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If you happen to live within driving distance of Madison, Wisconsin and are available, there will be a brass quintet/ensemble extravaganza for the benefit of the Second Harvest Food Bank tomorrow (Wednesday, December 5, 2007) @ 7:30 p.m. at Madison East High School. Admission is at least one non-perishable food item.

Hope you can make it!

David Spies
Racine Symphony Orchestra
Willson Tuba Quartet
Quartzite Brass Quintet

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PRESS RELEASE:
"Brass Benefits"
At 7:30 p.m. on December 5, 2007 three local brass quintets will unite with friends at the Margaret Williams Theater at East High School, 2222 East Washington Avenue, Madison, WI for an evening of spectacular brass music to benefit Second Harvest.

Quartzite Brass, Brassworks, and Harley Street Brass, professional quintets who perform regularly in and around Madison, will be featured on the first portion of the concert with everything from Vivaldi to Ewald, including some of their own arrangements.

On the second portion the quintets will be joined by friends to form a twenty-five piece brass choir under the baton of Dr. Gerald Olson, Professor Emeritus of Music, UW-Madison.

Attendees are asked to bring at least one non-perishable food item for Second Harvest Food Bank.

Bump.

David:

This is a really great idea and I applaud you and the other brass groups for doing it!! In fact, it is such a great idea, I'm thinking about trying to do something similar in my local community. So, I'm hoping you can give me (and others) some pointers and insight as to how this all came together.

1) How involved was the charity? Did they help with promotion, getting a venue, etc.
2) How did you select and get the venue where the concert will be held.
3) How did the other brass groups get involved?
4) Who is doing the promotion to help insure folks show up at the concert?
5) Who will be collecting up all the food goods at the concert? Friends, family or the charity itself?
6) Are you using any other groups/organizations "behind the scenes" (such as schools or churches) to help with the event?

Anyhow, you get the idea. Who put this together and how did it get done?? Tell us everything!!!

Thanks,

This is a response to Craig's earlier reply. Now that the event is over, I have a chance to better answer these questions.

This is a really great idea and I applaud you and the other brass groups for doing it!! In fact, it is such a great idea, I'm thinking about trying to do something similar in my local community. So, I'm hoping you can give me (and others) some pointers and insight as to how this all came together.

1) How involved was the charity? Did they help with promotion, getting a venue, etc.

The concert was fun. I estimate 125 were in the audience. We collected a full barrel of food items. Not bad for an initial effort.

Second Harvest dropped off and picked up the food barrel. We were hoping they would promote more but we ended up doing what was done.

Aside: Frequently charities are running on a shoestring budget and function with volunteers that fully devote their efforts and time to the tasks of the actual charity.

2) How did you select and get the venue where the concert will be held.

One of the trumpet players is the band director at the school where we performed.

3) How did the other brass groups get involved?

The original purpose of the brass choir was to play the wedding for two of the members last August. Between the two of them they play in five ensembles in the area. This helped them to recruit for the wedding.

The couple united the three quintets and added extras for the wedding. This time we added even more members to bring the group to 24. The idea at the time of the wedding was to perform the music again at another venue.

We had 8 trumpets, 8 horns, 3 trombones, bass trombone, 2 euphoniums, and 2 tubas. We asked a retired UW professor to conduct and he was more than happy to do it. We pulled it off with only one rehearsal; we could have used another but one sufficed. (The logistics of unifying 20+ personnel for a charitable event is daunting at best--ask any personnel manager, and they can attest to that!)

Everyone had a great time and we had nothing but great comments from the crowd. We have two digital recordings and will be giving a CD to all the players.

4) Who is doing the promotion to help insure folks show up at the concert?

A large part of it was word-of-mouth and e-mail distribution lists to friends family and colleagues. We wrote a press release and distributed it. It was picked up by the TV stations and put of their websites. We ended up with about 125 in attendance on a cold, Wednesday night.

5) Who will be collecting up all the food goods at the concert? Friends, family or the charity itself?

The charity (Second Harvest) provided the barrel and picked it up.

6) Are you using any other groups/organizations "behind the scenes" (such as schools or churches) to help with the event?

Students at the school helped with programs and were at the door. They had talked about a reception but that didn't happen which was OK.

Anyhow, you get the idea. Who put this together and how did it get done?? Tell us everything!!!

Another thing one of the quintets has done is to donate a performance to a silent auction for Second Harvest. They played a wedding reception. I think Second Harvest collected $450 off that.

This is just a snapshot of the different possibilities to help support local charities with music. I’d really be interested in hearing how others have given of their time and talents musically to charitable organizations in their communities.

To Give is to Receive!

David Spies
Racine Symphony Orchestra
Willson Tuba Quartet

Very helpful, David. Thank you!