Pass in Review March for 116th Inf "Stonewall Brigade"

Sir: Would your band be interested in looking at an original Pass in Review
march, lyrics and melody composed by me, and wishing to have same arranged
for band and donated to the 116th Inf? Am retired member of Va. Natl. Gd,
former member of 116th Inf Bde (Sep) 1978 - 83. Richard Raymond, III,
Roanoke.

Concert Season Starts June 6th

The 123rd annual series of concerts by The Stonewall Brigade Band begins in Gypsy Hill Park this coming Monday, June 6th, at 8 pm.
We expect this to be an excellent year for the band. Concerts continue every Monday night with the exception of July 4th through the end of August.

Christmas Concert... wonderful

Eighty-nine players! Full sections all around (everything except alto clarinet, contrabass clarinet, and contrabassoon and there weren't any parts for those in the music anyway.) There were 6 tubas, a string bass, 7 Euphoniums, 7 trombones, 7 french horns, 12 trumpets, 2 oboes, 2 bassoons, 2 baritone saxes, 2 tenor saxes, 2 bass clarinets, 5 alto saxes, 1 Eb clarinet, 13 Bb clarinets, and 12 flutes, plus 7 in the percussion section. Oh yes, and one conductor and a vocalist.

An audience of over 600-- a full house. Plus we received donations to the Blue Ridge Area Food Bank exceeding $2,500. Everyone I have seen has raved over how wonderful the band sounded.

A big thank you to Ernest Holley for joining us as soloist. A big thank you to the 20+ people who traveled from 20 to 100 miles to perform in the concert, including the 3 guys who flew in from the DC area, plus our college students home on break who also joined with us.

Also a big thank-you to St. Paul's United Methodist Church in Staunton for making their facilities available for our concert again this year. We were again able to fit 90 musicians in the choir loft in this wonderful space.

Rehearsals are now underway for the Summer Series and our two "road trips." Rehearsals are every Monday night from 8 pm to 9:30 pm in the band building at the entrance to Gypsy Hill Park. In the event of snow or ice, we use class cancellation at Blue Ridge Community College to trigger our rehearsal cancellation. So just check local media or go to whsv.com and click on "closings."

On May 21 the band will travel to Virginia Tech in Blacksburg VA to play for the Signature Conference of the Civil War Sesquicentennial. On July 2 we will travel to Charlottesville Virginia to participate in their first-annual Community Band Festival.

Summer Concerts start on June 6 and continue each Monday except July 4 through August. Check our web site www.stonewallbrigadeband.com for the band history and for our concert programs.

Our web site also offers opportunities to support the band financially and as a volunteer helper.

Wonderful Season

Over the past week a number of people, some who I know and others who I do not, have come up to me various places around town to comment on the Stonewall Brigade Band season. Comments were particularly favorable for our "Best of the Season" concert. One regular member of our audience came up to me at Jazz in the Park's last concert and commented that the band's "connection" to the audience was particularly good throughout the season. Other comments were that the band "sounded great" or was "wonderful." Congratulations and thanks to all the members who so faithfully came to perform each week and did a really great job.

Rehearsals start the last Monday in September with an emphasis for that rehearsal on our Oktoberfest performance the following Saturday. Starting with the first rehearsal in October (Mondays, 8-9:30 at the band room) we will be learning new pieces for next Summer's series and other performances. This is a change to our regular plan. We will be using our Spring rehearsals to polish those pieces and add them to those that are already in our repertoire.

Concert Season Off To Great Start

Last night we started the 2010 concert season. This is my 50th year as a member of the band and my 35th year as director.

The band numbered about 75 players and was quite well balanced.

Balance within sections and between sections was excellent. Dynamic control was also excellent, and melodic lines could be clearly heard. Intonation was also excellent.

The concert lasted an hour and fifteen minutes, and the audience numbered about 270.

This very musical performance was a joy to conduct.

Tonguing on brass and woodwinds

In rehearsals recently we have been working on speed of tonguing, particularly in marches.

