The Performance
The last few days have been spent enjoying the holidays and recovering from a massive cold/flu thing that’s been running through our home.
The Warm-Up
The concert, and everything surrounding it, was a lot of fun. We had a healthy, but light, warm-up at school before driving downtown. Most of our warm-up time on stage was spent checking various balance issues, especially percussion balance stuff. With the percussion on the back risers and the sound shells right behind them, it’s very easy for them to overpower if they’re not careful. The rest of the time was spent giving our guests a couple last minutes in front of the group, taking the photo, and having the plaque presentation from Dr. Whitwell.
As further proof that kids are kids, even in Midwest bands, I did have a saxophone kid forget his music, but did manage to get through the day without anyone asking me what we were going to play at the concert.
The Concert
It seemed to me, that if our performance at the Midwest Clinic was going to be everything I promised, we would have to be thoroughly prepared and focused, but relaxed enough that they could “enjoy the moment.” I think we struck a reasonable balance between the two during the week, and the kids seemed to have fun during their time at the conference and especially enjoy their time on stage.
Once the concert started, the time flew by every bit a quickly as I thought it would. The sound, while standing on the podium, is absolutely amazing. Maybe it’s the way the shells are angled, but I don’t think I’m exaggerating when I say that the best seat in the house might be right there on stage…none of the “distant” sound that can sometimes be a problem. The kids were absolutely fantastic and played great. There were, as there always are, problems during the concert, and if you know me, you know it’s been hard for me not to dwell on those the last few days. As time goes on though, I’ve been able to relax and relish the wonderful work the kids did as I listen to the recording.
Immediately following the performance we learned that we were selected to receive the John Philip Sousa Foundation “Sudler Cup” this year. I don’t even know what to write about that! Just looking down the list of the previous recipients is extremely humbling.
Arriving home after the day was the strangest feeling. At first, it was the feeling of it all being done. 8 months of intense preparations, late nights, and hard work finally finished. The reality, however, is that our concert last Friday was the culmination of over 10 years of work…the “what now?” feeling as strong as ever. For now, however, planning for the short term has me plenty busy…I’m not even 100% sure what we’ll be working on the first rehearsal back. The 2011 Midwest Clinic is the next time we are eligible to apply to perform again. That application tape will be made when our current beginners are in 8th grade! I can’t think of anything better than having another group of students have the same wonderful experience that this year’s band has had.
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Posted: December 27, 2006 | PermaLink
Midwest Clinic Band Performance Archive
Just a quick post to announce that the Midwest Clinic has posted a couple selections from our concert on their Band Performance Archive. You’ll need at least the free version of Real Audio Player to watch the selections.
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Posted: December 24, 2006 | PermaLink
John Philip Sousa Foundation Sudler Cup
Following our Midwest performance, the McCracken Middle School Symphonic Band learned that we were selected to receive the John Philips Sousa Foundation “Sudler Cup.” The Sudler Cup’s purpose is to identify, recognize and honor junior high school and middle school concert band programs that have demonstrated particularly significant high standards of excellence in concert activities over a period of several years.
The official description of a deserving band is:
The band must have achieved and maintained a high standard of literature in the concert area over a period of several years. The concert band will have placed itself in situations where there has been opportunity for evaluation by qualified persons or has been rated “superior” at state, regional, or national levels in concert activities. The band should have performed at regional, state, national, and professional meetings of significance. These can include but are not limited to state music conventions, regional or national MENC meetings, and state or national band association conventions. The director must have been incumbent in his/her position for at least seven years, including the current year. A number of the students in the band should have participated in district and all-state honor bands or similar all-area groups. The total program of music should exemplify what is considered a sound viable, music education program for this level of endeavor.
The award has only been given 29 times (now 30) since its inception in 1983. We are the only band to receive the Sudler Cup in 2006 and the first Illinois band to receive this distinctive honor.
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Posted: December 23, 2006 | PermaLink
T-minus 5 hours
Okay. Now I’m nervous. It’s 10:30, the kids are starting to arrive to setup for our warm-up at 11:00. We’ll spend about an hour lightly warming up, as well as singing and talking through some of the stuff before loading the busses to head down. The weather is so crummy we might end a little early just in case traffic is bad. Thank goodness it’s not another 25 degrees cooler, we’d be wading through several feet of snow.
