Concert Information – July 19, 2017 – Shaftesbury

Here are the details for our first concert of the year!

Where: Shaftesbury Park Seniors Residence
905 Shaftesbury Blvd
When: Wednesday, July 19 – Warm up starts: 6:55 pm sharp

Please do your best to arrive at 6:30 pm so that we have time to do perform the Band Shuffle before our warm-up.

Please be aware that there is an extremely limited number of visitor parking spots on the property, but there is a sidewalk that runs from Litchfield Blvd (turn south onto Litchfield from Taylor) to the residence. Parking on that street has traditionally been reasonably easy. It is a bit of a hike, so please allocate some extra transit time to account for the constitutional.

Concert Dress:

1. Millennium Band (forest green) t-shirt and black lower body covering – this is preferred.
2. Forest Green top, black lower body covering.
3. All black

If you would like to purchase a snazzy, fashion-forward, Millennium Band t-shirt, one can be yours for the low, low price of $12. To help us get organised amid the chaos that is concert preparation, please email info@mbmillenniumband.com and include both your name and your t-shirt size no later than Monday, July 17. Get ’em while they’re hot!

Concert Programme:

Bb Scale (we’ll play this a couple of times – fair warning!)
11 – Cartoon Symphony
9 – Arabian Dances
2 – Michelle/Eleanor Rigby/Yesterday
1 – The 80s
58 – Les Miserables
40 – Windjammer
17 – Eine Kleine Rockmusik
63 – Hallelujah
(22- The Stripper – spare – if time requires – I don’t expect we’ll play this)
36 – Space and Beyond

We have SO got this! We knocked the dress rehearsal out of the park! You have all put in a lot of hard work this year, and it’s really showing.

I know that some of you are on the fence about whether to play or not. In some cases, there may be some discomfort about mastering the whole program. I understand and I appreciate the sentiment. (Someone very dear to me once told me that “being nervous is good. It shows you care about what you’re doing.” More than 25 years later, that’s still among the best pieces of advice I’ve ever received. Another, regarding playing fast passages on Horn, is “close your eyes and wiggle your fingers – the notes will come out.” Slightly less good advice, but now you have been enriched by it – or not). To you, I say:

Thank you for caring so much about what we’re doing. However, and I say this from my heart: you belong. You are the Millennium Band just as much as everyone else, and the loss of one person does impact the whole band’s sound. You bring something unique that adds to the magic of this ensemble (and it is magic – I promise you). Here’s the thing: in music, stuff happens: a cue gets missed, a reed breaks, the brass cacks (Sorry, Brass). There’s not much we can do other than recover as quickly as possible (and pretend it never happened). While I believe that musicians should always aim for the highest standard, there’s always going to be something to improve, so we have to draw a line in the sand and call it good enough. After all, the whole point of what we’re doing is to share the music. So, please, if you are able, share in the music and do your best, as you always do. I am confident that we are all ready for this performance.

See you at 6:30 pm on Wednesday!

Happy playing!

Elizabeth.