Portland Megaband 2026
Rehearsal Report #2
January 25, 2026
Announcements:
Advance Admissions. Purchases are about to go live online. Let your friends and family know. Purchase at https://portlandmegaband.com. Advance admission helps the folks at the door streamline entrances and guarantees admission, even if the hall gets full.
T-Shirts. Doug Cummings will be heading up the t-shirt crew.
Conductor Signals. Photos of many of the signals are posted on our member page.
Harmonies are posted in the music part of the web site. Play them if you want to, we won’t focus on them until a later rehearsal.
MB swag (tote bags and mugs). If you are interested in purchasing a Megaband mug or tote bag, contact Norman Farrell, designedforlife@me.com , who has volunteered to coordinate these items this year. We will also have a sign-up sheet for swag and the next rehearsal.
Close-up help. At end of rehearsals, please help by closing the window blinds as well as all the other help you provide.
Mike Voss has been pretty ill, and there is a card for anyone so inclined to sign for him. [A recent update from Bonnie has the good news that Mike will be able to return home later this week. If you would like to contact Bonnie, her email is bonniev3@mac.com. She says that Mike may be able to respond to texts soon.]
The Music…
Baker’s Favorite / Gondolin / Baker’s Favorite
There was a question re whether the eighth note A at the end of measure A3 is tied to the eighth note A at the beginning of measure A4. These two notes are not tied.
Variation for when we come back to Baker’s after Gondolin, we will copy the Louie Louie (for lack of better term) riff that is on the recording mentioned earlier. We’ll work out just when and who will play that rhythm. Maybe everyone (except percussion who are needed playing straight to glue the whole thing together).
Switch Baker to Gond: Leave a little breath between the two tunes (respect the rest) and land well on the low A of Gondolin.
Switch Gond to Baker: Last time through Gondolin, the B2 ending, leave off the last three eighth notes to leave a hole. In other words, pop off that fifth eight note (D) to leave a hole in the last bar before returning to Baker’s.
Ending: We’ll work on that next time we visit this set.
Out on the Road / Rising Sun
We sang Out on the Road first to get the lilt and rhythm. Lift off notes to get the proper lift. Try lifting off notes at the top of runs or arpeggios.
Rising sun. We played it slowly as a hornpipe to get the swing installed properly. Use that technique at home practice as well; it’ll really help. Added horn parts. There may be changes to those.
Switch Road to Sun: Last time through Road, play the coda instead of the last line of the tune. That will transition into the cut time meter of Rising Sun. Note that the coda is in cut time rather than jig meter. To get to the coda, in the last bar before the coda, pop off the E quarter note, don’t play the eighth note, then land solidly on the coda for four bars. Backups play off-beats during the coda except for the rest toward the end.
Note…play the coda at the end of Road ONLY at the switch. That’s the one and only time to do the coda.
– Ending: In B2, bar B6 pop off the E eighth leaving the rest of the bar empty. Then on bar 8 land on that D quarter note, leave a breath, and end on a D chord in the imaginary added bar. Backups block chords for the ending.
Honeylocust / Bogan’s Reel
Remember to play the pickup notes to Honeylocust. Those lead in to the tune really nicely if we all play the with confidence and alacrity. And once we get to Bogan’s be ready to play out with similar confidence to start that tune. No wimpy playing. If that arpeggio at the start of Bogan’s is hard, just play an A note, or an E and an A. As long as it’s clear and strong.
Switch Honey to Bogan: Pop off the last D of Honey, then launch into Bogan’s strongly. There should be a little hole between the two tunes. Melody players, on just the first time through Bogan’s, replace the first bar’s first four eighth notes (that first arpeggio) with just an A or E quarter note, and land on it firmly and cleanly. After that, play the first bar as-written.
Ending: Last bar, just play the B and G# as quarter notes (omitting the A and B) then simply hold out that last A until the conductor drops from exhaustion.
Winchester March / Menage a Quatre / Caps in the Air
Play these marches nice and crisp.
Switch Winch to Menage: Pop off that E half note in the second ending of Winch to leave a small hole.
Switch Menage to Caps: Last time through Menage, just fiddles, bass, guitar and percussion play. Everyone else drop out the last time. Then everyone in on Caps and make it strong and luscious.
Ending: Leave a hole after popping off the A half note in B6. Then last bar, just two D notes with block chords.
Next Rehearsal: February 1st: Rehearsal #3
2:00 – 4:00 pm
Doughboy Rag / Old Joe
Fatal Bert / Rumblestrip
Kitchen Jig / Scatter the Mud (Am) / One-Horned Sheep
Pirate Cat / Old Wife Behind the Fire / Dance of the Demon Daffodils