For the first time we have not one but two smartphones that were taken from the rehearsal last night. This is clearly something we are not used to here in the Roslyn Band program and something I never even had on my radar as a Roslyn band director. If you mistakenly have taken one of these phones or find one of them please text me immediately so that we can get them back to their owners as soon as possible.
We run our trips, camp, and program in a very trusting and family oriented way. Our possessions are literally open to each other at all times. This trust brings about a relaxed atmosphere where we can all feel very confident that our personal items are safe. It is our culture. When we have to worry about having our things taken we feel like we need to walk around with a "bunker" mentality, watching everything and always being worried about someone going through our stuff and taking our personal belongings. It changes the entire aura around our band not to mention the way in which I run the trip along with our culture. Rules will have to be modified and the trips will change in a way that is necessary to protect our belongings which are now, for the first time, in jeopardy of being taken.
Please return the phones to my inbox in the bandroom or my teacher mailbox by noon on Monday, no questions asked. After that time the "missing" phones will be out of my hands as the band director and we will have to modify the way we run the trip next week so that we can protect everyone's belongings.
These phones are also an emotional and social lifeline to us these days. These two people deserve to have their phones back. Please, anyone who can help, e-mail me.
Thanks
Friday, February 10, 2012
Thursday, January 12, 2012
My thoughts on the schedule for 2012
My opening disclaimer. None of this is final. I will take input and comments from anyone but will have the final decision as to what the schedule will be. E-mail me at your leisure. This is a working schedule which will be honed and adjusted until we finalize it, usually at the end of March.
I have been thinking about next year's schedule since mid October. I feel we need to compete on all the weekends except for Columbus Day so I added the one show back which was cancelled last year. We are a competitive band and taking two weeks off in the short season hurts us in terms of continuity, judging, and camaraderie. I am leaning towards going back to this schedule which we did for the first 6 years when I worked here at Roslyn, where we topped out at 130 members. Our schedule, as listed is the same as last year's before the Manhasset show was canceled.
I will be plugging in the home games when we get them, usually in early March. If we have a home game on the Rosh Hashanah or Columbus Day weekend we will not do it, since those are our weekends off, one for the holiday and one for our traditional Columbus day weekend off. In addition, we do the Friday night lights Soccer tournament each year so that will be added as soon as I have a date as well, as long as that is not on one of those two weekends. I have already been told by several that due to the Rosh Hashanah holiday falling right after a weekend, many of our people will be out of town with family so we will keep off of that weekend of September 15th through the 18th.
The Dome. I feel that we need to stay and see the finals at the dome. We haven't done this for two years and it is time to see these top bands again, which are among the best in the country. I strongly believe our band members need to see these bands to know what we are aiming for. We would miss a day of school which I feel is worth the trade off. Since we are missing no school for the trip I feel this is acceptable. A field trip for a day for this reason is educationally sound and worth it. Ask any of the band members who went in past years and they will agree.
I am leaning towards doing the Peach Bowl trip which is called the Chick Fil-A Bowl next December. Of course, this will depend upon if I can get 60 kids to commit by June 1st with an initial deposit of $50. Of course, the economy will play a large part in determining the feasibility of a trip. We did the trip in 2006 and it was amazing. The company that runs it totally has their act together, the group is child centered, the venues are amazing, and it is great for families to come to Atlanta. You can fly in, stay downtown, and get to everything without a rental car. The CNN building, amazing aquarium, parade and stadium (where an great pep rally is held in the building adjacent to it) is all within blocks of great hotels, restaurants, etc. This is one of the best trips I have ever been involved with and although the date is not yet set, we would probably be leaving on December 26th and returning the night of January 1st. As usual, this takes tons of planning and BOE approval.
Keep checking out this blog for explanations about updates to the schedule.
I have been thinking about next year's schedule since mid October. I feel we need to compete on all the weekends except for Columbus Day so I added the one show back which was cancelled last year. We are a competitive band and taking two weeks off in the short season hurts us in terms of continuity, judging, and camaraderie. I am leaning towards going back to this schedule which we did for the first 6 years when I worked here at Roslyn, where we topped out at 130 members. Our schedule, as listed is the same as last year's before the Manhasset show was canceled.
