Author: Elizabeth

Our first performance of the season is taking place this week – Thursday, July 18 at Lindenwoods  Terrace, 490 Lindenwood Drive East. Parking can be tough to find, but there is a lot across Lindenwood Drive as well. Call time is 6:30 pm.

Dress: Black bottoms (modest) and a forest green short-sleeved shirt. (If not forest green, then a black shirt, if not that, then a white shirt).

Depending on the weather, we may be performing outside under the pergola. Please make bring supplies to hold your music down (clothes pins, bulldog clips, clear plexiglass, etc). Also, insect repellant/sunscreen, hats if needed.

Concert Programme:

• Bb Scale (in canon)
• 25 – The Blue Orchid Tango
• 36 – Space and Beyond
• 77 – Sesame Street
• 71 – Garlandstone
• 73 – Adagio Cantabile
• 22 -The Stripper
• 3 – Classic Rock ‘n’ Roll
• 74 – The Final Countdown
• 76 – Sweet Caroline
• 63 – Hallelujah

Lost & Found:

Found: 1 Sax Stand – Please contact us at info@mbmillenniumband.com to claim. (We are not able to transport this back and forth owing to limited car space).

Other News:

We did contact the hall regarding the temperature after last week. They confirmed that there was a problem with the air conditioning and it has been repaired. We should have more comfortable practises going forward.

I think that’s all for now!

I look forward to seeing you on Thursday!

Elizabeth.

Hi Folks!

We have some new business to cover before delving into the meat of this post!

We have another gig booked: Thursday, August 15- 7 pm – Concordia Village, 1125 Molson Ave. The Season and Performance pages for this year have both been updated on the website. Please mark your calendars. (We will be using the same program as on our Aug 10 concert).

Lost & Found

• Lost: 1 Bucket Hat – Tan/Earth tones. Please let us know if you picked this up accidentally.
• Found: 1 Saxophone stand.

The Plan

This week’s rehearsal will work a little differently as it is our dress rehearsal. The first half of our rehearsal will be a run-through of the programme below (in order). I don’t intend to stop or rehearse during this portion. After the break, we’ll cover any areas that need shoring up. If we’re all happy, we’ll move on to rehearsing other pieces.

• Bb Scale (in canon)
• 25 – The Blue Orchid Tango
• 36 – Space and Beyond
• 77 – Sesame Street
• 71 – Garlandstone
• 73 – Adagio Cantabile
• 22 -The Stripper
• 3 – Classic Rock ‘n’ Roll
• 74 – The Final Countdown
• 76 – Sweet Caroline
• 63 – Hallelujah

If we have time, we’ll look at:

• 9 – Arabian Dances
• 57 – Wade in the Water
• 60 – Dragonheart
• 75 – Fanfare for the Unsung Hero

See you on Thursday!

Elizabeth.

Hi Folks!

What a fantastic outing we had this past week! I’m so excited about the progress we’re making, and I’m really looking forward to this week’s rehearsal!

We’ll be drawing from the following list:

• 3 – Classic Rock’n’Roll
• 9 – Arabian Dances
• 21 – A Disney Spectacular
• 22 – The Stripper
• 36 – Space and Beyond
• 71 – Garlandstone
• 73 – Adagio Cantabile
• 74 – Final Countdown
• 76 – Sweet Caroline
• 77 – Sesame Street Celebration

A couple of notes:

• Disney Spectacular: I’ll be conducting “Under the Sea” in two (cut time) from Bar 8 – 36.
• Sweet Caroline: We have altered the road map on this one. The Segno (D.S.) is marked as Bar 24, but when we do the D.S., we’ll be going all the way back to Bar 8. (We’ll take the Coda as written).

I think that’s all I have for news and updates this week!

See you Thursday!

Elizabeth.

It was so lovely to have some new faces joining us and to see so many out!

And we’re now faced with a shortage of Clarinet binders. Please consider this a call for a couple of volunteers to leave their binder at the June 20 rehearsal so we can get extra binders made up.

