[Blgspops] Performance this Thursday - PLEASE READ

[Jacquie Ziegler]

First, thanks to those who were able to make it to the Shrine for 
rehearsal. It went well, and we have made some changes.

We are NOT doing 'Battle Hymn of the Republic' this week or next. We 
need to keep on working on this piece, though, so don't put the music 
completely away. We might include it in our Spring concert, that would 
hopefully give us enough time to do it justice.

Second, the 'balloon pop' for the Fireworks finale went surprisingly 
well. John will hand out the balloons and sparkly bendy sticks and pins 
to the audience - we'll have ours before hand, just blow up the balloons 
before the piece - and he can talk about the music a bit while they all 
get their balloons 'ready'. It's a really fun bit of audience 
participation, so thank you John for thinking of it! :-)

The first piece we'll be playing is God Bless America. Patrick will 
speak a little bit on the music while John hands out service flags to 
veterans in the audience who want to stand and hold them.

Somewhere around 'Fanfare Rondeau' - either before or after - I'll take 
the microphone and introduce all the members present, by instrument. 
This will be in lieu of a printed program. John can speak on the various 
pieces of music as we play.

For the last two songs, we'll do the Christmas pieces. Christmas 
Classics is a medley with repeats throughout. DO NOT DO THE REPEATS - 
SECOND ENDINGS ONLY. This is not an audience participation piece. It 
starts with the march from Tchaikovsky's 'Nutcracker Suite', followed by 
Bizet's 'March of the Three Kings' and ends with Handel's 'Hallelujah 
Chorus'. Some of the audience may start singing, but that's okay!

The final song will be 'Christmas Sing-A-Long' -  Traditional, arranged 
by Bob Cerulli. PLEASE check you have this music - there was a lot of 
confusion at rehearsal. We handed out and worked on several different 
sets of christmas carols this fall, but are only doing two - Christmas 
Classics and Christmas Sing-A-Long. John will have the words for the 
audience for the four songs in the medley.

To be sure - they are 'Joy to the World', 'O Come, All Ye Faithful', 
'Hark! The Herald Angels Sing!' and 'Silent Night'. Those are the ones 
the audience will sing along with.

More in a second message!

Jacquie