RE: CCS Honor Band 2009

From the Cedar Street Times, regarding our CCS concert:

CCS Honor Band 2009

The Central Coast Section honor band this year was at Salinas High School. Our first rehearsal was Thursday evening. When we got there, it was pouring rain and nearly dark outside. We got to the SHS band room almost an hour early, but finally the rehearsal started. Our conductor was Paul Bambach, a clarinetist and conductor from UC Santa Barbara. For the past couple of weeks, we have been rehearsing the CCS music since PG makes up over a third of the band. The first piece was Fanfare for a New Era, in honor of Barack Obama's presidency, followed by Scenes from the Louvre, a multi-movement piece based on music of the period when the Louvre was being constructed. Cloudburst, the third one, was a conceptual one imitating a rainstorm, with finger-snapping and bass drum "thunder" rolls. Last was Nitro, a frenetic fast piece with a lot of complicated fingering. We got back from Thursday's rehearsal after 10pm.

Friday was the biggest rehearsal, lasting all day. It was nice to take a break from regular classes and get to miss a day. We met at 8am and once again took the bus over. I sat in the back of the bus with some sophomores also in cross country (Alec Guertin, Matthew Shonman, Leif Swenson, Peter Sujan), as well as some seniors and juniors (Michael Yanoska, Kristen Sanchez, Emma Nuss, Cory Jones)*. Michael Y. brought an iPod dock and both on the way up and back played songs on the speakers which we sang along to (at least, the ones I knew—these included Coldplay's Viva la Vida and a couple Beatles songs including Help!). On the ride back we sang Viva la Vida switching all the L's and R's—a surprisingly difficult endeavor.

This was the most wearying rehearsal, lasting for over six hours (with an hour lunch break). For lunch, we all walked across the street where there was a Subway, Foster Freeze, Jack in the Box, and other places. I went to Subway, along with a couple other. I went back and ate outside the band room with Michael Y. and Enoch Matsumura (concert master; 1^st chair clarinetist). Later on a few others arrived, including Nick Reyes and Leif and Alec.

Today (Saturday) was the day of the concert. We met at the school once again in the morning planning for the bus to leave at eight. We waited outside in the slight rain until about 8:40 for the bus to come (the one we had yesterday had a bulge in the fuel line or something like that). Finally we were on our way, but arrived late: about a half hour into the rehearsal. Rather than rehearsing at Salinas High like previous days, we did it at the Sherwood Hall where the concert would be.

We ran through all the pieces and made some minor changes, and then took a lunch break. Coincidentally, there was yet another Subway across from Sherwood Hall, so almost all of us went there and got subs. Then we went back into the lobby and ate. I sat with Nick, Cory and Emma, who were listening/singing to music on the iPod dock. Then we changed and got ready for the concert. First we watched the choir and orchestra perform, and then performed our songs. During Cloudburst, Cory played the bass drum behind the audience and Michael on the stage, creating a surround-sound thunder effect. After the performance, we headed back on the bus, although many people got rides with their parents instead. We stopped at In-and-Out and got food such as shakes, and then continued on the way back with the usual singing in the bus.

Michael and Kristen don In-and-Out hats.

Holiday Parade of Lights

Last night we played in Pacific Grove's annual Holiday Parade of Lights for marching band. This was the first event in which we wore the formal uniforms with the big brass buttons, suspenders, and feather plumes. Being a clarinetist, I had to cut off the fingertips of the gloves because air leaks from the holes in the clarinet when you try to play with gloves. We donned the uniforms and got in line around 5 and left to march down a half hour later.

We began by marching in a single file line with drum cadences from the school to Pine Avenue. We rested here and watched the North Monterey County Marching Band, also in the parade, practice. Finally, we got into the block formation. Mr. Hoffman moved me around the formation quite a few times, and I eventually ended up in the back next to Kristen Sanchez and some other flutists, with Riley a couple of places away and most of the other clarinetists in the next row. The parade began and we marched down Fountain Avenue, over on Lighthouse, and then back to the school up Congress. We played Santa's Parade, a conglomerate of Joy to the World, Jingle Bells, and We Wish You a Merry Christmas. We repeated the song about 10 times, with a drum cadence with horn swings in between each repeat.

Heading back up to the school on Congress, we began going faster and faster and everyone was yelling to Marcy, the drum major, to slow down. Eventually we lost all order and everyone started singing. The tempo clicks stopped and we pretty much just walked back the rest of the way.

A map of the marching path from Google Maps:

Pimpin' Batman

I finally got around to uploading Malcolm's Batman rap. He recorded it Friday and Saturday at Chawanakee and told me to put it up on YouTube. I strung the two clips together with some background music and titles that Malcolm told me to put on.

Enjoy the random video.

Promotion Ceremonies

Last night was the 8^th grade promotion ceremony, and it was one of the last times I'll be at PGMS or see my friends in 7^th grade for quite a while. For the past few days in school, we had been rehearsing the ceremony for a couple of hours a day. I was wearing basically the same thing as my band uniform, but with a red shirt instead of white.

