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Time has really flown by! We are nearing the end of our time together, with only 3 events remaining in our season. As such there’s some administrative business that needs addressing, which I’ll get out of the way first. Concert information will be found at the end.

End of Season Business:

Music – If you aren’t sure you can attend further Millennium events this season, please turn in your binders. Please make sure that: the music is in numerical order and that the binder contains the correct part (so if you swapped parts with someone else, the assigned part is in the correct binder).

As you may have gathered from the binders, our Librarian puts in a herculean effort every year to make sure that all our dormant pieces are removed, new active pieces are inserted into the page protectors, and that each binder gets a new index for the year. It’s a lot of work, so it’s on all of us to make this job as easy as possible.

If you end up with a binder at the end of the year, please contact info@mbmillenniumband.com so we can arrange to get it back! There will be changes to repertoire for next season so we’ll need to prepare for that. In addition, some of the parts we have in the binders are the only copies we have and while we are scanning all our new acquisitions as we go, we have not had the opportunity to fully digitize our library. It does matter that we get all the binders back.

August 28 – We are going to rehearse on Thursday, August 28. This is our final rehearsal of the season and where we will collect all the binders. We’ll be looking at sight reading some pieces that are being considered for inclusion next season and there will be opportunities to shape what that will look like.

Wind Up Pot Luck Barbecue Details:

We are planning a Wind-up Barbecue! This is an opportunity for us to enjoy one another’s company without the structure of a rehearsal getting in the way. Friends and family are welcome!

When: August 30, 2025 – arrive 2 pm (or later) – meal to be served at suppertime.
Where: A certain trumpet player’s house in Unicity. Address and directions will be provided at the concert on Thursday. If you want this delivered electronically please email info@mbmillenniumband.com as we will not be publishing the address on the internet.

Bring: Chair, weather appropriate clothing (hats, sweater, etc), sunscreen, insect repellant, BYOB, something to share.

Cost: $5 per person (to be collected at the event).

RSVP: Deadline to respond: August 23. The band will be supplying protein, so we need to have a count of people attending in order to purchase the supplies. We will be polling the band on Thursday at the concert. Please only respond once!

We need to know:

• how many people (including yourself) are coming
• By email please –if there are any dietary requirements (e.g. gluten-free, vegetarian, etc) – how many people this applies to
• By email please – if there are any food allergies so we can be sure to take extra precautions – how many people this applies to

If you are not attending the concert and you will attend the barbecue, please email us your response.

Our email address is: info@mbmillenniumband.com.

Concert Details:

If anyone knows of someone who is willing to record Zoolantis! (the second piece after 7 pm), we would really appreciate it. We have some cell phone footage from our last gig that has a couple of small skips in it, so it would be great to have another kick at the can! (And I won’t be mad if we have more than one recording!) This would be for the purpose of sharing it with Mr. Yeo (composer of Zoolantis!), who obviously isn’t attending in person, and with the band. I can get people in for free!

Where: Concordia Village Centre, 1125 Molson Street just North of Concordia. (Map included below – there has been additional construction since the map was generated but the entrances and parking are the same). Enter through the Village Centre doors.

Call Time: Arrive at 6:30 pm. Organised warm up will begin at 6:50 pm, and the baton drops at 7:00 pm.

Dress: Forest green short-sleeved shirt (Millennium preferred) OR black shirt with Black bottoms.

Concert Program:

• Scale: F Major
• 68 – Jazz Chaconne
• Scale: Bb Major
• 70 – The Maple Leaf Forever
• 79 – Zoolantis!
• 51 – Entrance of the Gladiators
• 77 – Sesame Street Celebration
• 78 – Baba Yetu
• 17 – Eine Kleine Rockmusik
• 54 – The Drunken Sailor
• 76 – Sweet Caroline
• 36 – Space and Beyond
• 80 – O Canada

Phew! That was a mouthful! But I think I’ve covered everything for now!

I look forward to seeing you on Thursday!

Elizabeth.

