October is looming, I can’t believe it! Some important stuff in this post, so please make sure you read all the way through. Thanks all!
What we did on Monday 26th September:
We started off by recapping Movement I. Main Title of the Star Wars Suite, which went very well. It was lovely to have so many people there, which meant we could get a lot of really good work done. Just be careful of all of those tricky rhythms – it’s really worth listening through to the recordings with your parts to help ingrain them all.
Then we played Movement II. Princess Leia’s Theme with some really beautiful solos. String, make sure we’re thinking about accompanying the solos, so listening and communicating well with them. Excellent work on all of the layering of the different musical textures.
After the break we played Movement III. The Imperial March – no thunder and lightening this week! Just some really good, accurate playing thinking about the different characters and timbres each part adds to the music. Again, a little refresher of that final rhythm would be very helpful in practice.
Finally, we ended with Pirates of the Caribbean, and focussed on nailing the opening section. Good work with finding the cheeky, playful style, and well done on those nasty cross-rhythms flutes. We finished with playing it through to bar 167.
What we’ll do on Monday 3rd October:
We’ll begin with working on the rest of Pirates of the Caribbean, a little bit of Movement V. Throne Room & End Title from Star Wars, and after the break we’ll do some West Side Story, before finishing with the Allegretto from Beethoven’s Seventh Symphony.
Extra Rehearsal
Phil will be sending this round in an email to all members.
Due to losing a week of rehearsal to the bank holiday, we’ve decided to schedule a Saturday rehearsal. This will be on Saturday 22nd October and Adrian has very kindly agreed to host this at his house – his address will be in the email to members. The rehearsal will run from 14:00-17:30 with plenty of breaks. We understand that it’s fairly short notice so if you can’t make it we understand. But, with a lot of music still to rehearse, we’d love as many people there as possible. Could you please confirm your availability for this.
Playlist
I always find listening to the music incredibly helpful to learning it, even if tiny things are different. So, please do make use of the Spotify Playlist HERE. It contains everything except the James Bond Medley which you can hear if you click HERE.
Your Thoughts
As I forgot to do this last week, I’m going to provide some paper and pens so you can all write down any suggestions for repertoire in the future – I love hearing about what you’d like to do, and will always take into account suggestions for programmes. Of course, if you can’t make it, please feel free to email me or chat to me at any point; I’d love to hear your thoughts!
I hope you can all agree that, despite the music being incredibly fiendish, it sounded truly epic on Monday. I’m so grateful for all of your commitment to the orchestra as we work towards a very exciting concert!
See you all on the 3rd October.
-Ben