Here’s the list of pieces we’ll be drawing from at our next rehearsal:

• 3 – Classic Rock’n’Roll
• 9 – Arabian Dances
• 21 – A Disney Spectacular
• 36 – Space and Beyond
• 63 – Hallelujah
• 71 – Garlandstone
• 73 – Adagio Cantabile
• 74 – Final Countdown
• 76 – Sweet Caroline
• 77 – Sesame Street Celebration

I also promised to post a link to a bit of Theory on Scales (and Key Signatures). Here’s that link.

I hope you’re all having a lovely week!

See you Thursday!

Elizabeth.

Please accept my apologies for the delay in getting this posted. I do try my best to have the week’s blog entry up within 2 days of our rehearsal, but I dropped the ball this week.

Our first Thursday rehearsal went extremely well! We’re progressing really well with learning the repertoire and I continue to be very excited about what the summer holds.

This week, we’ll be looking at the following:

• 3 – Classic Rock’n’Roll
• 9 – Arabian Dances
• 21 – A Disney Spectacular
• 25 – The Blue Orchid Tango
• 36 – Space and Beyond
• 71 – Garlandstone
• 73 – Adagio Cantabile
• 74 – Final Countdown
• 76 – Sweet Caroline
• 77 – Sesame Street Celebration

I hope you’re all having a lovely week!

Elizabeth.

Lots of news to report this week!

Firstly, our next rehearsal will be on Thursday, June 6 at Bourkevale Community Centre, 100 Ferry Rd. The baton drops at 7 pm. All future rehearsals will be on Thursday evenings at Bourkevale, starting at 7 pm.

Secondly, we have gigs booked (Events and 2024 Season pages have been updated on the website):

Thursday, July 18 – Call time: 6:30 pm – baton drops at 7 pm – Lindenwoods  Terrace, 490 Lindenwood Drive East

Saturday, August 10 – Call time: 1:00 pm – baton drops at 1:30 pm – Holy Family Home, 165 Aberdeen Ave

Thirdly, “End credits” ≠

(With apologies for the formatting).

This week’s rehearsal was extremely productive! I’m so excited about our progress. I think we’re going to be very well prepared for our performances this year!

Next rehearsal (Thursday, June 6) will draw from the following pieces (not in rehearsal order):

• 3 – Classic Rock’n’Roll
• 9 – Arabian Dances
• 21 – A Disney Spectacular
• 36 – Space and Beyond
• 71 – Garlandstone
• 73 – Adagio Cantabile
• 74 – Final Countdown
• 75 – Fanfare for the Unsung Hero
• 76 – Sweet Caroline
• 77 – Sesame Street Celebration

I hope you enjoy the brief pause in rehearsals, and I look forward to seeing you when we next meet (Thursday, June 6, 7 pm, Bourkevale Community Centre – have I mentioned this?)

Elizabeth.

Well, Folks, we’re off to the races!

Our second rehearsal was very well attended, and colour me impressed! I’m predicting that we’re going to have a really fun summer!

And it’s not only your playing that’s impressive! I mean, the sheer ingenuity of substituting butter knives for a key piece of equipment – and not have it be noticeable until a particularly virtuostic (and exposed) moment near the end of rehearsal! – is just on another level! Hats off!

This coming week, May 25, will be our last Saturday rehearsal. There will be a short gap as we transition to Thursdays beginning June 6, at our “home” rehearsal location (Bourkevale Community Centre). Have no fear! I’ll remind everyone both at our Saturday rehearsal and in the subsequent blog post.

Here is the list of pieces I’m hoping to touch on Saturday (we may not get to all of them, and they’re in numerical rather than rehearsal order):

• 3 – Classic Rock’n’Roll
• 9 – Arabian Dances
• 21 – A Disney Spectacular
• 29 – O Whistle and I’ll Come to Thee
• 36 – Space and Beyond
• 57 – Wade in the Water
• 60 – Dragonheart
• 71 – Garlandstone
• 73 – Adagio Cantabile
• 74 – Final Countdown
• 76 – Sweet Caroline
• 77 – Sesame Street Celebration

I hope everyone has a fantastic week, and I look forward to our next time together!

Elizabeth.

Our inaugural rehearsal this week went really well. We were (very) few, but mighty! We read through a lot of material, and I feel confident that this is going to be a really fun season. This coming Saturday (May 18) should see an influx of folks.

