weeks solo/ensemble! Yikes!

In any case, all we can do is hope that in the end, the preparation we have done as individuals and as a group pays off. I'll keep you posted. The word is "madness." Have fun!

Do you have stress?

Do you have stress? I ask because this is the week I present a session on stressful situations at the state music convention in Minneapolis. I am doing the session with Karla Beck, former MHS choir director. We are having a lot of fun getting together to work on the presentation, but I have to admit, the fact that we are not quite done is starting to cause me stress!

On another topic, we have been making great progress in both bands on the music for the upcoming concert and contests. I hope that continues this week as I will only have three rehearsals this week due to the convention. The word is "stress."

Like grains of sand in a hourglass...

Just like the grains of sand in an hourglass I realize out time is running out! There are so many things that we need to move forward before their "due date" which is kind of like "group homework!" As we wrap up the solo project we need to decide who will move on to Solo and Ensemble Contest (March 10th.) But before that we have MBDA Honor Bands (March 23), Large Group Band Contest (March 3), Winter Concert (March 4), and All-State Auditions (March 6). In the meantime, I have two concerts; Mankato Symphony (March 17) and MN River Valley Wind Ensemble (March 24.) Oh, yeah - a session to present at the state music convention (March 14-16.) Any suggestions for "slowing down the sands of time" would be appreciated!

Silence can be golden!

I wish this sign wasn't necessary. Actually, I wish it was flashing somewhere in the room during rehearsals! There are conversations going on during the rehearsals that take away or slow down the group's progress. Once people understand that our time together is at a premium perhaps the level of concentration will improve. I'm convinced that half of the time students don't even realize they are communicating with each other, but that doesn't excuse it. If everyone would just set a goal to not respond to the invitation to talk, we would accomplish so much more during our short rehearsal times!

The Second Half Begins

Tuesday marks the first day of the second semester of the 2007-2008 school year. It seems hard to believe that we have made it halfway. There are two ways to approach halfway marks - recalling the past, or looking forward to the future. Figuratively speaking, your glass in life is either always half full or half empty. I prefer to see my glass as half full! There is so much to do, and so much awaits us as musicians! If you wish to leave your comment on the second half of the school year, please let us know if you are a "glass half-full" or "glass half-empty" type of person!

If a first you don't succeed...

Just like the saying above the practice lab states..if you can't be successful with music you have to try again (and again) until you are successful. It is often hard for young musicians to realize that a large part of musical success is based on the repetition of performing (practicing) the music. That is why we have class (rehearsal) so that we can get used to hearing how the parts from the various instruments fit together to complete this musical puzzle! It is also why attendance and concentration is so important - we can't have that crucial repetition without having everyone there! In other words, you are ALL IMPORTANT! It's been a long time - I almost forgot to say that the phrase that pays is "I'm important!"

Back in the Saddle Again

After two days back we can officially say that we are "back in the saddle again." To be honest, it was great to see everyone again, but Thursday was a long, long day! When I left after playing for the boys basketball game I felt as tired as I usually am after a concert. Friday was better. I was impressed with the amount of quality music we created during rehearsals. Even though the students were a little fidgety and talky, we did good stuff! We are focusing on "quality of sound" and scales for the foreseeable future as we continue to read our way through new music.