[BBCB-Mail] Thanks for a GREAT show!

[Ed Schwartz]

Dear Friends,

I would like to thank everyone who performed in the parade and the 
evening concert yesterday. It was definitely one of the more 
challenging performances with the sprinkles throughout the parade and 
the rain delay before the concert, but the concert came off very 
well. I was extremely pleased with the concert and wanted to say how 
much I appreciate the hard work you all put into the concert. It 
takes great patience, understanding and faith that all will work out, 
and you all exhibited these qualities last night without hesitation. 
I feel so honored to work with all of you and appreciate your faith 
in my leadership. We should all be proud of our efforts for our 
community!

I would like to thank Carter Edmondson who has done such a great job 
with the chorus for the third year. He has again prepared the singers 
to step up to the challenge to provide a great vocal sound for the 
occasion. Of course, the singers deserve our thanks for their time 
and talents with their addition to the show. They are in a very 
difficult position, as they never have the entire chorus together 
until the night of the performance. This, again, takes talent and 
faith that everyone will step up and sing their parts. The soloists 
performed wonderfully with John's arrangement. Cindy Blevins, Clay 
Blevins and Steve Brown received some well-deserved kudos from many 
of the folks that I spoke with after the show. It may not have been 
noticed by the ensemble, but Cindy did get an ovation after Amazing 
Grace! Thanks to Seth Williamson who provided another program of 
narration with his marvelous voice (sorry about my miscue in Heritage 
of Freedom). A newcomer to the narration was Debbie Good who did an 
exemplary job with What Is America? Thanks as always to Steve for his 
conducting and giving me a bit of a break on the podium. After Seth's 
introduction, it is clear that he was having as much fun on the 
podium as I was! I would especially like to thank the strings who 
braved the weather and provided the lush sound that adds so much to 
this music. This was the ninth year having the strings with us, 
thanks!

A quick note for the band folks, I would like to thank the folks who 
helped decorate the float. There were so many of you helping out, I 
don't know where to start. Dixon, thanks for the hay bales and the 
sign on the back! Thanks to Amy Hall for her coordination of the 
picnic food and everyone who contributed to the food! Thanks to Alan 
McDaniel for carting around the percussion equipment. Thanks also to 
Russell Shock for his unwavering support on the technical side and 
trumpet, and Eric Carlson for helping out on the sound and timpani. 
I'm sure that I have missed thanking someone and I'm sorry if I did. 
This program takes a lot of effort by a lot of people, and I am truly 
grateful of everyone's efforts!

Again, each of you played a big part in the program and it is truly 
more impressive when we have a large group to show our support of the 
community. We had a very good showing this year. Please accept my 
sincere thanks, and I am already looking forward to next year. I 
would also like to encourage you to provide me with feedback on how 
we can improve the show for next year.

Thank you all!

- Ed -

P.S. - Carter & John, please pass this note on to the performers on 
your lists. This event would not be the same without the chorus and 
strings! Thanks again!

-- 
Ed Schwartz, Director
Blacksburg Community Band
3672 Laurel Drive
Blacksburg, VA 24060
(540) 808-6102
E-mail: ed.schwartz at vt.edu
http://arts.bev.net/blacksburgcommunityband/
http://www.music.vt.edu/musicdictionary/
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://listserv.bburg.bev.net/pipermail/bbcb/attachments/20080706/a18d17e2/attachment.htm