Intermediate Band

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Second Chances Intermediate Band
Objectives Page
2025 Winter Season
Week 7
Tuesday, February 25, 2025 at 7pm
Location: Aurora North End Parish Church
5666 Sebastian Street, Halifax

FOR MORE INFORMATION about the intermediate band program, contact the executive director of the Second Chances Music Program, Chris Ward at eloboesolo@gmail.com

Objectives for Rehearsal include:

Quick Warm Up: Bb Concert Scale, up and down
Sightreading Practice: random selection from the 66 Festive and Famous Chorales for Band
Dreams of Scotland: SD and BD parts from @33-37, clean up @57-64, play through solo line with ALL flutes @68 then ALL alto saxes (horn cues), run oboe solo @70, run @72 through end. Then it’s back to the beginning… we will start reading through the piece, stopping where we need to to address any issues.
Yorkshire: run through only
Pevensey Castle: work with percussion alone from beginning to @13, then without percussion from @5-23. We are looking for rhythmic accuracy, correct intonation, and balance. Play through opening to @45 twice… then run the Allegro section @45-49 percussion only. Is everyone comfortable with the drone-style bassline/rhythmic line that starts @49 and continues through to @73? Don’t slow down at @73! Please please please…
O’Leary’s Ceili: will work on the opening of this piece… need mallet part covered (2 bar pattern), can we get away from the triplet feel for the sixteenth notes? Run everything without melody… need harmony and bass voices moving together.
IF TIME: Crocodile Rock: read through only

INTERMEDIATE BAND: WINTER 2025 REPERTOIRE
1. The Irish Baker (arr. Robert Longfield)
2. Crocodile Rock (Elton John arr. Robert Longfield)
3. Dreams of Scotland (Scott MacTaggart)
4. From the Yorkshire Coast (Traditional Arr. Michael Kamuf)
5. O’Leary’s Ceili Band (Elena Roussanova Lucas)
6. Pevensey Castle (Robert Sheldon)
7. Rich and Rare (Traditional arr. Frank Richards)

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Second Chances Intermediate Band
Objectives Page
2025 Winter Season
Week 6
Tuesday, February 18, 2025 at 7pm
Location: Aurora North End Parish Church
5666 Sebastian Street, Halifax

FOR MORE INFORMATION about the intermediate band program, contact the executive director of the Second Chances Music Program, Chris Ward at eloboesolo@gmail.com

Objectives for Rehearsal include:

Quick Warm Up: Bb Concert Scale, up and down
Sightreading Practice: random selection from the 66 Festive and Famous Chorales for Band
Yorkshire: run @13 without melody… we need to hear the 1-2-3 feel of a waltz (tsx, btn, trbn for 2-3), tempo change @30, again look at inner parts @34… now there is a different feel under the melody, then again @57… different style-same melody.
Crocodile Rock: we will be changing the rhythm for melody at both @9 and @17 (pls have a pencil), will also look at @39-40
Irish Baker: will run melody (clar & btn then solo trpt) at the beginning, then run the opening without the melody, can we get a good transition into 6/8 @19, will run bohdran part @32 with rim shot, remember @41 ‘detached’feel
IF TIME: Rich and Rare: read through… breath together, move together. Dynamics, articulations and phrasing.

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Second Chances Intermediate Band
Objectives Page
2025 Winter Season
Week 5
Tuesday, February 11, 2025 at 7pm
Location: Aurora North End Parish Church
5666 Sebastian Street, Halifax

FOR MORE INFORMATION about the intermediate band program, contact the executive director of the Second Chances Music Program, Chris Ward at eloboesolo@gmail.com

Objectives for Rehearsal include:

Quick Warm Up: Bb Concert Scale, up and down
Sightreading Practice: random selection from the 66 Festive and Famous Chorales for Band
Dreams of Scotland:
Pevensey:
O’Leary’s:
IF TIME: Yorkshire:

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Second Chances Intermediate Band
Objectives Page
2025 Winter Season
Week 4
Tuesday, February 4, 2025 at 7pm
Location: Aurora North End Parish Church
5666 Sebastian Street, Halifax

FOR MORE INFORMATION about the intermediate band program, contact the executive director of the Second Chances Music Program, Chris Ward at eloboesolo@gmail.com

Objectives for Rehearsal include:

Quick Warm Up: Bb Concert Scale, up and down
Sightreading Practice: random selection from the 66 Festive and Famous Chorales for Band
Crocodile Rock: we will begin with a read through, then will start digging into any rhythmic issues we find.

