July 6, 2026 Rehearsal Notes
It was wonderful seeing all of you this week! Thank you for bringing your patience, flexibility, and great attitudes. Every rehearsal teaches us something—not just musically, but also about how to make Open Door Band even better—and this week certainly gave us plenty to learn from!
📱 Morning Learning Session: forScore
We kicked off the morning with our first formal learning session on forScore, using the projector to walk through some of the basics:
Downloading music from Google Drive
Importing it into forScore
Creating a setlist
Adding music to a setlist
Cropping pages for easier reading
Rearranging pages
Creating page links for easy repeats
There is a lot to forScore, so if you’d like another session on it, please let me know! As always, you’re also welcome to bring your iPad and individual questions to any of our 9:00 a.m. learning sessions for one-on-one help or a refresher.
🎶 Rehearsal Highlights
This week reminded me that we’re still building something together. Between a few incorrect or missing parts and a few things I’m learning as your director, we hit a few bumps along the way. I truly appreciate everyone’s patience and positive attitude as we worked through them. Those little challenges are temporary, but the progress we’re making as a band is lasting!
🇭🇺 Dance of the Magyars
We began by listening to a recording of Dance of the Magyars.
Remember, this recording is played at a very brisk tempo. Our goal is not to play it that fast—we want this piece to stay fun and comfortable while still capturing its exciting energy.
Unfortunately, an incorrect part kept us from getting very far, so we’ll revisit this one soon.
🎧 Recording:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ntE3k3yVfX0
🏆 Champion
We revisited Champion from last week.
Since we’re still waiting on some important missing parts, I’ve decided to provide all available parts to everyone. You’ll be free to choose the part you’d most enjoy playing. I’ll send an email as soon as those parts have been added to your folders.
🦸 The Incredibles
Next we listened to a recording of The Incredibles.
The recording wasn’t the exact arrangement we’re playing, but it gave us a great sense of the style and excitement of the piece. I think this is going to be a really fun addition to our repertoire—and another opportunity for anyone who’d like to experiment with a solo!
💃 Fandango Festival
We enjoyed a nice review of Fandango Festival, and it’s already becoming more comfortable each time we play it.
🇺🇸 America the Beautiful
We gave America the Beautiful a try, but discovered we were missing the tuba parts, so we’ll come back to this one next week.
🌊 Go With the Flow
As I’ve been thinking about this piece, I’ve realized I’d like us to approach it with a little more excitement and energy.
Rather than imagining a relaxed “Hey, dude…” kind of flow, picture yourself riding the East Australian Current (EAC) from Finding Nemo—or the sea turtle scene from the Epcot attraction. It’s energetic, moving, and full of life! That’s the feeling I’d love for us to capture.
🤠 Raiders March
We wrapped up the morning by revisiting Raiders March, which ended rehearsal on a fun and successful note!
Thank you all for sticking with it. Even on rehearsals that don’t go exactly as planned, we’re making progress, learning together, and building a band that continues to improve every week. I’m already looking forward to seeing how much stronger these pieces become over the next few rehearsals!
🎼 Set List for Next Week
🏄 Wipe Out
🇺🇸 America the Beautiful
🦸 The Incredibles
🏆 Champion
🎸 Beginners Rock!
💃 Fandango Festival
🎉 Celebration for Winds
🤠 Alamo