Our rehearsal last night highlighted an issue that keeps raising its head….DYNAMICS we simply keep ignoring the changes and hence lose a lot of rehearsal time going over the same points week after week…. as a conductor it’s frustrating in the extreme and as a player it’s tiresome to sit through the same things over and over again.

There are three solutions: practice the dynamic changes at home during your practice times
; write or highlight your dynamics in your part before you come to rehearsal
; watch the conductor
If in doubt, repeat all three
It’s vital we get on top of these things and it really is on the shoulders of each player to sort out things ASAP.

I also spend some time with one member on Tuesday who wanted to go over their part as they had some timing issues, we found time from 4.30 to the start of the kids band at 5 to solve these things and that is an opportunity open to all….. if you need to go over bits or to clarify bits, please ask and we can make time to do that.

Following our markets gig in the next couple of weeks, I will also be resting the dance band and using the time for sectional rehearsals, this will be to tighten each part of the band and to address any outstanding issues we find….. this doesn’t mean you can’t get together in your own time and work together on parts of the charts but it’s an opportunity to work with a musical director and receive help to improve the already high standard we have achieved.

A word on the dance band: you will note that I have closed registrations for the markets gig for this band, this allows the members who have been regularly practicing to fine tune their performance, it does not restrict players from playing in the concert band but it does restrict players in the dance band. Once this gig is out of the way and the sectional rehearsals are under control I will be starting the dance ensemble again and it will be open to all as usual.

Murray