I will be plugging in the home games when we get them, usually in early March. If we have a home game on the Rosh Hashanah or Columbus Day weekend we will not do it, since those are our weekends off, one for the holiday and one for our traditional Columbus day weekend off. In addition, we do the Friday night lights Soccer tournament each year so that will be added as soon as I have a date as well, as long as that is not on one of those two weekends. I have already been told by several that due to the Rosh Hashanah holiday falling right after a weekend, many of our people will be out of town with family so we will keep off of that weekend of September 15th through the 18th.
The Dome. I feel that we need to stay and see the finals at the dome. We haven't done this for two years and it is time to see these top bands again, which are among the best in the country. I strongly believe our band members need to see these bands to know what we are aiming for. We would miss a day of school which I feel is worth the trade off. Since we are missing no school for the trip I feel this is acceptable. A field trip for a day for this reason is educationally sound and worth it. Ask any of the band members who went in past years and they will agree.
I am leaning towards doing the Peach Bowl trip which is called the Chick Fil-A Bowl next December. Of course, this will depend upon if I can get 60 kids to commit by June 1st with an initial deposit of $50. Of course, the economy will play a large part in determining the feasibility of a trip. We did the trip in 2006 and it was amazing. The company that runs it totally has their act together, the group is child centered, the venues are amazing, and it is great for families to come to Atlanta. You can fly in, stay downtown, and get to everything without a rental car. The CNN building, amazing aquarium, parade and stadium (where an great pep rally is held in the building adjacent to it) is all within blocks of great hotels, restaurants, etc. This is one of the best trips I have ever been involved with and although the date is not yet set, we would probably be leaving on December 26th and returning the night of January 1st. As usual, this takes tons of planning and BOE approval.
Keep checking out this blog for explanations about updates to the schedule.
Tuesday, November 22, 2011
Next Years Show!
Reflection, adjustment, and realignment are a key part to building a great program. This past year I was super happy with the entire year, more than ever. We had a great band from the first day of camp through the dome. Great friendships, great music, and a phenomenal year. Unfortunately, the judging results didn’t reflect a meteoric rise through the class. Since we are all competitive, I have been thinking all year about the direction of the program, what we are doing and where we are going, so that we may be able to get more recognition numerically from the judging community. Our kids deserve to win, and with that in mind, I have been brainstorming the future direction of the program. First things first, we will keep all the great things we have going for us right on track. Please read on.
Reflecting upon the past season it is obvious that by writing a simple show musically we got away from what our strength is, music. We marched great, the guard looked phenomenal, pit was better than ever, battery was solid and magical as usual, and everything was tight (no phasing at the dome at all, a first) but by making the music easy and getting away from our strength of a solid and challenging musical program, we lost a large part of what was carrying us to high scores in the past, our music.....our wind sound. Last year one of the ensemble music judges had us in 2nd place at the dome.
This year, with my arrangements, which I deliberately made easy, we got away from the music and we need to get back to it. I asked John Oddo in the locker room what is going on here with the judging? What are we doing wrong, whey are we not getting recognized? He then went on to say "Do you want me to blow smoke at you or tell you my opinion?" As I always do, when I ask John, I want a real answer. John is one of the top marching people in the country, a member of the drum corps hall of fame, he is brought in all over the nation to clinic and help drum corps and marching bands. He then went on to say something very interesting, door opening for me and true. He said "We haven't found our Niche." That was a lightbulb moment for me. Yes, we have been floundering, going in a different direction each year, not really grabbing onto a style or "the kind of band we are" or "the type of shows we do" going through 4 or 5 phases in my 8 years here.
When I got home I went through historically what we have done since I got to Roslyn. My 8 years directing at Roslyn, 5 phases, not a real way to create an identity or culture of "What we do." Yes other bands do this all the time, each year they do a different type of show. However, the best programs have an identity. It makes it easier to culturally build a program. Please notice, I have no judges results here, this all has nothing to do with that.
