By the way, I am having them play Gabrieli's "Canzona Per Sonare No. 2", which is a staple in the brass repertoire. When I first started this brass ensemble program, it was just the Harbor Brass, since pretty much all of my students were middle-schoolers. I dreamed of when these guys were all high schoolers and I build them up to play this piece and Solo & Ensemble and sound amazing on it. Now, the time has finally come.
But the fun doesn't stop just with my students in Oak Harbor. I'm also helping out 9 brass players in at Anacortes High School These 9 players are the brass section of the Wind Ensemble, so they're pretty good also, and are also used to playing together. I have them playing Leroy Ostransky's Passamezzo Brilliante, which is a really great piece from the Rubank "Brass Recital" books. So yes, that means they are also competing in the "Large Brass Ensemble" category against the Penn Cove Brass. And I am helping them preparing for that. Aren't I terrible?
Thankfully the Penn Cove Brass aren't mad at me. They just want to defeat the Anacortes brass group. I mean, the Anacortes kids and their band teacher "asked" (musicians will know why I quoted that) me to com help them, and how can I say "no" to helping great brass players? Actually, the Anacortes band director is a good friend of mine, and I really admire his work with the students and just how great of a teacher he is. And most of those kids I got to know at the brass camp, and several of them play with the Penn Cove Brass normally when we aren't preparing for the contest. So I'm happy to help them. I'm theirs as well as I am Oak Harbor's. Actually, my Oak Harbor students will claim that I primarily belong to them...and they are right.
So yes, with so many soloists and ensembles playing at the regional contest this year, you can bet that I am really excited for it!
...except for one of my students, who has fallen ill and will be unable to participate. I don't know a whole lot of information as of late, but I just know that it's serious and that they'll be unable to do much outside of the house for a while. I'm really worried for them, and am bummed that they can't participate this year.
December ended up being pretty fun, as per usual. I had a very fun time playing a holiday concert with the Saratoga Orchestra again. It was a really great program, including music from the Messiah, as well as Gabrieli and holiday tunes. We had our annual Safeway brass carols again, which was fun. Unfortunately, the weather had been bad for the days leading up to it, so some folks coming from far away couldn't make it. But we still had a great group overall, and they played really well. Here's a pic:
The Harbor Brass and Penn Cove Brass also had a very entertaining, fun and well-played Christmas concert. We have never had such a large crowd, and such a great reaction from them. I was happy to feature one of my seniors, Isadora White, on "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas", which she did really great at.
So yes, an exciting time in the music world for me. Lucky me!
Take care and value music.