August 31, 2026 Director’s Notes
We started the morning with a fantastic presentation from Alan M. during our 9:00 am learning session. We learned about MakeMusic Cloud and how it can help us in our practice routines. More on that below.
During rehearsal, we ran through our playlist for the day, paying particular attention to transitions in “The Incredibles” and “Champion.” Tempos were uneven in some songs. Listening to percussion and watching me are both important for staying together and maintaining tempo. If anything ever feels off, look up. We are all on the same team!
Working together is one of the great challenges — and great rewards — of playing in an ensemble. Dynamics, intonation, and tempo are some of the key things every ensemble works on. That’s where the magic happens.
I have created a Facebook event for our September 14 Showcase. Please feel free to share it:
https://www.facebook.com/share/197XJFZSEv/
September 14 Showcase
We are indeed meeting next week (Labor Day)! Rec centers and support staff are open and ready for residents. We’ll run through all of the songs for our showcase and then spend some time on anything we’re still feeling a little uncomfy with.
Here is our showcase and rehearsal order:
The Star-Spangled Banner
Celebration for Winds
Dance of the Magyars
The Incredibles
The Blue Rock
Alamo
Fandango Festival
America the Beautiful
Champion
New Orleans Strut
Wipe Out
Raiders March
Pirates of the Caribbean
MakeMusic Cloud
A big thank you to Alan for yesterday’s introduction to MakeMusic Cloud! I’m excited about the possibilities this gives us as an optional practice tool for ODB.
First and foremost: using MakeMusic Cloud will be completely optional. You will not need a MakeMusic Cloud subscription to participate in ODB, receive your music, rehearse with us, or perform in our showcases. Nothing about the way you currently participate in ODB needs to change.
For those who would like to use it, my plan is to begin a gradual rollout with our Christmas cadence beginning October 5. For music available in MakeMusic Cloud, you’ll be able to hear your part, play along with accompaniment, slow difficult passages down, loop sections, and get feedback on notes and rhythms. I may also use our weekly rehearsal notes to suggest sections that MakeMusic Cloud users might want to work on between rehearsals.
A correction on the pricing we discussed yesterday: The $13.99 annual student price we found is discounted bulk pricing for organizations purchasing 20 or more subscriptions. If we set up ODB so individual members who choose to use MakeMusic Cloud purchase their own access, the current price is $29.99 per year. Again, this would be an optional individual expense, not an ODB membership requirement or fee.
Please don’t purchase anything yet. I’ll get everything set up and provide instructions before our new cadence begins for anyone who would like to participate.
MakeMusic Cloud is simply another tool we can add to our toolbox to make practicing easier, more effective, and hopefully more fun. No homework, no requirement, and no change for anyone who prefers to keep practicing exactly as they do now.
More to come before we start our Christmas music!
Installing the Transpose Extension in Chrome
If you’d like to install the Transpose extension Alan demonstrated:
Open Google Chrome.
Click the Extensions icon (the puzzle piece next to the address bar).
On the resulting screen, click Chrome Web Store in the left sidebar.
Search for “Transpose.”
Select the Transpose extension.
Click Add to Chrome.
Click Add extension when asked.
You’re done!
After installation, you can find Transpose by clicking the puzzle-piece icon near the upper-right corner of Chrome.