An article about some of our recent accomplishments, including our Midwest invitation, appeared in today’s Skokie Review. This link will probably break in a week, but we’ll update the address on the press page on our website. We have some...
I had wanted to type something up before we met today describing my planning, but spent all day running around getting ready for the rehearsal. We normally don’t meet after graduation. This is certainly a special case however, and I...
I can’t remember ever being so excited to go to a meeting, much less one on a Saturday. It won’t surprise anyone who has been to even one Midwest Clinic that everything they do is first class. The materials were...
With graduation approaching. Several 8th graders reflected on what band has meant to them: Allison (clarinet): Band has been an amazing experience for me. It has taught me so much beyond just how to play an instrument. Besides notes, fingerings,...
INSTRUMENTATION For the most part, I’m pretty happy with our instrumentation for our Midwest performance. Although I do have guidelines for the numbers I’d like in each section, I try to keep them flexible depending on the ability level from...
I hope the spirit of this post is conveyed correctly. I’m simply trying to give an honest assessment of our starting point next fall. There is nothing I’ve written here that the kids haven’t heard me say to them a...
Monday was our spring concert. Kids played great. I was particularly happy with our younger bands who made some very good progress in the last three or four weeks. On Tuesday, the Social Committee form our Midwest Parent Group threw...
In a previous post I promised to discuss our process of preparing our application CD. In fact, I’ve been thinking about writing an article or presenting a clinic session on applying to perform at conferences for several years. We’ve had...
I’ve been trying to listen to the promotional recordings the same day we receive them from the publisher. Immediately following the opening of the reservation system, we received so much stuff that it meant a lot of late nights. Even...
One of more fun and exciting aspects of the Midwest performance is having the chance to invited different guest conductors for the concert. I tried, as best I could, to hold off, really I did. Selfishly (although justifiably so I...