For any who are new, I do my best to publish the bones of a rehearsal plan within 2 days of our last rehearsal. Essentially, it’s a list of pieces I expect to focus on in the coming rehearsal. I do this for two reasons: to help guide practise sessions and so that folks who are away can keep their finger on the pulse of what we’re doing in their absence.

Without further ado, here’s the list of pieces (in no particular order) I expect to work on next rehearsal (we may read through some other pieces as time allows):

• 3 – Classic Rock’n’Roll
• 9 – Arabian Dances
• 36 – Space and Beyond
• 52 – 76 Trombones
• 72 – Garlandstone
• 73 – Adagio Cantabile (“Pathetique” Sonata)
• 74 – Final Countdown
• 76 – Sweet Caroline
• 77 – Sesame Street

See those of you on Saturday who can make it!

Elizabeth.

Hi Folks!

I’m thrilled to announce that we’re all set to kick off the 2024 Millennium Band season!

Everyone is welcome, so please tell your friends and neighbours, your neighbours’ neighbours, your nearest and dearest strangers… I think you get the idea! (Based on shivers in the aether, I suspect we may have a dearth of both flute and trumpet players, so if anyone playing those instruments is on the fence about taking part, well, we’d love to nudge you toward checking us out!)

Some minor updates have been made to our Constitution. I urge you to take a look at the updated document, linked here, but also available on the Members page.

And, without further ado, here are the season details, as we know them now (You can also find these details linked on the site’s landing page, as well as under the Members page):

Dues: $25.00

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Rehearsals:

May 11 –  Saturday – 10 am – 12 pm – Legion Branch #4 – 1755 Portage Ave – if possible, please try to arrive a wee bit early so that we can get music assigned and begin the fun as close to 10:00 as possible! 

May 18 – Saturday – 10 am – 12 pm – Legion Branch #4 – 1755 Portage Ave

May 25 – Saturday – 10 am – 12 pm – Legion Branch #4 – 1755 Portage Ave

The following rehearsals will be held at Bourkevale Community Centre – 100 Ferry Rd. Rehearsal from 7:00 pm – 9:00 pm on Thursdays. Free parking available.  Rehearsal space doors will be open 30 mins before start and 30 mins after the end. Help with arranging chairs is always appreciated!

June 6

June 13

June 20

June 27

 July 4

July 11

July 18

August 1

August 8

August 15

August 22

August 29

Gigs

Call time is 30 minutes prior to performance time indicated below.

Please bring a music stand to all gigs!

Stay tuned! This section to be updated as information becomes available.

Hi Folks!

I’ve received some information regarding the production that Christian had announced at our last gig:

Christian and his brother are both involved in a production of Disney Descendants. It’s a professional production (comparable to Rainbow Stage). There’s a four-show run at Jubilee Place (Mennonite Brethren Collegiate Institute – 173 Talbot Ave). The run time is 1h45m plus intermission.

Showtimes are:

Ticket prices:

• Adults – $25
• Children (12 & under) – $15
• There is an additional $2 processing fee for credit card ticket purchases. This fee is waived if tickets are purchased for cash from Christian’s family. 

About Disney’s Descendants: The Musical

Based on the popular Disney Channel Original Movies, Disney’s Descendants: The Musical is a brand-new musical jam-packed with comedy, adventure, Disney characters, and hit songs from the films!

Imprisoned on the Isle of the Lost – home of the most infamous villains who ever lived – the teenaged children of Maleficent, the Evil Queen, Jafar, and Cruella De Vil have never ventured off the island… until now. When the four troublemakers are sent to attend prep school alongside the children of beloved Disney heroes, they have a difficult choice to make: should they follow in their parents’ wicked footsteps or learn to be good?

Masks are strongly recommended for all audience members for all performances.

While we all know and love Christian (who has firmly achieved rock star status after our last gig!), what you may not know is that Christian’s mother and brother are both ardent supporters of the band. They come out to most of our gigs, but they also talk us up whenever they get the chance, field audience questions about us, and they help out with the heavy lifting when it comes to set up, tear down, unloading, and loading. They’re our own volunteer roadie and PR crew!

If you’d like to support one of our own by attending a show, please reach out to info@mbmillenniumband.com. Let us know which show you’re hoping to attend, as well as the best way to reach you. We’ll connect you with Christian’s family so that you can work out the details of your ticket purchase.