Phase 1
2004 Elton John Show (pop rock show)
2005 Bon Jovi Show (pop rock show)
Phase 2
2006 Piano Lesson (innovative, unusual drama show)
2007 The Workout (innovative, unusual drama show)
Phase 3
2008 Zarabanda (straight ahead, classical, movie music type show)
2009 Gold Rush (straight ahead, classical, movie music type show)
Phase 4 2010 Straight Classical music with actors
Phase 5 2011 The Playdate (innovative, unusual drama show, easiest music we have ever done)
Phase 6 (final phase hopefully)
So after much thought, pretty much round the clock for the past months, I have decided that we need to try the Broadway direction. There are a whole bunch of reasons for this. 1. Our culture in Roslyn will support and embrace this. Broadway is a big part of our lives in Roslyn, our kids go to shows regularly, know the idiom, and it is in our culture. 2. The music will be more demanding and show us off.
3. People will recognize what we are doing.
4. The shows will be fun.
5. We can pump out a stream of great shows, people will know what we do, and it will be exciting whenever Roslyn takes the field.
With that being said, I think the perfect show to kick us off in this direction is Wicked. Our Roslyn community and family will be so excited, it will inject energy into our program, and we will most likely pick up kids. The style is great and these arrangements (now on the downloads page) are true to the show, demanding, recognizable, and fun. In addition, Wicked is also one of the hottest shows right now. I have had my eye on this Wicked show for many years but it was only available to our zip code the past month. Always wanting to do this show after I saw the show myself, I have periodically checked the regional protection on these arrangements and the publisher just recently made it available to our zip code in Roslyn. I thought this was a sign. Since we are dealing with the time factor here at Roslyn as always, to maximize our 80 hours of rehearsing I would like to order this, Rob and I can get the arrangements to our in school bands to work on after the concerts and throughout the year, and John can write the drum parts now so that we can really get a jump on this. Proper prior planning and we can be competitive in our class. I know that we totally belong in SS2 and would like to stay there.
As usual, I will write the drill with Stephanie, make it simple so that we can max out this music and with Jimmy's help we can march great and nail this thing. I would like to add a bunch of horn pops into the show, we can figure that out early as well so that we can start rehearsing it. A box sequence is in the works as well. We will have two solo dancers, one in white and one in green, pretty self explanatory, they will be the witches dancing solo throughout the show. We will keep our dancers as well. No speakers, no talking, nothing. We will have auditions for the two dancers. I think this will be the best show ever! Listen to it on the downloads page of the website. They are Hal Leonard arrangements with that annoying beep every 40 seconds, I am planning on making a recording with the Wind Ensemble and Mr. Oddo, Mr. Carman and Mr. Romeo playing the new drum parts once they are written. The audio is now on the website. We will have the music online asap.
Reflecting upon the past season it is obvious that by writing a simple show musically we got away from what our strength is, music. We marched great, the guard looked phenomenal, pit was better than ever, battery was solid and magical as usual, and everything was tight (no phasing at the dome at all, a first) but by making the music easy and getting away from our strength of a solid and challenging musical program, we lost a large part of what was carrying us to high scores in the past, our music.....our wind sound. Last year one of the ensemble music judges had us in 2nd place at the dome.
This year, with my arrangements, which I deliberately made easy, we got away from the music and we need to get back to it. I asked John Oddo in the locker room what is going on here with the judging? What are we doing wrong, whey are we not getting recognized? He then went on to say "Do you want me to blow smoke at you or tell you my opinion?" As I always do, when I ask John, I want a real answer. John is one of the top marching people in the country, a member of the drum corps hall of fame, he is brought in all over the nation to clinic and help drum corps and marching bands. He then went on to say something very interesting, door opening for me and true. He said "We haven't found our Niche." That was a lightbulb moment for me. Yes, we have been floundering, going in a different direction each year, not really grabbing onto a style or "the kind of band we are" or "the type of shows we do" going through 4 or 5 phases in my 8 years here.
When I got home I went through historically what we have done since I got to Roslyn. My 8 years directing at Roslyn, 5 phases, not a real way to create an identity or culture of "What we do." Yes other bands do this all the time, each year they do a different type of show. However, the best programs have an identity. It makes it easier to culturally build a program. Please notice, I have no judges results here, this all has nothing to do with that.