Here are a few hints:

For everyone; Anchor your tongue on your side teeth. Ideally the teeth should be apart enough that the tongue can slip into the space between the upper and lower molars-- just behind the "pointy" canine teeth. This keeps the movement limited to the far front and mid-back of the tongue. It also keeps air from puffing the cheeks and avoids overly-tight face muscles. This helps your tone.

For clarinet and saxophone: There are two methods of tonguing-- "tip to tip" and "anchored tip." Tip to tip means the tip of your tongue touches the reed with a "d" or "t" syllable. Anchored tip means the tip of your tongue stays touching your lower teeth, below where your lip curls over them, and the reed contacts your tongue farther back from the tip, like you were saying the "ch" sound--- "chu". The way to tell which method to use is simple. Stand in front of a mirror and put your finger right in the middle of the "ball" of your chin. Then try to touch your finger with your tongue. If you can't touch your finger with your tongue, use tip to tip tonguing. If you can touch your finger, use anchored tip.

For flutes and brasses: the tip of your tongue touches the front side of the ridge that goes across the roof of your mouth just behind your front teeth. At no time should your tongue touch your upper teeth.

Double touguing for sixteenth notes and faster:

Note-- for this to work the air must move quicker than normal.

Flutes... the syllables are du and gah, so four sixteenth notes would be du ga du ga. Practice until you can say this smoothly and then try playing it on one pitch over and over.

Trumpets --- ta ka is the usual syllable combination for double tonguing on trumpet. Du gah can be use for a less percussive attack.

Trombones/Horns/Baritones/Tubas -- du gah is probably better for you.

Single reeds-- you can "fake" double tonguing using anchored tip and the syllables chu kah. Practice this without your horn until you can do it. It takes more air than normal to make it work.

Flutter tonging. The trick is to move the "side anchor point" up onto the upper teeth and move the touching point just behind the ridge in the roof of the mouth. Then put a lot of air through very fast. Try this without your horn until you can do it, then try it on the horn.

Upcoming concerts

The Stonewall Brigade Band will play a concert at the Bushong Farm area of the New Market Battlefield State Park at Noon on Saturday May 15, 2010. The concert will feature Civil War music with Frank Sampson conducting.

The band will play for the 33rd consecutive year for Baccalaureate and Commencement for Mary Baldwin College on Sunday May 23. The prelude begins at 9:30 followed by the Academic Procession at 10. The event concludes around noon.

The band will play a concert of patriotic music on Memorial Day, Monday May 31 starting at 9:45 am at the Stonewall Brigade Bandstand in Gypsy Hill Park, Staunton VA. This is part of the VFW annual Memorial Day ceremonies.

The annual series of Concerts In The Park will begin on June 7. Concerts are every Monday in June, July, and August at the Stonewall Brigade Bandstand in Gypsy Hill Park. Concerts begin at 8 pm and are held rain or shine. Bring your lawn chair and enjoy an old fashioned band concert under the stars.

How important is a warm up?

Certainly we all agree that it is more fun to play in the band when the band sounds really good. One of the key elements in getting that "good sound" is a good warmup routine, both in individual practice and in the full band rehearsal.

You can find many good articles on the internet about warmup routines for your particular instrument. I have just two tips in today's posting:

For percussionists... work on making the sound of each hand be the same. You can practice this little exercise anywhere with just a pair of your favorite drum sticks:
L R L R L R L rest R L R L R L R rest (repeat ad infinitum, at all speeds, but start slowly) Have a friend or family member listen to you and try to tell which hand you started on. The objective is to make exactly the same sound with either hand.

For everyone else:
Play a scale... any scale. Do it slowly, and go over as much of your instrument's range as possible. Listen for the one note that has the very best tone... nice and full, resonant, and it seems to envelop you and fill the space around you. Play that note over and over 6-8 times, holding it a long time. Then try to get the same exact tone quality on the note 1/2 step higher. When you get that done, try 1/2 step lower. Over a period of weeks or months you can expand your "beautiful tone" range over the entire range of the instrument.