Mr. Bell, the principal, told us all to arrive at 5:30 so we would have time to get ready, but we actually ended up waiting for about 45 minutes in line in front of Room 13, the home-ec room. Cody Lee stood next to me and was singing Europe's The Final Countdown for almost the whole time. After a hugely long wait, we started walking out to the front of the school. Mr. Gamble gave us carnations to hold during the ceremony.

Download MP3 | MIDI

The "promotion ensemble", consisting of 6^th and 7^th grade band and orchestra members, began playing a fanfare followed by the classic Pomp and Circumstance. We began walking down the aisles and took seats on the stage. Ally Campion, our student-body president, announced that Cindy Chu and Hsinyi Shen would be playing a piano duet, Rondo á La Turk. Lindsey Morin, who I have known since 6^th grade gave a speech entitled Moving up the Ladder and four members of our chorus, Sean McKeon, Jackie Choi, Jane Rudy, and Mariah Cosgrove sang Seasons of Love. James Thomas gave a speech entitled Don't Walk Alone and the section closed with Aaron Shi's piano solo of Numb, which I thought he played really well.

After the performances were over, Ms. Riedel began reading off names. At the name Matthew Johnson my row was instructed to get up and went off to the stage-left wing. At the name Cody Lee who was right in front of me I went up to a piece of blue tape on the stage to wait, and then I was called up. Mr. Bell shook my hand and the superintendent gave me a blank piece of paper saying Diploma of Promotion.

After everyone had received their blank pieces of paper, we threw our carnations out into the audience and processed back down the aisle while the ensemble was playing Rites of Tamburo. After saying hi to Ms. Priest, Tijmen, Yann, and assorted parents, I went over to the gym for the dance.

The first song was a slow song that we danced with our parents, who were then instructed to leave so, as the flier said, the party could begin. Other than the really annoying hip-hop and rap music, it was quite fun and went by really quickly. There was a food table with really good chips and salsa, pizza, and sushi. At the end, Michael's dad dropped me off at my house around 10:00.

The Last Day of Jazz Band

Being the last day of after-school jazz, we had a party and Michael brought the popular game Guitar Hero III and the PS2 to play on. Last week, his mom challenged Ms. Priest to a face-off in the game, so today they played two songs. Ms. Priest won on the Rolling Stones' Paint It, Black on Medium, but Darla took the victory in Hard mode on Barracuda by Heart. Afterwards, we had free time to eat chips and play the game. I versed Riley on Paint It, Black on Medium while Riley played on Expert mode (even though he had never played the song, he owns Guitar Hero II). I beat him because of this advantage, but I refused to try it on Expert, being that I have only played the game about 10 times.

RE: Music In The Parks

Huzzah! We got a superior rating in both concert band and jazz band, and both groups also got the "best of" award.

Into The Woods

Today I went to see the school play, Into the Woods, at the Pacific Grove performing arts center, which happens to be our school auditorium. Into the Woods is one of those fairy tale stories with parts from different classic fairy tales, with elements from the stories of Rapunzel, Jack and the Beanstalk, Cinderella, and others. Yann played the part of Jack, and in one part he sang a song called Giants in the Sky. Sean McKeon, our scout Senior Patrol Leader, played the baker, who had to find certain items to be able to have children.

Here's the summary from the program description:

Into the Woods is the story of: Cinderella, who wishes to attend the King's Festival; Jack, a lonely and impoverished young man who wishes that his beloved cow, Milky-White, would give milk; the Baker and his Wife, who wish they could have a child and Little Red Riding Hood who buys some bread from the Baker to take to her grandmother in the woods. An ugly old Witch visits the Baker and his Wife, revealing that the Baker's father had stolen from the Witch's garden to feed his pregnant wife, taking some of her magic beans. The Witch cursed the family, making them barren, and imprisoned their daughter Rapunzel, the Baker's sister. The Witch explains that the spell may be reversed if the Baker and his Wife can find the four ingredients she needs for a certain potion: "the cow as white as milk, the cape as red as blood, the hair as yellow as corn, and the slipper pure as gold", all within the next three days.

The play was very enjoyable, except for the technical difficulties where the body mics kept giving out and going all fuzzy.

District Music Festival

Last night was yet another concert: the District Music Festival; featuring music groups from the Pacific Grove Middle School and High School, as well as 5^th grade. We played the usual songs...What Is Hip? in jazz band and The Last Ride of the Pony Express in concert band. I thought we played Pony Express the best that we have ever performed it, but What Is Hip? turned out better at open house night. The only problem was some confusion of when to go to the practice rooms, come on stage, etc., because Ms. Priest gave pretty confusing instructions. It was interesting to see how much the groups varied from 5^th grade to high school.

Open House Night

Last night was open house; and yet another band performance, this time jazz band. We have four more band concerts coming up really soon! Open house is the annual night when we come in with our parents and peruse around the classrooms looking at schoolwork. After a preview of the opening scene of Into The Woods, a play that drama is putting on, the chorus sang some songs from Mary Poppins. Then jazz combo played I Wish, the "b" beginning jazz band played Jammin' With Charlie and then we, the "a" band played What Is Hip? again. The band concert ended so late that we only had time to visit Mr. Gamble's (history teacher, really funny), Mr. Godfrey (science teacher, likes garden gnomes) and Mrs. Rookstool (english teacher, also teaches art).

