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.)

—–