2024 - 2025 Wind Ensemble
Welcome to the Wind Ensemble Page!
CONGRATULATIONS to the 24-25 Wind Ensemble on their great performance at the University of Illinois Superstate Band Festival. The ensemble will be the Honor Band at the 2025 Festival!
News updates will be placed in "Band News." Be sure to "like" our facebook page for up-to-date news as well. The Google calendar below can be added to your own personal calendar by pressing on the "+google calendar" button.
BAND SUPPLY INFORMATION
Supplies: We ask that reeds (see information below), valve oil, sticks, etc. be purchased individually. You may purchase these items directly from the Quinlan and Fabish Music Company or from any other e-retailer (Amazon, Woodwind and Brasswind, Libertyville Music (Deerfield Music)).
Reeds: The strength and quality of the reed that is being used by clarinets/saxophones/oboes and bassoons greatly effects the individual performance of the instrument. Too hard a reed can make playing very difficult and frustrating while too soft a reed can lead to similar problems and also poor sound. I am going to make some suggestions on brands and strengths as well as give the option of purchasing a plastic reed.
Students should be playing on strength 3 reeds (or medium). The 2 reeds brands that have good quality and consistency are Vandoren and Rico Royal. The Vandoren reeds are more expensive, but better overall for sound. 'You get what you pay for' with musical instruments and supplies.
Another option that has been working well for some students are plastic reeds by the company Legere. There is a chart that gives you the reed strength that you should purchase based on the strength of wood reed that is currently being played on. I will upload the chart(s) to Google Classroom and have them emailed home to you. These reeds can last a long time. They tend not to be cheap, but over the course of time they probably will pay for themselves. They also are easy to clean and take care of.
Please contact me if you have any questions.
Personal Repairs: these should be done through either your rental company, most likely Quinlan and Fabish or another local company. The instrument can be brought to school for a scheduled pick up or taken to the music store.
Please contact me if you need to borrow an instrument from the school or if you will be using a loaner from the music company.
School Instrument Repairs: Please contact me first if there is an issue. We use Quinlan Fabish for our repairs. The same method to get the instrument to repair shop should be followed as above. If you take it in yourself, let them know it is a school instrument and they will send an invoice to us.
School Instruments for Home Use: Please contact me if you need to use a school instrument at home this school year.