On Friday, January 1st, 2010, Robert L. Bowser
will be sworn into office for his fourth term as Mayor of East
Orange. The invitation only event takes place at the new Cicely
Tyson Community School of Performing and Fine Arts, and the band,
directed by Mr. Frederick Goode, has been asked to provide the
musical background for the occasion. That means he and his band
students have been giving up some of their vacation time with
rehearsals on a different kind of music than they are used to
with the marching band. They have to transform themselves into a
Dance Band.
A Dance Band gets to sit down while playing, and
instruments like keyboards, electric guitars and floor drum sets
can be used.
The number of musicians needed for a Dance Band
is smaller, too. The melodies will be provided mainly by flutes
and clarinets.
Saxophones will fill in the mid-ranges in close
harmony. A brass section will play the bass parts, but keep in
mind that the melody can pass from one section to another and
that everyone gets a turn.
I will continue to add to this rehearsal page
during the week as the band continues to work on preparing for
this special New Years Day event.
Today's practice sees the band members
begrudgingly giving up their metal music stands to get used to
the traditional Dance Band cardboard show stands. If they get
enough "gigs" as a result of this performance, we'll
look into rebuilding the cardboard stands from wood.
Today's musical lesson is about passing the
melody around for improvisational solos. At the moment, guitarist
Darian Bravo has just been "handed" the solo and he
makes the most of the oppotunity to shine. Everyone will get a
chance, either as individuals, or as small groups of instruments.
Meanwhile, in another part of the room, Ms Saez,
Band Parent Association President, is working with one of her
daughters on making large ribbon bows to be used as decorations
for the Inauguration Party. This is just another example of how
she goes way beyond the call of duty to participate in every
aspect of Cicely Tyson School's events that involve
"her" band.
When "school is over" most students
can't wait to get out and go home. Not these students. Now it's
their time and what they like to do most is jam. The video below
shows one of the jam sessions from a small group of students who
might possibly form a jazz band of their own in the future.
New Years Eve. The band members
gather up their instruments, music, music stands and chairs.
Today's rehearsal will be held in the gymnasium where tomorrow's
performance will occur.
Photo by Al-Quadir Marsh
The room empties out quickly,
except for Ms Saez who is finishing up decorations for the
auditorium.
Photo by Al-Quadir Marsh
In the gymnasium downstairs,
Lloyd Tomlinson helps to connect the amplifiers to speakers and
microphones, then clears all the wires out of the way so no one
will trip on them.
Photo by Al-Quadir Marsh
The band students file in with
their chairs, stands, music and instruments and begin organizing
the music in the order in which each piece will be played.
Photo by Al-Quadir Marsh
The band begins the final
rehearsal. They quickly discover that the accoustics in the
gymnasium are different from the room in which they had been
practicing, and they have to learn to adapt their playing styles
as a result.
Photo by Jim Gerrish
I took this photo to acknowledge
the work of Al-Quadir Marsh, who took many of the other photos
for today's article. He not only worked as a photographer, but
learned how decorative bows are made, learned to use an electric
balloon pump to blow up many of the balloons used in the
displays, and even learned to blow up helium balloons from a gas
tank. He pitches in wherever needed and then goes right back to
taking photos.
Photo by Jim Gerrish
Our photographer for the day,
Al-Quadir Marsh, gets caught up helping Ms Saez blow up balloons
which will decorate the area where the band will play, then he
takes a turn following nher instructions and ended up blowing up
most of the rest of the balloons used. Ms Saez' daughters helped
their mother by picking up broken balloons and running errands as
needed.
Photo by Al-Quadir Marsh
The rehearsal is over, and Ms Saez and Mr. Goode
get to work assembling the balloons into an archway that will
frame the band for tomorrow's performance. Everyone is tired, but
the work has to be done before they can finally call it a day.
Al-Quadir took this photo, then went to work blowing up helium
balloons for the overhead archway.
Text, photographs and videography by Jim
Gerrish, except as noted.
