WINTER (!) JANUARY 2021
It’s the Blowcomotion Newsletter!
Do You Vaccinate?
We hope so! We look forward to a time when we can play together — in person — and we think the only way we can do that is if musicians get vaccinated! We want to hear from you on this important subject so look for an upcoming survey.
Announcements and Class Updates – JOIN US!!
Until we can play together, we are still meeting in our online sectionals!
The sectionals are open to everyone — if you play the saxophone but want to come to low brass for sight singing or music appreciation — it’s OK. The zoom information for the sectional is sent out by various zoom hosts. If you are interested in attending any of the sectionals, please email blowcomotion@gmail.com and let us know which sectional you are interested in attending. Your request will be forwarded to the appropriate host. Look for an email about 5 minutes before the meeting is to start.
What’s new in the sectionals?
We’ve asked a member from each section — High brass, low brass, woodwinds and percussion — for an update on what is happening in their respective sections:
WOODWINDS by Ken Hallenberg:
Hey everyone!
The Blowco woodwinds (still all saxes at the moment) have been working on soloing skills under the tutelage of our fine instructor Jorion Dawson. Sometimes we all work together on a single concept, other times we divide up the sectional into a series of short mini-lessons with topics chosen by each player. Lately our main full-group topic has been using pentatonic scales (major and minor). Individual mini-lessons have focused on such topics as fingering technique, bebop scales, altissimo, and learning some jazz tunes.
PERCUSSION by Beverly Larkin:
Percussion sectional experienced a bit of a turndown in attendance over the holiday weeks – showing more presence during the monthly full rehearsals. Our instructor Sean has had us concentrating on Stick Control rudiments — foundational for any percussionist — and discussing percussion influences and instruction from various YouTube videos. Looking forward to more time together with the new year.
LOW BRASS by Niko Druzhinin
A virtual rehearsal in the low brass section is always a treat that is sure to benefit any musician! From scales and sight-singing, to breathing exercises and music appreciation, you don’t even need a trombone or tuba to learn a lot from John. The format is free-flowing with plenty of opportunity to dive into the subjects that interest those who attend.
HIGH BRASS by Ike Eickstaedt
Trumpets and French Horns are discussing and practicing each week! We love talkin’ high brass. All are welcome to join us . . . regardless of your experience you will feel welcome as we explore the intricacies of our melodic and harmonic roles in the ensemble. Come join us! Led by instructor Omar Garcia Tuesday nights at 7 :00 pm on Zoom. Looking forward to seeing y’all!
New Instruments
Thanks to everyone’s support Blowcomotion purchased more instruments for its instrument lending program. If you find some unused band instruments in the back of your closet, please consider donating to us.
To borrow one of the Blowcomotion instruments, please email us at blowcomotion@gmail.com for instrument availability and requirements.
Fundraising
ADAPT OF Texas Fun Run by Beverly Larkin
How to raise money for Blowcomotion from the comfort of your home!
ADAPT of Texas has been very generous to host us during the inclement and cold weather months in previous years- and one way we can give back, and help Blowcomotion at the same time is to participate in the ADAPT FUN*RUN! They offer to us as a group — 75% of the monies we generate while they receive 25% which is a huge win/win for our band.
This year, it will be held on Saturday May 1, 2021 – so we have plenty of time to prepare.
It’s super easy to register at https://www.adaptfunrun.net/ and then select Blowcomotion – we are listed in the “Organization I am Supporting” menu option on the web page to ensure your donations go to our group.
Once you are registered, you will receive an “Runner Registration” email with a special personalized weblink that you can easily share with family and friends via email or social media. ADAPT also made donation options very easy — folks can choose to use credit cards, PayPal or mail in a check. If you need it, they even offer a physical sign up sheet — but have made their online registration and donation process so simple that likely it will not be needed.
Using social media or email can easily get the word out to your friends and family — even a small gift of $5 – $10 from each person can quickly add up to a nice donation to ADAPT and Blowcomotion. Every bit helps, even if we are not performing live, we are still holding sectionals and continue to pay our excellent instructors!!
I really hope you will consider participating this year — If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me at beejcctx@gmail.com. Expect to see an email from Bev with more information!
Patreon
Our Patreon page has been really successful and we greatly appreciate those who have joined. As we’ve mentioned before, almost all of the money we raise is used to pay our instructors (the remaining goes toward things like our website, insurance and instruments). To access our Patreon account, you can go to https://www.patreon.com/blowcomotion. Patreon levels begin at $5 per month.
Blowcomotion is also listed as a charity on Amazon Smile. If you use Amazon and don’t already have a designated charity, would you please consider designating Blowcomotion? Just go to Amazon Smile, and search for Blowcomotion.
Car Donations
We are participating with Car Easy for vehicle — car, truck, boat — donations. Have a used vehicle, donate it to us! Go to https://careasy.org/nonprofit/blowcomotion to have your donation support Blowcomotion’s music education programming.
Volunteer with Us
The group that keeps Blowcomotion moving is composed of volunteers. We are dedicated to seeing Blowcomotion grow strong, but we can’t do it all. We would love to have some help.
The Board has created the following committees: Fundraising (includes grant writing), Marketing, Community Outreach and Curriculum. Most of these committees only have two members so if you are interested, email us blowcomotion@gmail.com.
OUR INFORMATION
Reach us at blowcomotion@gmail.com
Facebook: http://facebook.com/blowcomotion
On the web at www.blowcomotion.org
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Blowcomotion is a nonprofit corporation and has received a 501(c)(3) tax exemption from the Internal Revenue Service. All donations are tax-exempt. Blowcomotion greatly appreciates your financial and instrument donations.