For a full band warmup we have two objectives which are related. We want to achieve agreement among all the players on pitch and on rhythm. Playing a scale in unison and in chords is good for matching pitches. Of course you have to listen to yourself, to your neighbors, and most importantly across the band to everyone else. Things like playing 4 notes on each scale tone, playing "oom-pahs" and playing scales with various rhythm patterns help clarify the feeling of pulse in the band and help us play rhythms exactly together. That very part of the warmup that you personally dislike, is probably the part of the warmup that can help you the most as you improve as a musician. Put your entire energy into the warmup and strive for perfect pitch and rhythm matching across the entire band.

A book for Summer reading

For those days when you have time on your hands, but it's a rainy day
and you can't go outside, and you have already practiced on your
instrument, there's a book you might want to buy and read. The book
is "Note Grouping" by James Morgan Thurmond. This classic is now
available in paperback. I lost my hardcopy book a number of years ago
and just ordered the new paperback version from Amazon.com. Thurmond
started his career as a French Horn player in the Philadelphia
Orchestra, was the main person in establishing the Armed Forces School
of Music at Little Creek (starting it as the Navy school of music),
and finished up as a college professor. Along the way, about 30 years
ago, he conducted regional bands in this area and judged my high
school band on several occasions (and gave us a superior rating, by
the way.) The book explains WHY you accent the pickup note. It will
greatly help you in playing with expression. Happy reading!

Concert Season 2009 is here!

Thirty-Four years in the park for me, 121 years for the band, and 154
years of continuous operation for the band. Wow!

Frank Sampson and Ray Hoaster continue as assistant directors, with
each taking a full concert and Frank conducting about a third of most
of the concerts.

This year's concert lineup features premiere performances of several
pieces written for the band by members and band friends. Ray Hoaster
wrote a nice arrangement of the Rodgers and Hart tune "Mountain
Greenery" to showcase the clarinet talents of Al Winters, our oldest
member, who at age 83 is still going strong. Bob Moody did
transcriptions of two pieces for the band. First there's the
Victorian church anthem "The Lord Is My Strength" by the british Caleb
Simper, and then there's one that is given as a Carl Broman tribute,
Healy Willan's Organ Chorale Prelude on the hymntune "Now God Be
Praised In Heaven Above." On the joint concert with the 29th Army
Band we will do the premiere performance of "Afghan Andy" by Randolph
Cabell, honoring Army Major Andrew Ashley upon his return from
Afghanistan.

Concerts are held regardless of weather in the Stonewall Brigade
Bandstand in Staunton's Gypsy Hill Park. Directions and concert
programs can be found on the band's web site www.stonewallbrigadeband.com
under the "concert series" tab.

Come and enjoy an old-fashioned band concert under the stars every
Monday evening at 8 in June, July, and August.

Concert Season is Here!

The Stonewall Brigade Band's Summer season starts this weekend with
two of our annual events.

Saturday we will be playing at the New Market Battlefield Park as a
part of the annual reenactment of The Battle Of New Market. The
concert is at noon in a tent just outside the Hall of Valor at the
park. There is an admission charge to the park (but of course band
members get in free.)

Sunday will be the 31st year that the band will play for the
Baccalaureate and Commencement at Mary Baldwin College in Staunton.
We play a 30-minute "prelude" concert at 9:30 am, then the
processional, a hymn, and after the conferring of degrees we play the
Mary Baldwin Hymn and the recessional. I arranged "God of Grace and
God of Glory" for this event 31 years ago, and our librarian, Cindy
Hosaflook, updated it by putting it in to Finale and undoing a
modulation to the last verse about 5 years ago. I also arranged the
MBC hymn which is sung to the tune of "Children of the Heavenly
Father" at the same time. Our processional is the typical "Pomp and
Circumstance" main melody, as arranged by James Ployhar, and our
recessional is Alfred Reed's arrangement of R. Vaughan Williams' "Sine
Nomine". The event is held on the terrace on the "uphill side" of the
library, and moves to Augusta Expo half an hour later in the event of
rain.

Our Brass Ensemble will be playing for two annual Memorial Day events
over Memorial Day weekend. All band events can be found on the
"schedule" link on the band web page.

The 120th annual season of Summer Concerts in the Park will begin on
June 2 and will continue every Monday at 8 pm at the Stonewall Brigade
Bandstand in beautiful Gypsy Hill Park in Staunton VA. Concerts are
held "rain or shine," and the programs are shown on our web site.  