Well, Folks, the reviews are in:

“Beautiful!”

“Perfect!”

“When all the instruments come in, it makes your face want to explode!”

– One resident at Holy Family Care Home

I’m still not sure what that last one actually means – or whether it’s truly a good thing – but there’s no doubt she was having the time of her life, so I’ll take it in the spirit it was offered.

That was our very best performance to date (and we’ve had a summer of really incredible performances!) I am so proud of all of you!

This week will be a dress rehearsal for our concert at Concordia Village (on Thursday, August 21).

We’ll run through the following list in order and spot check as we need to:

• Scale: F Major
• 68 – Jazz Chaconne
• Scale: Bb Major
• 70 – The Maple Leaf Forever
• 79 – Zoolantis!
• 51 – Entrance of the Gladiators
• 77 – Sesame Street Celebration
• 78 – Baba Yetu
• 17 – Eine Kleine Rockmusik
• 54 – The Drunken Sailor
• 76 – Sweet Caroline
• 36 – Space and Beyond
• 80 – O Canada

See you Thursday!

Elizabeth.

Hi Folks!

In effort to reduce the email noise, this post will serve two purposes:

• 1 – Provide rehearsal details as per usual for August 7
• 2 – Provide concert details for Saturday, August 9

Dress Rehearsal

Thursday this week will be our dress rehearsal for the concert on Saturday afternoon. As such, we’ll run the program (I don’t expect to stop) before the break. After the break, we’ll spot-check as needed. Concert order is at the end of the post.

Concert – Saturday, August 9

We were incredibly well-received at Holy Family Home last year. It was a beautiful venue (we performed in an atrium) and the audience really got into the performance!

When: Saturday, August 9 – Call time: 1:00 pm. We will start our collective warm up at 1:20 pm and the baton drops at 1:30 pm.

Where: Holy Family Home, 165 Aberdeen Ave. There is a paid parking lot across the street.

Dress: Black bottoms (modest). On top, in order of preference: Millennium Band Polo or T-shirt, Forest green top, black top. We’ll be playing inside, so temperature should be okay.

Bring: Instrument, music stand, stand light.

Concert Order

• Scale: F Major
• 68 – Jazz Chaconne
• Scale: Bb Major
• 51 – Entrance of the Gladiators
• 57 – Wade in the Water
• 78 – Baba Yetu
• 70 – The Maple Leaf Forever
• 54 – The Drunken Sailor
• 77 – Sesame Street Celebration
• 36 – Space and Beyond
• 79 – Zoolantis!
• 76 – Sweet Caroline
• 17 – Eine Kleine Rockmusik

See you on Thursday!

Elizabeth.

Wow, Folks!

Our performance last week was something to be really proud of! Congratulations to each of you! I received a number of really positive comments about how much they enjoyed our performance and wanting us to return. Each one of you contributed tremendously to our success. Thank you.

Rehearsal this week will be back to our regularly scheduled programming, as follows:

• 17 – Eine Kleine Rockmusik
• 36 – Space and Beyond
• 51 – Entrance of the Gladiators
• 54 – The Drunken Sailor
• 57 – Wade in the Water
• 70 – The Maple Leaf Forever
• 75 – Fanfare for the Unsung Hero
• 76 – Sweet Caroline
• 77 – Sesame Street Celebration
• 78 – Baba Yetu
• 79 – Zoolantis!

See you on Thursday!

Elizabeth.

Well, Folks, we are well prepared for our concert this week!

I am SO proud of the work we’ve done together this season so far! I know it sometimes feels that in a large group like ours, one person doesn’t matter, but I’m here to disabuse you of that notion. Each of you brings something really special and we noticed when your “voice” is missing. I appreciate you all more deeply than I can express and I’m honoured to stand among you.

There’s one newsy bit to share (the 2025 Season and 2025 Performances pages have been updated on our site): we have a gig confirmed on Thursday, August 21! This will be our traditional last concert at Concordia Village (1125 Molson St) at 7 pm.

