Letter from Dan (4/13)

Dear Concertino West,

Thank you for the great work last night in rehearsal. Highlights from last night include memorizing the form of the Jupiter, completing a successful playthrough of Lord of the Rings, and staying together much better in Of the Extraterrestrial Sort.

Audition Prep: Excerpts

This week, we talked about doing a check-in on how our excerpt preparation is going for Spring Auditions. Where is your current level with each excerpt and what can you do to “level up?” Here’s the list we used:

• Level 1 – Notes and Rhythm: I can get through the excerpt with mostly correct notes/rhythms
• Level 2 – Steady and Secure: I can play at a slow, steady tempo with all markings in the music such as articulations and tempo changes
• Level 3 – Clean and Controlled: I can do all of the above with very few stops/starts.
• Level 4 – Music and Confident: I can do all the above and play close to the target tempo and with phrasing and dynamics
• Level 5 – Performance-Ready: I can play it at the target tempo confidently, accurately, and musically from start to finish.

School Tour Music

Next Friday, April 24, we’ll be going on tour to perform at two different elementary schools with a stop at the University of Minnesota for a clinic with conductor Leon Kobayashi. You’ll receive more details soon about the schedule for the day.

For our school tour, we will be performing:

• Beethoven 5 or Johnny Comes Marching Home
• Of the Extraterrestrial Sort
• Lord of the Rings
• Russian Sailors Dance

Spring Festival Music

On Saturday, May 9, we’ll be performing two pieces at Spring Festival: Of the Extraterrestrial Sort and Lord of the Rings. Stay tuned for more details about the details for that day.

GTCYS10 (or more!) for this week:

• Jupiter – memorize the first A and B sections
• Lord of the Rings
• Of the Extraterrestrial Sort
• Review:
  • Russian Sailors Dance
  • Johnny Comes Marching Home
  • Beethoven 5
• Spring Audition practice:
  • Excerpts: Think about how you can move up one level in preparation

See you next Monday!

Dan