Yesterday’s Bruce Peason clinic went great. The kids played well and seemed to enjoy themselves. They have absolutely loved their time at the Clinic this week. Hopefully the highlight of their time has been saved for last!
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Posted: December 22, 2006 | PermaLink
Pre-Conference Performance
Monday was great. Our pre-conference performance was everything that I had hoped for and more. I’m guessing we had about 700 people there. It was an amazing audience…extremely supportive and energetic. It was a very strong performance, which really helped the kids enter this week with a ton of confidence. At the same time, there were enough “issues” that it’s been easy to keep the intensity and focus in rehearsals.
Tuesday we had a two-hour rehearsal. Most the time was spent on the concert stuff, and a little on the material that we’ll be playing during Bruce Pearson’s clinic tomorrow morning.
This morning (Wednesday) we had a two-hour rehearsal before heading to Chicago. Mr. Pearson spent an hour with the kids going over his session. We spent the next hour doing detail work on the first half of our program. We’ll hit the second half tomorrow morning. After making sure everyone was extremely clear as to what my expectations for their behavior was, we loaded the buses and left for lunch, then the Hilton.
The first thing we did at the conference was attend the Permian High School Symphonic Band performance. It felt important to get the kids in to watch a concert or two. Not only would it allow the kids to become familiar with the room both visually and acoustically, but it would also set a very high standard in the kids’ minds as to what we are looking for on Friday. Set the standard they did! What a terrific band, and a wonderful performance (wow, those horns!). The kids were talking about this concert all the way home.
Following a brief visit to the exhibit halls we joined the line to see the Doerre Intermediate School performance. They played absolutely beautifully. Their hard work was completely evident throughout the concert.
Even while watching the performances, it still hadn’t quite sunk in that we’d be on that stage in two days. Nerves aren’t too bad yet, I imagine they’ll kick in soon.
(For topic suggestions or questions relating to our Midwest performance I can be contacted via email: cdestefano@skokie735.k12.il.us or through the contact page on our website.)
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Posted: December 21, 2006 | PermaLink
The Final Week
As we started this whole process, I remember a ton of people telling me how fast the four months would go. In spite of the fact that I believed them, I’m still stunned by how they have just flown by. As I left school Friday afternoon, it felt like it was time. The kids and I are ready to get onto new repertoire, and while we’ll still try to hammer out more details in the final week, and hide some problems, the music won’t get much better now! I imagine we’ll spend a good portion of the week on fundamentals, unless we have significant issues during our pre-conference performance.
The last few weeks of preparation have been just great. I credit most of it to the work Bruce Pearson did with the kids when he was in preparing for his Clinic Session. This is going to be an outstanding and well thought out session on teaching young students how to play expressively (Tuesday 2:00 & Thursday 10:15). I wish we had a little more time to devote to the material we’ll be playing, but we’ll do some more this week. Aside from that, however, Mr. Pearson’s work was fantastic. Within five minutes of starting with them, any reservation I had about devoting time away from our Midwest repertoire was gone. It was exactly what we needed: a short break from the music, while strictly focusing on getting better as musicians. That combined with our Midwest performance no longer seeming quite so distant and it’s been a different band.
They are playing as well, or better, than any band I’ve had at this point in the year. While I still wish the home practice was better, they have been extremely focused and have worked hard in rehearsals. I’m very proud of their work. It’s been a lot of fun choosing repertoire for the rest of the year. I think they’ll be able to do some really wonderful, challenging stuff.
The kids gave a fantastic performance at our school’s Winter Concert on December 7. The kids played particularly well at the early performance for the whole school. We were also fortunate that the concert ran short so we were able to play almost our complete Midwest program.
This past week was spent focusing on our weakest pieces, our third mock run-through of the complete program (which went MUCH better than the first two), and with visits from our guest conductors.
So I’m very much looking forward to this week. I’m surprised that I’m not more nervous as I type this, maybe I’m numb to it all. Monday is our performance at the North Shore Center for the Performing Arts. We’ve been promoting the concert heavily in the community, so I’m optimistic for a good turnout. This concert will be an exact mirror of our performance at Midwest…short introductions at the beginning, some announcements/recognition before the last number. Fortunately each of our guest conductors will be there as well, and Mark Custom Recording will be there to record us. That recording will be crucial to my planning for our last couple of rehearsals.
