The Arkansas Winds will present our first concert of the 2023 year "A Musical Mosaic" on February 25, 2023 at 7:00pm at the Farmington High School Performing Arts Center in Farmington, Arkansas. Admission is free and the public is invited. Please share this event with any of your friends who might be interested.

The concert will include a tribute to the late Mr. Eldon Janzen who was the longtime director of the University of Arkansas band program. Mr. Janzen was not only the college band director of many members of the Winds, he also was responsible for the creation of the Arkansas Winds in 1988. As a musical mosaic the program will include many different musical themes.

The concert will include

A Festival Prelude – Alfred Reed
Composed for wind band nearly 50 years ago, this masterpiece written from Alfred Reed displays his style and command of wind band orchestration and remains a classic for wind band.

Renaissance Reimagined – Brian Balmages
This work pays homage to the regal Renaissance style music while at the same time reimagining it with contemporary twists and turns.

Hymn of Praise – Anton Brucker
Mr. Janzen required all his conducting students to assess and conduct this piece for his conducting classes. The piece helps a conducting student understand and practice many of the attributes required for a conductor. The Winds are playing a concert band transcription of the orchestral piece written by Anton Brucker, the Austrian composer who displayed an intense devotion to the spiritual life during the mid 1800’s.

FYI

This evening’s rehearsal for January 30th is cancelled due to inclement weather. According to weather.com, it appears the area will be getting freezing precipitation all day. Feel free to send any comments or questions to info@arkansaswinds.org

FYI – This evening’s rehearsal, November 14th is cancelled due to weather conditions. According to the following link from weather.com, it appears it should start snowing around 5:30pm and snow through 9:00pm. It is likely there won’t be a problem getting to rehearsal, however, there may be some issues after rehearsal this evening. Additionally, the heat is out in the rehearsal hall at Farmington. Jim has opened a maintenance request, however, it is not likely they will get to it before tonight’s rehearsal.

Send any questions or comments to info@arkansaswinds.org.

https://weather.com/weather/radar/interactive/l/65ee2306e08c62c76db9fc28...

The board has met and set a schedule for the upcoming 2022-2023 season. Our first rehearsal will be on Monday, October 31st in the Farmington High School bandroom. We will rehearse for an hour, make some announcements, and have time to visit and catch up. Remember if you are not feeling well then you should skip an event.

You can bookmark http://memberinfo.arkansaswinds.org which contains the schedule, directions and member guidelines. Even if you have been with the group for a while, please review the member guidelines http://www.arkansaswinds.org/guidelines. That page covers information about membership requirements and member expectations. The main expectation is show up for rehearsals and always make sure you get the music to the next event (rehearsal or concert). Even if you're not sharing your music, there may be someone who shows up who will need it.

Here are directions for those who haven’t been to Farmington High School. The address is 12327 AR-170, Farmington, AR 72730, Farmington, AR. If you’re coming from the north you will want to turn right on the driveway (Bryan Law Way) before the main driveway. If you’re coming from the south, you will want to turn left on the driveway (Bryan Law Way) after the main driveway. The entrance (Entrance B) to the bandroom is between the football field and the school. Here is a google maps link to the school. https://goo.gl/maps/kADEZPG2j4XpgddSA

If you have any questions of comments, access our website at www.arkansaswinds.org or send an email to info@arkansaswinds.org.

We will be rehearsing this evening at 7:00pm. Remember to use your best judgement for your health situation, whether or not you will attend. We will not rehearse the entire two hours this evening, to help those who haven’t played in a while. We do need assistance setting up the percussion before rehearsal.

One request from Farmington is to have brass players empty their condensation in trash cans, which for their rehearsals requires the kids go to the big trash can to empty. We will be able to use individual trash cans with the intent to please not empty onto the bandroom carpet. I will stop by and get a package of solo red cups and some paper towels. I do see these mini trashcans available on the Dollar Tree website https://www.dollartree.com/bright-round-plastic.../225829, however, I’m not sure if these are available at any of our local Dollar Trees.

I am reminded we have new people who haven’t been to Farmington and I forgot to include directions in my previous post. The address is 12327 AR-170, Farmington, AR 72730, Farmington, AR. The entrance to the bandroom is between the football field and the school. You should be able to see the Farmington Cardinals Band truck in the parking lot. If you’re coming from the north you will want to turn right on the driveway (Bryan Law Way) before the main driveway. If you’re coming from the south, you will want to turn left on the driveway (Bryan Law Way) after the main driveway. Here is a google maps link to the school. https://goo.gl/maps/kADEZPG2j4XpgddSA

The board has met and we will start our 2022 season on Monday, January 3rd at 7:00pm at Farmington High School bandroom. Once again, many thanks to Jim Spillars and the Farmington school district for hosting us for the upcoming season. Additional reasons for staying at Farmington include we still have several years left on the copier/printer lease and our library is there.

We have decided to strongly suggest but not require vaccination to participate this year. Please base your decision to participate based on your personal health situation. For our rehearsals we will ask for assistance setting up the percussion section as well as the chairs and stands.

We ask that you practice and get your chops ready. You can practice from method books or any music just so you are getting your lip and finger chops ready after the long layoff. Our first rehearsal we will play about an hour or a little longer, announcements and then visiting for those who would like to catch up.
We still need a volunteer to serve on the board.

Our tentative concert schedule is

- Saturday, February 26th, 2022, 7:00pm, Farmington Performing Arts Center
- Sunday, May 1st, 2022, 3:00pm, Farmington Performing Arts Center
- Saturday, May 14th, 2022, 12:00pm, University Commencement – Two commencement (Agriculture and Engineering)
- Monday, May 30th, TBA, Memorial Day Concert, Butterfield Trail Village
- Monday, July 4th,2022, 8:30pm, An Evening at Orchards Park
- Monday, July 11th, 2022, 7:00pm, Junior High Music Camp

Farmington Public Schools will be closed on Monday March 16th through spring break. We will *not* have rehearsal on March 16th and March 23rd and will monitor the Farmington school district announcements to determine our next rehearsal. Everyone be safe. Send any questions or comments to info@arkansaswinds.org.

It appears all of the weather prognosticators are predicting sub freezing temperatures, 22 degrees, by 9:00pm tonight. It probably will not freeze the roads, however, but it is likely bridges will be dangerous. As a result, we are cancelling rehearsal for tonight.