Letter from Mr. Larson (9/30)

Sinfonia East Students and Families,

Thank you for a great rehearsal on Tuesday. Strings made a lot of improvement to pitch accuracy in the Bizet and we changed bowings to improve articulation and dynamic contrast. Brass also improved on the chromatic melody section in the Bizet. It is exciting to see how much growth has happened in one month!

Sinfonia East will perform Momentum and Habanera at this year’s Fall Festival. We are on track to have a strong performance! We will be adding some music to folders soon to start preparing for our December Community Concert.

What we worked on at the rehearsal:

Bizet 

• We worked slowly through the melody at 12, and 64 to catch all of the accidentals
• Strings changed bowings in measures 36, 40, 52, 56, 88, 92, 104, 108
  • Remove the slur

Gordon

• Strings
  • 1 before A – change the bowing to down (up). Use two bows for the whole note
• Everyone
  • Third measure after G – add an accent to beat 4

Holesovsky – Did not work this week.

What to work on with your GTCYS 10 this week

Listen to each piece at least two times this week and look at the following ideas.

• Bizet
  • Look for accidentals (flats, naturals, and sharps) and practice slowly. Review the work done at our last rehearsal
  • Look for articulations (staccatos) and play them crisp with a big space between notes
  • Strings
    • Mark bowing changes/double check that you marked them all

• Gordon
  • Strings – play eighth notes in the lower half of the bow
  • Everyone – entrances after eighth rests need to start with energy. At the last rehearsal it was always better on the second run. Play enough times so it can be on the first try!

• Holesovsky
  • We will play the entire piece next week. Listen and choose 16-20 tricky measures and make it a focus for some of your GTCYS 10.

Listening Links
Bizet, arr. Meyer – Habanera
Gordon – Momentum
Holesovsky – Bratislava

Work on your GTCYS 10 and I look forward to seeing everyone next week!

Mr. Larson