Letter from Mr. Larson (4/14)
Sinfonia East Students and Families,
I hope everyone benefited from sectionals this week. I saw and heard a lot of great music during sectionals as well as had positive comments from your coaches. Thank you for your hard work.
When we pulled back together to run Finale, It’s About Time, and Highlights from Harry Potter I appreciated your focus. When things were a little fuzzy and we restarted, it showed immediate improvement. This has happened in previous rehearsals where everything is better the second time we play it because the first time reminded you of past mistakes and how you fixed them. The best strategy for reducing the need for restarts is to mark your parts. Use a pencil and write things on your part that can help you remember notes, accidentals, rhythms, dynamics, or anything else that can help you increase accuracy. Let that be a guide to your practice this week which I will talk about lower in the message.
Full concert details are in the main section of the message from GTCYS, but the concert is 7:00pm at Boutwells Landing in Stillwater (Oak Park Heights 55082). Call time is 6:00pm so we have time to tune and warm-up. If the earlier call time doesn’t work with your schedule please let GTCYS know so we can plan accordingly for your later arrival.
Concert attire is the family concert attire which is black shoes, black pants, and a single solid color top with no text or pattern.
Concert order is:
Finale (from Symphony No. 5) – Beethoven arr. Meyer
It’s About Time arr. Story
Highlights from Harry Potter – Williams arr. Story
Havana arr. Lopez
Bratislava – Holesovsky
For your GTCYS 10 this week:
- Watch for accidentals
- Practice with a metronome to keep steady
- Choose 1-2 pieces per day and play them more than once
- Stop to correct mistakes
- When a mistake happens play the measure(s) correct 10 times to try to reprogram your brain
- Listen to It’s About Time
- Practice – practice – practice
Listening Links
Williams arr. Story – Highlights from Harry Potter
Happy practicing, I look forward to seeing you next week at our concert!
Mr. Larson