RESEARCHERS NOTES: Crocodile Rock is a song written by Elton John and Bernie Taupin, a song writing duo who met in 1967, have successfully collaborated for decades and who have produced some of the most memorable songs in music history. Crocodile Rock was recorded in the summer of 1972 as a pre-release single from his upcoming 1973 album Don’t Shoot Me I’m Only the Piano Player. The song became his first U.S. number-one single, reaching the top spot on 3 February 1973, and staying there for three consecutive weeks. The lyrics take a nostalgic look at early rock ‘n’ roll, pop culture, dating and youthful independence of that era.
Rich and Rare: now that we have the rehearsal letters in the ‘correct’ places, lets begin by working on phrasing and musicality. Balance and articulations are important, as is the challenge of breathing together.

RESEARCHERS NOTES:
Rich and Rare
Vocal & Piano setting by Benjamin Britten: HERE
The lyrics for Rich and Rare were thought to have been penned by the Irish poet Thomas Moore (1779 – 1852) and are as follows:

Rich and rare were the gems she wore,
And a bright gold ring on her wand she bore;
But oh! her beauty was far beyond
Her sparkling gems, or snow-white wand.

“Lady! dost thou not fear to stray,
So lone and lovely through this bleak way?
Are Erin’s sons so good or so cold,
As not to be tempted by woman or gold?”

“Sir Knight! I feel not the least alarm,
No son of Erin will offer me harm: –
For though they love woman and golden store,
Sir Knight! they love honour and virtue more!”

On she went, and her maiden smile
In safety lighted her round the Green Isle;
And blest for ever is she who relied
Upon Erin’s honour and Erin’s pride.
Irish Baker: we will continue to work out any challenges with notes or rhythm here. This piece is divided up into repeated sections. We will simply take time to work through each of the sections individually. This week we will start at the end and work backwards.
IF TIME: Dreams of Scotland: we are going to continue our work on this piece with special focus @37 with the bagpipe drone part then the alto sax melodic line on top.

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Second Chances Intermediate Band
Objectives Page
2025 Winter Season
Week 3
Tuesday, January 28, 2025 at 7pm
Location: Aurora North End Parish Church
5666 Sebastian Street, Halifax

FOR MORE INFORMATION about the intermediate band program, contact the executive director of the Second Chances Music Program, Chris Ward at eloboesolo@gmail.com

Objectives for Rehearsal include:

Quick Warm Up: Bb Concert Scale, up and down
Sightreading Practice: random selection from the 66 Festive and Famous Chorales for Band
O’Leary’s: we will start with a second read through, then we will focus first on the opening 8 measures. The mallet part is really important here. We will run the melody @9 without the harmony voices, then run all the harmony voices (and perc) alone as well. We really need to feel the heavy beat one in this piece. It is a dance.

RESEARCH NOTE: after a bit of research, I have discovered that the word Ceili is pronounced ‘kay-lee’. I have also found that the correct Irish spelling of the word is Céilí… and that’s assuming you don’t spell it as Cèilidh which is the Scottish Gaelic spelling (pronounced the same though). An Irish Céilí (or Scottish Cèilidh) is a traditional social gathering. In its most basic form, it simply means a social visit. I can only assume that the social gathering at the O’Leary’s home includes live music… and we’re it!
Pevensey Castle: we will start with a run through, but then will be focused on the slow opening section up to @45. We will be looking at the interplay between the percussion lines and the winds. This might not seem like the most exciting portion of the piece, but there is a lot going on here.

