Letter from Diane (9/15)

Dear Camerata Con Brio,

Remember what we said right before break: Never Take Candy From A Stranger!  I appreciated your willingness to introduce yourself to someone new tonight so that you could give a piece of candy to a person who was no longer a stranger.  Connections like this are important.  When we know one another and care for one another, our music-making becomes more meaningful and personal. As our year progresses, I encourage you to keep introducing yourself to new people so there are no strangers in our orchestra!

It was great to have our brass and percussion coaches with us at this rehearsal.  While it gave those sections a chance to build their orchestral sound and bond as a section, it also gave the woodwinds and strings a chance to work on blending their sounds and matching bowings and articulations. Having our coaches play with the group for the second half of the rehearsal when we worked on “The Iliad” was inspiring!  Let’s remember what that sounded like and strive to recreate the fullness and maturity of that sound next time we are together.

Speaking of next time, we will have more sectionals at next Tuesday’s rehearsal.  Strings will be with me in the main rehearsal space, and woodwinds, brass and percussion will have section coaches working with them. With that in mind,

Here’s your GTCYS 10 for this week;

Strings: 

• Please work out fingerings for your parts on Hylkilä’s Waltz.  We will make sure that everyone has a good plan on Tuesday.
• Work on the parts of Newbold’s Iliad that are challenging for you and be ready to ask any questions you have
• Spend some time on the Finale (Rehearsal H to the end) of the Brahms Variation on a Theme of Haydn

Brass:

• Give yourself some repetitive practice on the fanfare sections of the Iliad, remembering what you learned in sectionals this week and putting that into practice. Focus on a BIG, DARK orchestral sound
• Find other places in the Iliad that challenge you and invest your practice time there
• Spend some time on the Finale (Rehearsal H to the end) of the Brahms Variation on a Theme of Haydn

Woodwinds:

• You will spend some of your sectional time next week on the Grieg Norwegian Dances.  Practice this and make notes on questions that you have. This piece will require precision and a clear, projected tone.  Work on that!
• Same as the above on Variations on a theme of Haydn.  Spend some time on the Finale (Rehearsal H to the end)
• With any remaining time, tackle the challenging parts to The Iliad.

Percussion:

• If you have a part that requires an instrument that we don’t have at our rehearsal site (chimes, for example) see if you can practice this for a few minutes at school.
• Continue to mark up your parts–especially so that we get all instruments covered on The Iliad. If you have more than you can play, we need to find another section member to play it.  You will have a chance to do this in sectionals next week.
• If you play snare drum on any piece, please practice with a metronome on so that your rhythm and tempo is rock solid.

Here is our Camerata Con Brio Playlist!

Grieg; Norwegian Dances

Brahms: Variations on a Theme of Haydn

Important Note: Brahms wrote nine Variations in this piece, but our arrangement only includes four of them. Our version also differs slightly from this professional recording, so you will not be able to line up your measures exactly, but listening to this professional version will be extremely valuable!

Theme. (End at 2:55)

Variation One (Rehearsal Mark B on our part)

Variation Two (Rehearsal Mark D on our part)

Variation Three (Rehearsal Mark F on our part)

Finale (Rehearsal Mark H on our part)

Newbold: The Iliad

Hykillä: Waltz

Have a great week, and until I see you again, always live your life CON BRIO!