Phase 1
2004 Elton John Show (pop rock show)
2005 Bon Jovi Show (pop rock show)
Phase 2
2006 Piano Lesson (innovative, unusual drama show)
2007 The Workout (innovative, unusual drama show)
Phase 3
2008 Zarabanda (straight ahead, classical, movie music type show)
2009 Gold Rush (straight ahead, classical, movie music type show)
Phase 4 2010 Straight Classical music with actors
Phase 5 2011 The Playdate (innovative, unusual drama show, easiest music we have ever done)
Phase 6 (final phase hopefully)
So after much thought, pretty much round the clock for the past months, I have decided that we need to try the Broadway direction. There are a whole bunch of reasons for this. 1. Our culture in Roslyn will support and embrace this. Broadway is a big part of our lives in Roslyn, our kids go to shows regularly, know the idiom, and it is in our culture. 2. The music will be more demanding and show us off.
3. People will recognize what we are doing.
4. The shows will be fun.
5. We can pump out a stream of great shows, people will know what we do, and it will be exciting whenever Roslyn takes the field.
With that being said, I think the perfect show to kick us off in this direction is Wicked. Our Roslyn community and family will be so excited, it will inject energy into our program, and we will most likely pick up kids. The style is great and these arrangements (now on the downloads page) are true to the show, demanding, recognizable, and fun. In addition, Wicked is also one of the hottest shows right now. I have had my eye on this Wicked show for many years but it was only available to our zip code the past month. Always wanting to do this show after I saw the show myself, I have periodically checked the regional protection on these arrangements and the publisher just recently made it available to our zip code in Roslyn. I thought this was a sign. Since we are dealing with the time factor here at Roslyn as always, to maximize our 80 hours of rehearsing I would like to order this, Rob and I can get the arrangements to our in school bands to work on after the concerts and throughout the year, and John can write the drum parts now so that we can really get a jump on this. Proper prior planning and we can be competitive in our class. I know that we totally belong in SS2 and would like to stay there.
As usual, I will write the drill with Stephanie, make it simple so that we can max out this music and with Jimmy's help we can march great and nail this thing. I would like to add a bunch of horn pops into the show, we can figure that out early as well so that we can start rehearsing it. A box sequence is in the works as well. We will have two solo dancers, one in white and one in green, pretty self explanatory, they will be the witches dancing solo throughout the show. We will keep our dancers as well. No speakers, no talking, nothing. We will have auditions for the two dancers. I think this will be the best show ever! Listen to it on the downloads page of the website. They are Hal Leonard arrangements with that annoying beep every 40 seconds, I am planning on making a recording with the Wind Ensemble and Mr. Oddo, Mr. Carman and Mr. Romeo playing the new drum parts once they are written. The audio is now on the website. We will have the music online asap.
Saturday, October 29, 2011
Today's scores. What do they mean?
Ok, here's the first big question. Are we slotted for last place tomorrow? Maybe. Do today's scores mean anything? Maybe. Can we still win tomorrow? Maybe. Yes, anything can happen. Some of the judges clearly love our show, and some don't like it. There is no way of knowing whenever you design a show and learn it as to how it will be received by the judges or the audiences. It may do well, it may not. In any case, we are having a ton of fun performing it and hopefully, in the indoor arena, we will be able to get some good numbers.
And now for the most important thing and I know I run the risk of repeating myself but this is very important. We must never, never, ever let the opinions, numbers, or placement by judges affect how we feel about ourselves, our program, or how great we are. I have seen alot of bands over the years and I am being very honest when I tell you that this program is incredible, one of the best I have ever witnessed. It is truly a privilege and honor to direct such great people. We have so many great and amazing things going on here. We are a family, a team, a positive force in so many peoples lives. We must totally see the big picture and be proud, so proud of all of ourselves. As we embark on this last day of the 2011 season let's all remember......We Rock!
And going back to my great analogy about subjective judging. It is like gambling at Atlantic City on the roulette wheel. We throw that marble, if it lands and we win we will "Go crazy." If we lose, we will go to the buffet, or as the band will do tomorrow, the Mall. And once again: In the current subjective judging environment winning or losing may not mean much.