This is Bob's 33rd year of conducting the Summer Concert Series.  It is the 120th-annual season of concerts in Gypsy Hill Park, going back to the year the park was established and the trees were planted.  This is the 154th continuous year of service for the band. 

We have added over 20 new members to the band since last Summer, and
expect this season to be one of the best ever. As always, band
members begin setup about 7 pm, with tune-up at 7:40 and downbeat at 8
pm. Concertgoers should bring lawn chairs or blankets, as there is
limited permanent seating at the bandstand. In addition there are now
several "pull in" parking spaces available on the "horseshoe" section
of the park drive so that handicapped persons can listen from their
cars. Come early for best parking.

Band Festival Results

Virginia band festival results can be seen at:
http://www.vboda.org/Festival/festresults.htm
All results should be complete by the end of March.

List of Districts and included cities/counties at:
http://www.vboda.org/VBODADistricts.htm

Some groups may petition to be included in an
adjacent district.

District 5 Band Festival schedule now online

The District 5 Band Festival, sponsored by the Virginia Band and Orchestra Directors' Association (VBODA)
is being held March 7 and 8, 2008, at Turner Ashby High School in Bridgewater VA.

The schedule is located at this link:

www.stonewallbrigadeband.com/Festival.html

Special Musical Event at UVA on March 29, 2008

When I was a student at the University of Virginia from 1958 through 1963 I practiced on the Ernest Skinner pipe organ in Old Cabell Hall.  This organ is the oldest surviving Ernest Skinner instrument in its original location and in its original condition.  Along with the Tannenberg organ, 200 years old, in Hebron Lutheran Church, Madison VA, The Cabell Hall Skinner is one of the musical treasures of the nation.  

The McIntire Department of Music is having a special Skinner Organ Centennial event on Saturday March 29, 2008.  There is a 2 pm symposium and an 8pm concert by renowned organist Ken Cowan.  The event is free.  

Here is a link to the event:

http://www.virginia.edu/music/pressrelease/07-08/organ032908.html

Here is a link to a description of the instrument from the restorer:

http://www.thompson-allen.com/uva.html

Cabell Hall was designed by Stanford White and completed in 1898.  The building includes an auditorium that seats 994 with a Skinner organ, a gift of Andrew Carnegie in 1906. 

Here is a 360 degree virtual tour of the auditorium on the Tuesday Evening Concert Series web site.

http://www.tecs.org/cabell

This event will be quite worth your time, particularly if you are interested in history.  

The best location for parking is the Central Grounds Parking Garage on Emmett Street, as shown on the McIntire Department of Music web site:
http://www.virginia.edu/music/parking/

A job posting but not for a band

The church that I attend, Hebron Presbyterian, has a beautiful Taylor and Boody pipe organ that needs an organist.  

Here's the church web site advertisement:

http://www.faithwebsites.com/hebronpc/newsfile12627_1.pdf

Here is the Taylor and Boody web site about the instrument:

http://www.taylorandboody.com/opuses/opus_46.htm

The instrument is only the second one in the world to be built using the tuning system devised by J. S. Bach and "hidden" in the "squiggles" at the top of the first page of his "Well Tempered Clavier."  This was discovered by Bradley Lehman, and is explained on this page:

http://www.larips.com/

Here is a sound clip from the organ's dedication. It includes Walther's prelude on "Praise to the Lord The Almighty, the King of Creation", some congregational singing, Bach's prelude on the same tune, and more congregational singing.

http://www.stonewallbrigadeband.com/Priase%20to%20the%20Lord%20the%20Almighty.mp3

Here is a sound clip of three movements (1,2,4) from Mendelssohn's First Organ Sonata:

http://stonewallbrigadeband.com/Sonata%20in%20F%20Minor,%20mvt%201,%202,4%20Mendelssohn.mp3

Here is a sound clip of Buxtehude's Praeludium in D

http://www.stonewallbrigadeband.com/Praeludium%20in%20D..%20Buxtehude.mp3

Mark Brombaugh is the organist on the sound clips. 