Apart from that, it’s down to the good stuff:

Concert Details:

Where: Lindenwood Terrace -490 Lindenwood Dr E

When: Call time- 6:30 pm. Our collective warm up will start at 6:50 pm and the performance proper begins promptly at 7:00 pm.

Wear: Black bottoms preferred. (Bottoms are mandatory). In order of preference: Northwinds top (polo or t-shirt), forest green top, black top. (Tops also mandatory).

As always, please dress for the conditions. If the weather and air quality cooperate, we will likely play outside under a pergola. Hats, sunscreen, insect repellent, sandals – all fine!

Bring: music stand, sunscreen, insect repellent, water, clothespins or plexiglass (to wrangle your music in the wind), your instrument, stand light (if you need)…

Concert Order

The first three items on this list constitute our warm up phase.

• Scale – F Major
• 68 – Jazz Chaconne
• Scale – Bb Major
• 42 – Northwind
• 70 – The Maple Leaf Forever
• 54 – The Drunken Sailor
• 36 – Space and Beyond
• 78 – Baba Yetu
• 51 – Entrance of the Gladiators
• 77 – Sesame Street Celebration
• 79 – Zoolantis!
• 76 – Sweet Caroline
• 17 – Eine Kleine Rockmusik

I think that about covers it for this week! See you on Thursday!

Elizabeth.

I’m feeling very comfortable about our next performance (July 24 at Lindenwoods Terrace).

End of Season Barbecue – Save the Date

Mark your calendars! The 2nd annual Millennium Band (and Friends) Wind-up Barbecue will be held on Saturday, August 30th starting at 2 pm (until whenever). One of our members (who will not be doxxed) has offered to host in her spacious backyard. (Spoiler alert: it’s the same place as last year). This will be a partially pot luck event. Cost will be $5 per person (to help cover supplies including protein).

Please reach out to info@mbmillenniumband.com if there are special dietary requirements or allergies (e.g. vegetarian, etc).

More details to follow (including RSVP date).

Baba Yetu

As promised at our last rehearsal, I’m including some links for those who are interested in some additional context for Baba Yetu.

Here’s the previously shared link to the recording of the arrangement we’re playing.

Here’s the previously shared link to the Civilization IV trailer, featuring Baba Yetu.

Here’s a link to the video of a performance conducted by Christopher Tin in 2017 in Wales.

Rehearsal Order

Since this is a dress rehearsal, the plan will be to run through everything in the order below, take a break, then work out any spots that need some last minute shine.

• Scale – F Major
• 68 – Jazz Chaconne
• Scale – Bb Major
• 42 – Northwind
• 70 – The Maple Leaf Forever
• 54 – The Drunken Sailor
• 36 – Space and Beyond
• 78 – Baba Yetu
• 51 – Entrance of the Gladiators
• 77 – Sesame Street Celebration
• 79 – Zoolantis!
• 76 – Sweet Caroline
• 17 – Eine Kleine Rockmusik

I hope to see most of you on Thursday!

Sincerely,

Elizabeth.

Wow, Folks! Just Wow!!

Rehearsal last evening was fantastic! Maybe it was the comfortable air conditioning, maybe it was something in the water, but we were ON last night! I’m so pleased with the progress we made!

We have two more rehearsals before our next performance.

This coming week, I’d like to focus on the following pieces:

• One of our scales will be a revisit of Gb Major (concert).
• 17 – Eine Kleine Rockmusik
• 26 – The Rowan Tree
• 36 – Space and Beyond
• 42 – Northwind
• 51 – Entrance of the Gladiators
• 54 – The Drunken Sailor
• 70 – The Maple Leaf Forever
• 76 – Sweet Caroline
• 77 – Sesame Street Celebration
• 78 – Baba Yetu
• 79 – Zoolantis!

I hope you all have a lovely week and I’m looking forward to our time together next Thursday!

Elizabeth.

Good day, Folks!

Our performance yesterday went very well overall, despite the challenges posed by the heat and general vagaries of outdoor playing.