RESEARCH NOTE: Pevensey Castle is a medieval castle in the English county of East Sussex. The site is a monument in the care of English Heritage and is open to visitors. Built around 290 AD and known to the Romans as Anderitum, the fort appears to have been the base for a fleet called the Classis Anderidaensis. Pevensey Castle was reoccupied between 1940 and 1945, during the Second World War, when it was garrisoned by units from the Home Guard, the British and Canadian armies and the United States Army Air Corps. Machine-gun posts were built into the Roman and medieval walls to control the flat land around Pevensey and guard against the threat of a German invasion. They were left in place after the war and can still be seen today. Pevensey is one of the many Norman castles built around the south of England.
Yorkshire Coast: we will working from the end backwards with this piece tonight. Remember that beginnings and endings are the most important part of any performed music. We will introduce the timpani solo line in the second last bar and speak about the rallentando.

RESEARCH NOTE: From the Yorkshire Coast is a fantasia based on the English folk song “Scarborough Fair“. The test of this classic ballad tells the story of a young man who asks the listener to tell his former love to perform for him a series of impossible tasks to win his heart back.

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Second Chances Intermediate Band
Objectives Page
2025 Winter Season
Week 2
Tuesday, January 21, 2025 at 7pm
Location: Aurora North End Parish Church
5666 Sebastian Street, Halifax

FOR MORE INFORMATION about the intermediate band program, contact the executive director of the Second Chances Music Program, Chris Ward at eloboesolo@gmail.com

Objectives for Rehearsal include:

Quick Warm Up: Bb Concert Scale, up and down
Sightreading Practice: random selection from the 66 Festive and Famous Chorales for Band
Dreams of Scotland: we will start with a second read through, this time working to identify the traditional Scottish folk song Loch Lomond, we will begin to look at rhythms and notes as well as phrasing. We will draw attention to the woodwind only/brass only sections and how these should flow from one to the other.
Irish Baker: we will start with a 2nd read through, then immediately start to dig into rhythmic challenges for various parts, we will slow down challenging passages and work on note/rhythm accuracy.
Rich and Rare: we will start by adding more logical rehearsal markings in the music, then we will perform another read through. We will focus on balance and phrasing tonight.

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Second Chances Intermediate Band
Objectives Page
2025 Winter Season
Week 1 – READING SESSION
Tuesday, January 14, 2025 at 7pm
Location: Aurora North End Parish Church
5666 Sebastian Street, Halifax

FOR MORE INFORMATION about the intermediate band program, contact the executive director of the Second Chances Music Program, Chris Ward at eloboesolo@gmail.com

Objectives for Rehearsal include:

Quick Warm Up: Bb Concert Scale, up and down
Crocodile Rock: read through
Dreams of Scotland: read through
Irish Baker: read through
Yorkshire Coast: read through
Pevensy Castle: read through
O’Leary’s Ceili Band: read through
Rich and Rare: read through

FEES for Winter 2025:
In January, each member of the Second Chances Intermediate Band will be asked to pay the winter season’s registration fee. If they do not already own it, they will also be asked to acquire the following book: 66 Festive and Famous Chorales for Band (Frank Erickson). This book will be used regularly during rehearsals this season.

$175 registration fee (1st group)
$90 registration fee (2nd group)
$50 registration fee for a student currently in high school or attending a recognized post secondary institution
$15 estimated cost of book from Long & McQuade

Halifax Community Band Festival
Don’t forget about our very own Halifax Community Band Festival being held at Mount Saint Vincent University on May 23rd through 25th 2025! This is the weekend we host players from various different community bands from all over the Maritime provinces for a fellowship of music making and networking. Make sure you mark it on your calendar! It’s a great chance to learn from great guest conductors and meet new friends who love to play as well!
website: https://www.secondchancesband-ns.com/hfx-band-fest/

Second Chances Community Music Society of Nova Scotia

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