We will not have rehearsal again until April 3rd due to Spring Break.
Please have your student practice at home! They can use the guide below to know what they should be practicing. I also highly encourage they practice using the practice videos I have made, which can be found here on our website and here on our YouTube channel.
Intermediate Orchestra Members: If you would like to play in the Advanced Orchestra next year, you will need to send me a short audition video before the end of the year. The section you need to play is outlined below. I’m letting you know now so that you can practice!
Beginning Orchestra
- Royal Promenade — This is sounding great! We worked on the ending, specifically measure 45 until the end, but you should be able to play the whole thing now.
- Mythos — Thank you to those of you who clearly practiced! It makes a big difference. If you still haven’t taken the time to learn Mythos at home, don’t let your other orchestra members down — please practice at home! We worked on measure 1 through measure 31. You should have this section completely down by the time we come back from break. Notice that the music from measure 52 to measure 67 is exactly the same as 15 through 31, so if you get that section down then you have half of it learned!
- William Tell — We learned the rest of this piece, which just has open strings. I encourage you to practice with the practice videos that are just the Beginning Parts so that you can get the hang of it.
- Salamander Samba — We didn’t get to it this week, but I’m not that worried since we have it down pretty well.
Intermediate Orchestra
Auditions — If you want to play in the Advanced Orchestra next semester, you will need to submit an audition video before the end of the year. If you want to stay in the Intermediate Orchestra, you don’t need to do anything. The audition is music that we are already preparing for the concert, and will be as follows:
- Violins and Violas
- Dragonhunter —measures 29 through 38
- Funky Fiddles — measures 41 through 49 (It’s okay if you only play one of the notes for those double stops)
- Cellos and Basses
- Dragonhunter — measures 28 through 38
- Funky Fiddles — measures 65 through 73
Review:
- Raindrop Serenade — I gave 3 2nd violins sheet music to play the viola melody with them at 21, and I think it’s going to help our balance. We ran through the whole thing and especially practiced the beginning and the end. Cellos and violas, please make sure you are really confident about your music 3 and 4 measures before the end because your sections are alone there!
- Dragonhunter — Thank you to those who obviously practiced the pizzicato section! It really helped. Because of this, we *kind of* could play through the whole thing, although we had to stop and fix things pretty regularly. You should be able to practice the whole song now.
- Funky Fiddles — We started from the beginning and it was a bit rough! I think that we are just having a hard time keeping the beat, so I encouraged you all to watch more. We worked on measures 41 through 49, and I decided that we are just going to split up those notes rather than try to play both. We will split it up in this way:
- 1st Violins — last names starting with A-F play the bottom note, and last names starting with G-Z play the top note.
- 2nd Violins — last names starting with A-L play the bottom note, and last names starting with M-Z play the top note.
- Violas — last names starting with A-P play the bottom note, and last names starting with Q-Z play the top note.
- William Tell — We should know how to play this whole thing now. I encourage you to practice it with the practice video that only has the beginning parts.
Advanced Orchestra
- Nightrider — Trust me when I say I know how annoying this has been, and I promise we will no longer change songs this semester. We are not going to play Eat My Rosin Dust or Mantras, and are instead learning Nightrider. We will not switch again — you have my word. Nightrider is only one page and is much easier than the other two, while still being fun to play. Try to check it out in the next couple of weeks and we will dive into it more at our next rehearsal.
- Storm — We ran through the whole thing at a slower tempo, and then ran through it again at a slightly increased tempo. Right now we are at 180, and our goal is 208.
- Dramatic Essay — This is sounding great! We sound more comfortable on it every week. We still struggle a bit with the transitions, but it’s getting there.
- William Tell — We ran through William Tell and worked on a few details from P until the end. We will focus more on the end at our next rehearsal.
Have a great Spring Break, everyone!