Summer Band Mailing!

The annual summer band mailing is going out today! An electronic copy has been e-mailed to sophomores, juniors, and seniors and their families. Freshmen will receive it via US mail on Thursday or Friday. That means that exciting new musical experiences are on the horizon for the 2011-2012 Concert Band, Symphonic Band, Wind Ensemble, Jazz Band, and Warrior Marching Band! But don't let that ruin your summer vacation; you have plenty of time left for rest and relaxation. Just add some practicing to the mix so nobody returns with summer chops!

Traditional Pakistani Music Meets American Jazz

Check out this BBC segment about an orchestra in Pakistan that plays jazz music from America. You can hear Paul Desmond's "Take Five" with strings, tabla, and sitar. UPDATE: It's now the top selling jazz album on iTunes! By the way, even though the announcer credits the piece to pianist Dave Brubeck, it was written by his saxophonist Desmond. Most people assume Brubeck wrote it because it's his most famous and most requested piece, just like Duke Ellington didn't write his theme song "Take the 'A' Train." That classic was composed by his collaborator, Billy Strayhorn.

Summer Break Continues

Last night I finally made it to Ravinia to see a classical concert, compliments of my wonderful Class of 2011. Actually, we went to "hear" a concert; we sat on the lawn and listened to the performance, which was in the Martin Theatre, over the sound system. It was a beautiful night, and being close to the lake, an escape from the extreme heat we've been having. At one point, there was a bizarre circular cloud pattern in the sky, and we even saw a satellite go overhead.

The music was all famous works for winds: Beethoven's Octet, Janacek's Mladi, Strauss's Serenade, Op. 7, and Dvorak's Serenade, Op. 44. These four pieces were quite varied, even though they shared similar instrumentation with various combinations of flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon, and horn. The Dvorak is one of my all-time favorites, and it was one of four pieces that were named in a doctoral study as the finest works ever written for wind ensemble. I had never heard the Janacek, but it is a wonderful piece for woodwind quintet plus bass clarinet. It has an Eastern European flavor that links it to the Dvorak, but being composed 50 years or so later, it's more modern sounding. Check it out as played by the Zemlinsky Sextet in Amsterdam:



Speaking of Ravinia, might I recommend the July 31st concert, which features the Chicago Symphony Orchestra performing Tcaikovsky's 1812 Overture with live cannons! High school students can sit on the lawn for free with a student ID. The school with the most attendees receives a cash prize, so let's pack the place with Warriors! So far, we're not in the top five schools (New Trier, HP, Hersey, Libertyville, and Stevenson), but there's still time!

In DHS band news, I'm busy arranging kids TV show themes for our Homecoming Show. Plan on some Peanuts, Sesame Street, Spongebob, Rugrats, and Pokémon! I've also been working on revising some Concert Band worksheets. Next week I'll send out the summer band mailing, so look for an email about that. It's only 26 days to band camp and 36 days to our first rehearsal of SB and WE!

Next week I'll also be attending the wedding of two former band students. This is the fourth marriage that began in the DHS band since I've been here. So next time you're sitting in rehearsal, look around and you might see your future spouse!

Keep practicing--no summer chops!

Summer Music Camps

This past weekend, my wife and I traveled to the U of I to pick up my son from the Illinois Summer Youth Music camp, where he spent a week in the middle school band program. Here's why I always talk up going to summer music camps:

• He got to play in a large band of talented peers, practicing 4 hours a day, with a great director who taught them a lot.
  
• He played some great, challenging repertoire, including Emperata Overture, a piece I've done with high school bands. They played another piece that I had not heard before, but I plan to do it with the Concert Band this coming year.
  
• He got to play in the orchestra as well, directed by a U of I music ed/orchestra faculty member, Louis Bergonzi.
  
• He met band students from all over the state.
  
• He had a daily horn master class in which he learned about the original, valveless natural horn, how to care for his instrument, and what to look for in purchasing a new horn.
  
• For his elective class, he performed in an Indonesian Gamelan ensemble and learned about the music and culture of this fascinating musical tradition.
  

This was one jam-packed week of music! While we were there, I also had the chance to hear the final performance of the percussion camp, which happened to feature two DHS band members. They had a similarly intensive week, working with U of I professor Ricardo Flores. Their concert included a traditional concert percussion ensemble, a mallet ensemble, Afro-Cuban hand drumming, Brazilian samba batucada, and two Caribbean steel drum pieces. Again, that's a lot to experience in one week, way more than you can get during the year at DHS. Moral of the story: there's no better way to improve over the summer than to spend a week or two immersed in your music!