I want to thank all the great kids and parents for helping us build this dynasty. Together we have and will continue to build upon our great Roslyn Marching Bulldogs.
And now for the most important thing and I know I run the risk of repeating myself but this is very important. We must never, never, ever let the opinions, numbers, or placement by judges affect how we feel about ourselves, our program, or how great we are. I have seen alot of bands over the years and I am being very honest when I tell you that this program is incredible, one of the best I have ever witnessed. It is truly a privilege and honor to direct such great people. We have so many great and amazing things going on here. We are a family, a team, a positive force in so many peoples lives. We must totally see the big picture and be proud, so proud of all of ourselves. As we embark on this last day of the 2011 season let's all remember......We Rock!
And going back to my great analogy about subjective judging. It is like gambling at Atlantic City on the roulette wheel. We throw that marble, if it lands and we win we will "Go crazy." If we lose, we will go to the buffet, or as the band will do tomorrow, the Mall. And once again: In the current subjective judging environment winning or losing may not mean much.
I want to thank all the great kids and parents for helping us build this dynasty. Together we have and will continue to build upon our great Roslyn Marching Bulldogs.
Saturday, October 22, 2011
Why we compete, from the mouthes of (older ) babes
Recently I have been pondering this whole "competing" thing with the marching band. Two things have come into play to bring about my reflection. The subjectivity and randomness of judging results, coupled with my coming in contact with many band directors at Newsday with fine bands who do not compete have forced me to grapple with this whole concept. As a staff we struggle with the competition environment. As I always do, I went on to poll some of our band members. They were incredible with their statements. I received these quotes. "Competing makes us strive to be great." "We learn about real life and subjectivity." "We form bonds which band members for the rest of our lives." "We become a family and work together to accomplish a goal." So, as usual, and I say this many times as an adult with 6 of my own children....."The kids are fine, I am not." I am referring to the fact that the kids are more resilient, more flexible, more adaptable to change, and more forgiving with the judging results than we as adults are. While we, the staff and parents, are all upset about the judge's results, scratching our heads to figure out what they were looking at, our great band members are eating a hot dog and deciding if they will by the sprinkle cupcakes or the white frosted ones on the food line. We will compete forever. We must realize why we compete and although we aim to win, we must realize that the results, no matter what they are, in this environment are more like spinning a roulette wheel at Atlantic City. If we win, we get excited and feel amazing. If we lose, we knew it was just a gamble and go to the buffet.
Judging - Too Hot for the Blog
I want to meet with any parents who can stop by the field at 2pm today for about 10 minutes. We can meet at the small bleachers next to the gate to the field. Don't change your schedule around, but if you can stop by for a quick meeting with me about the judging it would help us greatly. No big deal, but I want us all to be on the same page before we go into these last three competitions.
Tuesday, October 18, 2011
The Last Two Weeks of the Season
This is an important e-mail about the last two weeks of the season. Please read!
As director I always get complaints from parents and band members about the added night during each of the two weeks and the heavier rehearsal schedule. Not many complaints, but enough to get me to write this blog explaining what is at stake here. First of all, the schedule has been up since April so none of this should come as a surprise. People start missing things due to their not being used to the schedule, fatigue, and not seeing the big picture. Some band members have SAT and other classes scheduled on Thursday nights, fully knowing that we had these two Thursdays scheduled when they signed on with the band. It is your responsibility to miss those things and be at these rehearsals. Our schedule is minimal and it is requred to be at each and every rehearsal.
Please realize that we rehearse 80 hours and that 11 1/2 hours are in these last two weeks. That is 15% of our rehearsals are ahead of us. Add the fact that these rehearsals are right before the Dome and on show days and the real impact in terms of concentration is pretty much doubled. So, as a band director and staff we pretty much consider 1/3 of the rehearsals are in the last two weeks (in terms of how much work we can get done and how much better we can get). These rehearsals combined equal band camp!
THESE REHEARSALS WILL HAVE A HUGE IMPACT ON OUR SEASON!
