We had a great rehearsal on Monday!
Please look below for the reviews for each group.
Make note that we will not be having rehearsals on Monday, March 20th or Monday, March 27th due to Spring Break.
See you next Monday!
Beginning Orchestra
- Mythos — We began with Mythos and tried to learn the music from 15-22. It has become clear that you all are waiting for me to show you all of your notes, but that’s not how we are doing things anymore! Please try to learn the notes on your own at home. Rehearsals are for us to put it all together and answer any questions you may have — NOT for teaching you the notes. I have given you all of the tools you need to figure it out on your own. This week, please practice until measure 31 in Mythos, and further if you can!
- Salamander Samba — This is going great! I worked with the violins at letter C to get the rhythm down, using “I need to go to the grocery store” as a way to remember the rhythm. Try it! Don’t forget that you can also practice with the practice videos.
- Royal Promenade — This is also sounding great! This piece seems to be the group’s favorite. It was tough without a bass, but we got through it a couple of times. Again, I want you all to use more bow on each note so that you don’t sound so timid.
- William Tell — We worked from your “beginning” (Letter N) to letter P. Next week, I’ll show you Q until the end. This is definitely your easiest piece, trust me!
Intermediate Orchestra
- Dragonhunter — I love how much you all love this piece! Our biggest problem right now is the pizzicato section from measure 38 to 56. All parts should practice this at home this week! We also went through the coda, which is pretty similar to the beginning. Once we have the pizzicato section down, we will know the whole thing!
- Funky Fiddles — We worked on the music at measure 41 until measure 49. Everyone is still struggling a bit! Please practice this at home. If your part has two notes, focus on learning the one that moves right now. We will eventually try to play both notes, but we also might split you up so that it’s easier.
- Raindrop Serenade — This song sounds great! Our biggest problem right now is that we can’t hear the violas enough from measure 21 to 29, but that may just be because we have too many violins and not enough violas. I think I may write out the viola melody for a few violins to join in so that it can be heard more easily.
- William Tell — We learned all of your parts this week. We just did a quick overview, so don’t worry — we will go through it again. All of your notes are open strings in this piece (except cellos for one note), so it should definitely be your easiest song!
Advanced Orchestra
- Dramatic Essay — This is sounding great! This is the first piece that we were able to play all the way through. We worked on the dramatic dynamic changes in the slow sections, and also on the transition at measure 15 to the fast part — we are struggling to all get on the same tempo there.
- Storm — You all didn’t like it this week, but I liked what we did! I decided to have us play it a little slower while I conducted in 4/4. Some were handling the cut time thing, but I know it was confusing for at least half of you. When we went slower and I conducted it in 4, we magically could play it to the end! Because of this, I want to practice it slowly for at least one more week — then we can start working on speeding it up.
- William Tell — We started at N and roughly went until the end. We definitely have to clean up some of that stuff (cellos, practice your part at N because it is tough!), but I’m excited that we basically know this whole song as well.
- Mantras — We didn’t get to it this week, but we did talk about it. We may be dropping this one for an easier piece. I am SO sorry about all of the changes, but I promise that I will have a final decision by next Monday so that you will know what to practice.
Have a great week, everyone!