Music Competition

I just returned from our latest band performance: the Central Coast Section Large Ensemble Festival at Hartnell College in Salinas. We left around 9 this morning with the band and orchestra both packed on a single school bus because the second bus couldn't start. People sang random songs on the way up, like on all school field trips.

When we got there, we first listened to the school orchestra play, as well as some other groups from across the Central Coast. Everyone played three pieces. Finally, we went in the back room and tuned/warmed up, before performing. We played three pieces: Athenian Festival, a Greek folk style song with a trumpet and sax solo; For Our Heroes, a slower song in which we (the clarinets) got the melody for most of it; and The Last Ride of the Pony Express, a fast-paced, very fun song. I got to be 3^rd chair clarinet because Aaron, normally second chair, played percussion instead.

Both the band and orchestra got a superior rating: band with 90% and orchestra with 92½%.

Good Old Days

Today was Pacific Grove's long-awaited Good Old Days celebration. I played clarinet in our school jazz band in front of the local 17th Street Grille (home of really good pesto wraps) in a small white tent. We played songs including Blue Midnight, What is Hip?, In The Mood, and Wipe Out. Afterward, jazz combo, a group of about 10 musicians with Tijmen on alto sax and Yann on trombone, played Europa and I Wish.

It was very enjoyable, but also really exhausting because we're having a heat wave right now. The temperature got up to nearly 90 degrees in the middle of the day (unusual for a town where the weather is usually 65° and foggy or overcast).

I'll try to find some pictures and post them when I can.

Honor Jazz Band Concert

Last night was the honor jazz band concert at the Golden State Theatre. A bunch of people I know were in it, including Tijmen and Yann. Yann had a solo on the song Sidewinder. Great job, Tijmen, Yann, and everyone else in it!




Saxophones
Matt Pardue - alto, Carmel Middle School
HaYoung Youn - alto, Pacific Grove Middle School
Ben Bransford - tenor, Carmel Middle School
Isaiah Bindel - tenor, Pacific Grove Middle School
Tijmen Teering - baritone, Pacific Grove Middle School

Trombones
Yann Brown, Pacific Grove Middle School
Teddy Calderon, Carmel Middle School
Julian Thompson, Pacific Grove Middle School
Marshall Murphy (bass), Pacific Grove Middle School

Trumpets
Michael Cho, Pacific Grove Middle School
Kevin Zischke, San Benancio Middle School
Estaban Sanchez, Santa Catalina Middle School
Joe Kochevar, Carmel Middle School
Brayden Tollefson, Palma Middle School

Rhythm
Chance Breaux - piano, King Middle School
Amos Kim - bass, Pacific Grove Middle School
Nathan Hardoin - bass, San Benancio Middle School
Tom Kochevar - guitar, Carmel Middle School
Taylor Jones - drums, Pacific Grove Middle School
Patrick Murphy - drums, Carmel Middle School
Olivia Sedoryk - vocals, Walter Colton Middle School

The Elements Song

We have to memorize a section of this song for science class...
Click your connection speed below to watch (or download mp3)

CCS Concert

About a month ago (February 9) was the Central Coast Section honors concert at our school. I played clarinet 5th chair in the honor band. We rehearsed in the evening on the Thursday before, all day Friday, and in the morning before the concert on Saturday. The recording of the concert just arrived. Below are the pieces we played for the concert with a short description...

• Onward!
  This was one of my favorite pieces we played. Unlike all the others, we had never seen it before the rehearsal. It was challenging because the clarinets had to play really fast eighth notes, which was tiring. It was still very enjoyable.
• Dreams and Fancies:
  I. First Dream II. First Fancy III. Second Dream IV. Second Fancy
  Dreams and Fancies was a four-movement piece consisting of two "dreams", slow movements, and two "fancies", faster movements.
• A Hymn For Band
• Military Escort
• Regenesis (Song of the Planet)
  Regenesis was written for the tenth anniversary of the eruption of Mount St. Helens. The movements (all in one file above) are entitled "Vistas", "Warning", "Cataclysm", "Void" and "Renewal"

Super Smash Bros. Brawl

Super Smash Bros. Brawl came out last Sunday!

I've played it once so far, and it was really awesome. Meta Knight is personally my favorite new character, with a tornado attack and other really cool special moves.

I managed to find an mp3 of the theme song, which is an all-new choral song in Latin (See the lyrics here). Hopefully this weekend I can go over to Riley's with Michael and Matthew and have a tournament.

Blue Midnight

One of my favorite songs we have played in Jazz Band is Blue Midnight, composed by Larry Neeck. It is a wonderful jazz ballad which is very fun to play.

Listen to the song streaming at http://www.skylerlewis.com/media/audio.htm or click here to download it.