Contact information: 

Hebron Presbyterian Church
423 Hebron Road
Staunton, VA 24401
Phone: 540-885-1648
Fax: 540-885-9512

www.hebronpc.com
hebronchurch@msn.com

The church is directly across the road from the Taylor and Boody organ factory. 

Updates to Stonewall Brigade Band web site

We have added quite a few links to the site.
Go to www.stonewallbrigadeband.com
Click on guestbook.
Click on NEW links page.
There you will find links to local college music departments, local
high school and middle school bands, local music stores, sheet music
sources, and other related sites.

Wonderful Christmas Concert

Again this year the Christmas Concert was absolutely superb. Thanks
to all 70 players who participated. Your gift of music to the
community is greatly appreciated. Thanks to St. Paul's United
Methodist for the use of their beautiful and acoustically excellent
sanctuary for our concert.

Rehearsals resume on January 7 for the Summer Season of concerts in
Gypsy Hill Park. We are actively recruiting in the percussion,
clarinet, and flute sections. We are starting on the summer concerts
earlier in the rehearsal season this year and including more review
nights in the schedule.

Thanks to each member who gives so tirelessly to the success of The
Stonewall Brigade Band.

Welcome new band members!

We welcome a number of new band members in our trumpet, clarinet,
trombone, saxophone, french horn, baritone, and string bass
sections. Several of the new members are from the Charlottesville
area, so there is a developing "car pool" for folks driving to
practice and concerts from central Virginia.

At the present time, we are strongly recruiting new members in our
flute, clarinet, and percussion sections. New members are welcome in
every section at any time. Besides the concert band, opportunities
exist for participation in our small ensembles.

Be sure to check the "band schedule" section of the band web site for
various ensemble performances, ensemble rehearsals, and the concert
band schedule.

Welcome, new assistant director

It is with great pleasure that I welcome Frank Sampson as assistant director of the Stonewall Brigade Band.  Frank is band director at Rockbridge County High School in Lexington Virginia and is a former drum major with the James Madison University Marching Royal Dukes.  Frank will be sharing the conducting duties on the band's 2007 Christmas Concert to be held on Monday, December 17, at St. Paul's United Methodist Church, Staunton.

For a concert poster go to www.stonewallbrigadeband.com/concertposterchri.07.pdf

Twentieth-Annual Stonewall Showcase of Bands is history.

The Twentieth-Annual Stonewall Showcase of Bands is now history.

Of all the Showcases we have had, this has to be the smoothest
ever! The kitchen crew, the press box crew, and the cleanup crew
had almost finished by the time the last bus pulled off the lot. The
weather was beautiful, and the event ran on time all day, with the
exception of a five-minute delay in the start of one class, which was
made up during the next break.

Scores are all available at www.stonewallbrigadeband.com/showcase.html 

along with a press release.

It is very notable that the top winning bands are all on a seven-
period day or an even-odd (alternating) block scheduling system in
their schools, and the lowest scoring bands are all on the four-by-
four block system. On a four-by-four block system the band members
get to be in band class three months out of the year and are off from
band for nine months of the year except for after-school rehearsals,
which have to compete with athletics for time and student
participation. The seven-period day and alternating block schools
allow band members to be in band class for nine months out of the
year, with obvious improvements in the tone quality, endurance, and
stage presence of the bands.

Special congratulations go out to Bath County High School Band.
They had fourth highest overall band score and the highest percussion
score of the day. This is an enormous accomplishment for a school
that includes only 333 students (according to Virginia Department of
Education Fall 2006 statistics) in grades 8-12 in a rural county
divided by mountains. They were the fifth-largest band at the
Showcase, eclipsing many schools with far greater enrollment. With
one band director teaching band in grades 5-12 in the two elementary
schools and one high school, this accomplished group of musicians and
their director deserve special accolades.

Additional congratulations, on top of years of accomplishment, go to
Charlottesville High School Band. Charlottesville has had only two
band directors since 1942! The band is a 26-time Virginia Honor
Band, and has appeared in Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, and the
Rose Bowl Parade. This is truly a class act. Brothers Vince and
Joe Tornello direct the band.

Thanks to all the members of The Stonewall Brigade Band and the
Staunton Recreation Department for an excellent job running the
Showcase!