Special thanks goes out to our “ringer,” who filled out our percussion section! It was wonderful to have three percussionists!

Thanks to everyone who expressed concern for me (and who took the time to check in last evening). Once I got home, I lay under the fan for a spell and just took it easy for the rest of the day. I was mostly normal after about an hour or so. I’d say I’m a bit more sluggish than usual today (both mentally and physically) and feeling just a little sunkissed, but that’s the extent of lingering effects and I’m certain I’ll be fully recovered tomorrow.

We do have rehearsal tomorrow evening at the usual place and time. Here’s what we have on our docket:

• 17 – Eine Kleine Rockmusik
• 25 – The Blue Orchid Tango
• 36 – Space and Beyond
• 42 – Northwind
• 70 – The Maple Leaf Forever
• 78 – Baba Yetu
• 79 – Zoolantis!
• 54 – The Drunken Sailor
• 57 – Wade in the Water

See you tomorrow!

Elizabeth.

Well, folks, we’re ready for our concert on Tuesday! Rehearsal was excellent! Thanks so much for your hard work. On to the details:

Concert Details

When: Tuesday, July 1 (Canada Day) Please arrive by 2:30 pm so we can get ourselves set up. (There is parking, but it may be a bit of a walk). Group warm up will start at 2:50 pm, and the performance proper kicks off at 3:00 pm.

Where: St. James Kiwanis Courts – 90 Sinawik Bay.

What to bring: Sunscreen, insect repellent, music stand, water, your instrument.

What to wear: black bottoms, and in order of preference: Millennium Band top (polo or t-shirt), forest green tops, black tops. Keep your health as top priority (i.e. we’d rather see you in a black t-shirt than a forest green parka).

Concert Order

• Scales: Bb, F (concert pitch)
• Warm Up:68 – Jazz Chaconne
• 70 – The Maple Leaf Forever
• 77- Sesame Street Celebration
• 78 – Baba Yetu
• 63 – Hallelujah
• 51 – Entrance of the Gladiators
• 79 – Zoolantis!
• 54 – The Drunken Sailor
• 57 – Wade in the Water (Extra – only if time permits)
• 76 – Sweet Caroline
• 80 – O Canada

Looking forward to seeing you on Canada Day!

Elizabeth.

Well, folks, it’s been… a week. Nothing bad, just not quite myself. Hence the inexcusable delay in getting this out.

This week is back at Bourkevale!!

It’s also a Dress Rehearsal, which means the usual process is adjusted. We’ll run the concert program in the first half with (ideally) no stopping. After the break, we’ll spot-rehearse to fix up what needs fixing. (You’re ready for this!)

Concert Details

Our concert will be Tuesday, July 1 (Canada Day) at St. James Kiwanis Courts – 90 Sinawik Bay. Please arrive at 2:30 pm so we can get ourselves set up. Group warm up will start at 2:50 pm, and the performance proper kicks off at 3:00 pm. This will be an outdoor performance (unless weather is inclement – then we’ll be inside) so please do show up.

If you cannot make the performance (and have not already told us), please email us at info@mbmillenniumband.com. We will need to ensure key part coverage.

Uniforms

The new Millennium Band shirts come to every rehearsal and are available for $25. It is not mandatory, but if you’re interested, we have them available. (Our uniforms are black bottoms, and in order of preference: forest green tops, black tops).

Rehearsal/Concert Order

Now, without further ado, here’s our performance order:

• Scales: Bb, F (concert pitch)
• Warm Up:68 – Jazz Chaconne
• 70 – The Maple Leaf Forever
• 77- Sesame Street Celebration
• 78 – Baba Yetu
• 63 – Hallelujah
• 51 – Entrance of the Gladiators
• 79 – Zoolantis!
• 54 – The Drunken Sailor
• 57 – Wade in the Water (Extra – only if time permits)
• 76 – Sweet Caroline
• 80 – O Canada

I think that’s it from me for now!

See you tomorrow!

Elizabeth.