A downloadable copy of our program for Monday’s concert is available here.
(For topic suggestions or questions relating to our Midwest performance I can be contacted via email: cdestefano@skokie735.k12.il.us or through the contact page on our website.)
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Posted: December 16, 2006 | PermaLink
Another Milestone
Well it took us almost a month longer than we wanted but the program for our concert finally went to the printer yesterday. What a relief! I was surprised by how much weight felt lifted of my shoulders when it was done. We spent several weeks on the design, and many more days proofing, proofing, proofing, and waiting on a couple letters we were expecting. The design and photography was completely handled by band parents. I couldn’t be more pleased with the result, and I can’t wait to see the finished product. After our performance we’ll post of pdf version of our program on our website. Here’s a sneak preview of the program page:
To me, the most exciting and fun aspect of our program is the little “secret project” I’ve teased a little bit. About ten years ago, I decided that if we were ever invited to perform at the Midwest Clinic that we’d include a CD with each of our concert programs distributed at our performance. To my knowledge, this hasn’t been done before…although I guess I wouldn’t be shocked to hear that a military band had done it in the past.
Anyway, it wasn’t cheap, but we’ll be placing 3000 copies of McCracken Middle School Symphonic Band: Highlights 1998-2006 in the programs when the come in from the printer on Wednesday. We couldn’t be more grateful to Neil A. Kjos Music Company, Boosey & Hawkes, Carl Fisher, Daehn Publications, Grand Mesa Music, and Manhattan Beach Music for allowing us to use their works for this. While couldn’t get permission to put everything we wanted on the CD, it’s a nice collection of works:
Pageant - Vincent Persichetti (2005-2006)
Cajun Folk Songs - Frank Ticheli (2004-2005)
An Irish Rhapsody - Clare Grundman (2005-2006)
Shiloh Canyon Fantasy - Douglas Akey (1998-1999)
Themes from Green Bushes - Percy Grainger, arranged by Larry Daehn (1999-2000)
American Folk Rhapsody #3 - Clare Grundman (2000-2001)
Pirates - Douglas Akey (1999-2000)
Fantasy on American Sailing Songs - Clare Grundman (2002-2003)
Chorale and Shaker Dance - John Zdechlik (2000-2001)
Praeludium - Dietrich Buxtehude, arranged by Chip De Stefano (2003-2004)
Spirit! - Douglas Akey (2002-2003)
A Sailor’s Odyssey - David Bobrowitz (2005-2006)
Orange Bowl - Henry Fillmore (2003-2004)
Mark Morette and Mark Custom Recording were instrumental in getting this done. I hope our audience will be appreciative of the extra “thank you” for coming to our performance, and that the CD will be a good resource long after we’ve played our final note.
(For topic suggestions or questions relating to our Midwest performance I can be contacted via email: cdestefano@skokie735.k12.il.us or through the contact page on our website.)
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Posted: December 16, 2006 | PermaLink
Skokie Review
If you haven’t seen it yet, there is an unbelievable article about the McCracken Symphonic Band and our performance at the Midwest Clinic in today’s Skokie Review.
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Posted: December 14, 2006 | PermaLink
Media Attention
Just a quick post to share some media attention we’ve been receiving.
There’s an article in today’s Skokie Review about our performance next week. That link may die in a week, but it’ll be updated on our in the press page.
Friday, December 15, beginning at 9:00 AM, WBEZ’s award winning morning show “848″ will do a short segment on the McCracken Middle School Symphonic Band and its invitation to perform at the Midwest Clinic.
WBEZ is FM 91.5. They have a web stream and an archive if you miss it!
We’re expecting some other media coverage over the next several days. I’ll post them if they pan out.
It’s hard to believe how fast this is all approaching!
(For topic suggestions or questions relating to our Midwest performance I can be contacted via email: cdestefano@skokie735.k12.il.us or through the contact page on our website.)
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Posted: December 14, 2006 | PermaLink
WBEZ’s “848″ to feature McCracken Symphonic Band
Friday, December 15, beginning at 9:00 AM, WBEZ’s award winning morning show “848″ will do a short segment on the McCracken Middle School Symphonic Band and its invitation to perform at the Midwest Clinic.
WBEZ is FM 91.5. They have a web stream and an archive if you miss it!
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Posted: December 14, 2006 | PermaLink