This Saturday, there is District 3 Solo & Ensemble competition.  Good luck to all who participate.  I know that I've been working with a few folks.  I plan on being in the room and listening to folks play for most/all of the day.  If you are a little worried, and need a little help, feel free to send me a video or audio recording of you playing.  If you get REALLY daring, you could FaceTime me.... maybe a good idea to text first to see if I'm available.

The NEXT day, please don't forget that Dr Waters has called rehearsal for this coming Sunday, 3-6 PM.  I have shared all of my scores with her (and I have hers as well) so she'll be rehearsing my pieces, as I will not be there (I have a personal commitment).

During this time of year, it's easy to lose our focus, and be very hard on ourselves.  Please exercise excellent mental & emotional health along with your own physical health.  Depression is real, and it almost took one of more former students recently.  Please know that I would never want anything bad to happen to any of you, and the world would not be as bright without you.  It's easy to feel worthless because of smaller mistakes that we make.  But we often lose sight of the positive things that we have done, and continue to do, and the positive FAR outweighs the negative.   So let's get out there and do some great things, together!

I have put up a link to order your shirt.  It's in the Members section, just under the list of members.  If you already have a LAYO shirt, you do not need to order a new one.  If you want something other than a polo shirt (which we really do get a good deal on, by the way), please order your stuff from Cappie's directly.  My wife bought me a lovely quarter-zip Under Armour top and I love it.  I feel like the sizes tend to run a little large, so I would recommend ordering your regular size.  Cadet Orchestra members do NOT need said shirt.  

​Someone is going to tell me that the member list is ALL messed up.  I know.  I'm working on it.  Between school, home life, some personal issues going on, and taking care of the home, life gets a little busy some times.  I'm working on it.

Just a reminder that the next practice for BOTH groups is January 23.  That's next Sunday.  See you then!

So much going on!  

First of all, great rehearsals this past Sunday!  Wait, shouldn't it be rehearsal, as in singular?  No, because...

Congratulations to our new Cadet Orchestra students!  Right now, it's a small group.  And that's OK.  We're learning to play music with each other, which is what it was designed for.  I am 100% not joking when I tell you that these kids are the future of LAYO.  Check back in 5-6 years, and they'll be toward the top of the string section.   Which reminds me, check out their 2 pictures on the members page!

Now, for number three... I'm NOT going to say that there's going to be a song taken out.   And, if there was, I'm surely not going to say which one it is.  However, I'm going to have a new song for our LAYO group some time in the next... 24 hours-ish.  Some of those who have been around for a few years may have already played it.  If so, all good, just be patient.  It's still one of my favorites.  I think I might have too many favorite classical pieces of music.

Thank you all for staying safe & healthy.  I know our recent rehearsal attendance wasn't the best.  For sure, the COVID is going around right now.  Personally, I wouldn't be surprised if a couple of local school districts went to remote learning or something like that, just for a week or so.  Would I enjoy that?  No, but I just know that there are a lot of teachers sick, and a lot of students sick.  Try to practice when you can.

Reminder: our next rehearsal is January 23!   Mr MacBenn will be "flying solo" on that one.  Apologies if I get tired - 4 hours of rehearsal PLUS set-up/take-down will definitely wear you down!  I'm not saying this officially, but I'd love to be done by 5:30.  wink wink.

Hey, if you're reading this, and you're in LAYO, and you started looking at that newest music for "Danse Negre", please don't freak out.  #1, that's for a performance WITH the Ohio Northern University Symphony.  So, advanced college level stuff, right?  Please don't freak out about it.  That piece is something we're going to be working on slowly.  #2, if you're a clarinet or a trumpet player, on all things holy, watch for the transposition!  Clarinet in A? How about Trumpet in F?!?  These tasks can be very daunting, no doubt.  When I was your age, I got scared of them too.  You'll get it.  Maybe you won't get EVERY single note, but you'll do well enough to fit in with a collegiate symphony.   

I have a very good friend, who happens to be a cellist, who says something like "the best players know when to play, and when to get out of the way".  As a symphony player, you don't have to get every single note perfect (unless you're in one of those major symphony orchestras.  Then, you do.) to be a positive contribution to the ensemble.  Should you try to at least get most of them?  Sure, absolutely.  But no one is perfect.  And a perfect performance?  That's rare.   And by perfect I mean EVERY note, dynamic, rest, bowing, articulation, accent/nuance, style, and following the cue of the conductor AND the lead of the concert master.  That's a lot to take into consideration.

OK, now that's I've gotten that stuff out of the way.  I also have ALL of the music uploaded.  In the words of TwoSet Violin, "go practice."  Again, Merry Christmas to all.  Happy New Year.  See you in January.

Hi all.  New music is up.  I'd like a rest now, so I'm going to "disappear" for a little while.  If you need help, ask away via email.  On the Satie ("Sat-ee-ay") piece, yes, French is hard.  Backward eighth rest = quarter rest.  I can definitely see a theme in our music.  I hope that you enjoy playing it.  I hope that you PRACTICE it before our first rehearsal.  

​Merry Christmas, all.  Happy New Year.  See you soon!

Hi all!  I hope that everyone is now done with school activities, and I hope that we can all rest & recharge while staying safe & healthy!  Today, Dr Waters and I met and agreed on music LAYO music.

In no particular order, you can expect to see: Bach Brandenburg Simphonia, Vistas Espanolas, Themes from 1812 Overture, Warrior Legacy, Royal Fireworks, The Great Locomotive Chase, Eric Satie's Gymnopedes, Ear-Igami, Procession of the Nobles by Rimsky-Korsakov, L'Estro Armonico by Vivaldi (have fun, Madison!), and the Magic of Harry Potter.   

I'll be working on scanning items & uploading them.  My goal is to be done by Christmas Eve.  

​Our next rehearsal is Sunday, January 9.  Have your music ready & I'll see you then!  Please remember that if you have any questions, feel free to email or text me.  And if you have any ideas on perspective members, we'd love for them to join us, but they still have to send in an audition.

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year!

What an outstanding concert for everyone involved!  That concert was a great way to get back in to live music performances!  I, for sure, wasn't the only one who thought so.  Check out us in the Lima News:
https://www.limaohio.com/news/488378/excellent-return-of-youth-orchestra

I'm going to try to be putting up some photos from the concert & rehearsal over the next few days.   I'm also planning on taking down the old music, and hopefully soon putting up the new!  To be honest, at this time, I can't be too sure of what we are going to be playing.  If there are any doubts or questions, I'll make sure that I put it in the news section.  I think that at this time, it might be a good idea if we "over-programmed" the concerts, and then eliminated music if/as we need to.  I hope that makes sense to everyone.  If you see a TON of music, please understand that some may be "backups".  I suppose we have to see how that shakes out in rehearsal, right?

So, I'll be doing my best to get things all set up for the 2022 calendar/concert year.  PLEASE check back every once in a while for new music.  And, absolutely have a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!  See you (I think the date is) January 9!