OUR REHEARSALS DURING THE LAST TWO WEEKS
Thursday, October 20th - Newsday 6pm to 11pm (one hour rehearsal)
Saturday, October 22nd - Mineola Show 2pm to 11pm (three hour rehearsal)
Wednesday, October 26th - Rehearsal 6:30 to 9pm (2 1/2 hour rehearsal)
Thursday, October 27th - Rehearsal 6:30 to 9pm (2 1/2 hour rehearsal)
Saturday, October 29th- Rehearsal after Phoenix (2 1/2 hour rehearsal)
We need every single person at these rehearsals. Students who miss any of our very light schedule will obviously be able to remain in the band because we will not hurt everyone by making a hole at this late a date. But realize that missing a rehearsal will eliminate you from the right to even interview for a leadership position. Since every single person expects one of the 25 leadership positions, this should be enough of a deterrent. Once again, missing one rehearsal is the equivalent of 3 or 4 rehearsals in any of our competitor’s bands which would be an automatic out.
Our competitors practice 200 to 400 hours in a season. We get it done with a fraction of that due to 100% attendance, focused rehearsals, and proper planning. We need everyone to get enough sleep, keep up with their school work, and eat right. We cannot afford to have anyone get sick this week.
Homework
You will be able to do homework in the Newsday stands during the show, and on the bus ride to and from Syracuse. We have the busses with outlets in front of every seat so you can bring your laptop and plan on 10 hours of homework/study time. We show no movies and leave that time open for you to use in any way you see fit.
Sunday, October 16, 2011
New Confidential Post
There is a new confidential post on roslynbandonly.com
Ask any of the band members for the username and password. Your computer probably stored it from the last time you went there. Will be up for one day.
Ask any of the band members for the username and password. Your computer probably stored it from the last time you went there. Will be up for one day.
Saturday, October 15, 2011
Great Job at the "Friday Night Lights"
It is very difficult making the call with the rain. It is the hardest job for any band director. You will get people angry if you go out in the rain, you will get people upset if you don't go out and it clears up. The situation is further complicated by the fact that the field clears off and drains in about 10 minutes. So we really had to stay to see if the rain would stop. In addition, we have not been on the practice field in 9 days, a huge amount of time in the middle of the season. If it rains this Wednesday, October 19th, we would be going to perform at Newsday without performing the show outside for 15 days! So this was a difficult situation to say the least. At 7:30 we brought the band out to no rain but then at about 8pm it started to rain, borderline time to go inside. Luckily, it lightened up a bit when we finally went on. We got the run through in, and the band looked and sounded great! This was very very important and we got it done. Thanks to everyone for being so understanding with the inevitable confusion and for being a great team! The parents were amazing, drying off the instruments and putting them back into the trailer. We also made the necessary Newsday show adjustments. We needed to get 45 seconds off the show. With the Newsday rule of 10 minutes on the field, we were way too close with the 9:50 we have been running with the show. Making the adjustments, we got it down to 9 minutes last night, perfect for the Newsday show. The Newsday announcer makes an announcement, which will be as we enter the field, then Lindsay will talk over the band playing in the opening to set up the show, a few phrases which describes what is going on. In competition that introduction by Lindsay will be during the pre-game, which is that time when the band is first on the field, playing around. We have 13 minutes total in the Competition environment so we can let the band play without the "set up phrases" covering up the music. We also need the special announcement by the Newsday announcer because it sets up how great we are to everyone, reading our accomplishments and getting the attention of all the camera people on hand so that we get some good coverage. Many bands at Newsday do not have a resume to talk about and those that do don't think about putting that in the announcement. Last year the MSG Varsity crew put us as the second to last band in the entire telecast and said the phrase "And now from the best, to the biggest" between us and Northport. The announcement helps facilitate this as well as the fact that we have a very entertaining show. Great job to the band last night! And thanks to everyone who helped and for being understanding with the rain.
Tuesday, October 4, 2011
Disney Trip Itinerary and Waiting List
We have just received permission from DIsney to add some people to the trip to fill the rooms to 4 in a room. This all has to be finalized with Disney by Friday. They are very strict about security due to our performing in Disneyworld. If you are currently signed up for this trip and would like to pull out, please let us know so that we can add a person in that spot. If you are on the waiting list, I will be contacting you to see if you still want one of the spots.
Our Performances and list of what park we are in each day will be posted here shortly.
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