| NBTHS Orchestra |
| oct.15.05
NBTHS STRINGS back stage@ the state theater in new brunswick nj during their performance at glen burtnick's annual holiday concert. I had many opportunities to direct our orchestra over the last five years. This was a true highlight for all of us. This event helped the push for getting a string specialist for these talented students. this for me is a double edged sword as i will miss being the director of such a talented and personable group of students. I look forward to working with the new string teacher for our full orchestra pieces for each concert. june.25.05 My years as an orchestra teacher have come to a close this year. our new orchestra teacher is cooper ford. he is a competent violinist and is a positive addition to our staff. i wish him luck and look forward to working with him in the future. although this is a positive step forward for our instrumental music program i have mixed feelings. i have become quite fond of conducting strings and working with these students. these students have taught me as much as i have taught them. i wish you all well and look forward to great things from you in the future. let this page serve as a record to our time together. we share so many good memories together. thank you for all you have taught me over the years. best wishes, jamie egan june.25.05 Congratulations to Yiling
Hu and John Moroney! Both of these freshmen have just made the prestigious
NJ All State Orchestra. For those who don't understand the enormity
of this tremendous feat, let me explain. New Jersey is split into
three regions. We belong to central region II. To audition for All
States you must make your region ensemble first. Any high school
instrumental or choir student can audition for this group. The information
for this is linked at the top of this page as NJMEA. All instrumental
students must prepare the required professional level solo, a list
of scales, and sight read. Sight reading is playing an excerpt from
a piece that the performer has never seen. As teachers and members
of MENC we judge and run this annual event. There are three judges
in each room. With our backs to the musicians we perform blind auditions.
Students are not permitted to speak in the audition rooms. Often
our students wait on long lines and listen to their peers through
closed doors. They wonder if they can control their nerves to be
better than the rest. After a grueling day of going from room to
room they wait for the results. The numbers tell the story in each
of the three areas. Long lists of each instrument, sometimes well
over 100 names long, with your name in the order in which you scored.
Only the top scores are good enough to make the group. Now take
all those good enough to be considered the best of the best in each
of the three region and do it all again to find the best in the
entire state. This is where you will find violinist Yiling Hu, and
bassist John Moroney. As you can tell I'm extremely proud of how
well these two freshmen have have represented us. march.11.05 while some stress over auditions others have taken on the daunting task of conquering berstein. west side story is one of the toughest musicals ever written. if you are part of our pit orchestra this year feel free to click this link and download midi versions of all the music you must learn. if you have finale note pad you can import them and slow them down for practice purposes. good luck! for practice files of west side story click here. best wishes, mr. egan feb.13.05 this year's orchestra rocks. no really it rocks just check some of the past director's notes. after playing the glen burtnick xmas xtravaganza they changed. somehow playing with the horn section from the conan o'brien show, the drummer from yes, the lead singer from the B52's, the Pogues and more made them strut around the halls a little different. i noticed the problem about a month after the show when andrea bradshaw was still wearing her back stage pass. then she refused to play unless all the blue chairs were removed from the room. she said she wanted to be a rock star and play rock star music. i told her to go online and find some good arrangements for us. i have to say ab did a great job and our current repertoire includes: bohemian rhapsody, who are you, imagine a man, going to california, and layla. this spring concert is going to rock! sept.04 This year's orchestra has been joined by some amazingly talented freshmen. although our numbers have remained the same the level of musicianship has increased significantly. we have added to our already strong group of musicians fine players in every section. the sounds coming out of this year's orchestra are quite remarkable considering that we have only just begun. i look forward to a great year with all of this year's orchestra students. if you are auditioning for this years regions please be sure to consult your private teacher for the proper solo and feel free to use the link provided on our home page for the regions information. nov.03 This year's honors orchestra is starting to come together nicely. With the addition of one more cellist and some new music in our library we should have a great year. Last years group was very talented but also much smaller. Also because they were all seniors we are starting the honors group from scratch again this year. We have a better balance this year of seniors and juniors which will give us a great base to build on from this year to next. Currently we have been spending much of our time working on Beethoven string quartets. This challenging repertoire has been stretching the limits of even our best players. I am very excited about the growth I've seen in this group, especially in the last month. Look for some great things from this group at our spring concert. best wishes, Mr. Egan aug. 03 Ahhh the Honors Orchestra...
peace in a sea of madness. |
