1) Tomorrow (9/20) and next Tuesday (9/27), we will rehearse at Kenmore Middle School instead of W-L. Kenmore is located at 200 S. Carlin Springs Road, which is essentially the corner of Route 50 and Carlin Springs. If you’re driving down either road, you can’t miss it.

Jim says “Park in front of the school. Enter through the main door, walk forward to the main hall and turn left. Go past the theater and take the hall to the right. The band room is towards the end to the left.”

2) Don’t forget to register for the band through Arlington Community Learning if you’re a returning member or are a new member Jim has explicitly invited to join us this season.

If you have not discussed playing with us this season with our conductor, do not sign up through APS — please email the website administrator to be put in touch. Due to space constraints and to ensure balanced instrumentation, we may have an existing waitlist for your instrument.

Great to see everyone at rehearsal last night! As Jim noted, there are some scheduling conflicts in the next couple of weeks that mean we can’t use our usual space at W-L for rehearsal.

Next week (9/20) and the following week (9/27), we will be rehearsing in the band room at Kenmore Middle School.

See you there!

Reminder: the first rehearsal of the new ACB season is this coming Tuesday, September 13! We’ll be at W-L, but Jim notes there are some scheduling conflicts with our usual space in coming weeks so he’s working on alternate locations.

From Jim:

“If you missed rehearsal last night, you do not have a ticket to get into the concert hall. Mason staff require a ticket to enter the back stage area. You will have to pick it up from me. Remember we meet for rehearsal/warm-up at 7:00 p.m.”

If you’re ticketless, please check your email for Jim’s phone number and get in touch with him ASAP.

Additionally, for party planning purposes, please email Jim as soon as possible with your name and number attending so he can get an accurate head count.

Hi all! It’s that time of year again — we are asking for your help in ensuring the band can cover our annual payment to Arlington Community Learning, which in turn keeps our individual dues/enrollment fees low every fall.

From Diana: “In the spirit of community, we ask that all members of the band donate something – whether it is $5 or $500. Any amount is appreciated so please give whatever feels right to you. Donations are tax deductible. If you would like to, we also encourage you to reach out to friends and family who may be interested in supporting a local arts organization (that’s us).”

You can donate via PayPal (no account required, just a debit or credit card) here or give cash or a check (made out to Arlington Concert Band Association) to Mel at rehearsal.

Thanks so much for your support!

As always, big thanks to our own Sebastian Dunne for coordinating and sharing this recording. (The full recording of our 2021 Winter Concert is available as well.)

The Arlington Concert Band will hold its spring concert this Thursday, April 7, at 7:30 pm at Washington-Liberty High School.

The program includes the following works:

The Windjammer Overture – John Ansell

Victory at Sea – Richard Rodgers arr. Robert Russell Bennett

Who’s Who in Navy Blue – John Philip Sousa

Seas of the Moon: III. Sea of Clouds – Robert Buckley

Water Music: Overture, Alla Hornpipe – George Frideric Handel arr. Robert Longfield

Sea Songs – Ralph Vaughan Williams

Pirates of the Caribbean – arr. Meehan Smothers

As always, admission is free. Hope to see you there!

Rehearsal will be at Wakefield High School on Tuesday, March 15.

Hi all – Jim forgot to mention at rehearsal last night that we will be meeting at Wakefield High School next week. Our usual space at W-L will be unavailable due to a choral concert.

Hi all! Just a quick reminder that we have rehearsal as usual tomorrow (Tuesday, 2/1, Washington-Liberty High School, 7-9 pm).

Covid numbers are falling in our area. Here’s the most recent 90-day report on daily case counts in Arlington County from the Virginia Department of Health:

If you missed Mel’s email, here’s the agenda for tomorrow night’s rehearsal, with some areas we’ll focus on:

Sea Songs: foreground vs. background parts and knowing your role.
Sea of Clouds: Beginning tempo (quarter note = 52). For music this slow, we will explore direction and connection of phrases.
Pirates: Learning what comes BEFORE your entrance and using this knowledge to fix balance issues.
Windjammer: Practice maintaining energy through the first section so we don’t slow on repeated rhythms throughout.
Victory at Sea: Transitions, transitions, and more transitions! All of the transitions.
Who’s Who in Navy Blue: A march to send you on your way.

Assistant conductor Brian made a Spotify playlist with some of our repertoire, which you can find here.

If you’re an Apple Music user, find a very similar playlist here.

Hope to see you at W-L tomorrow night!