Fall 2020 Program
For BYSO’s Fall 2020 Online Program, Premiere Orchestra musicians are placed into 3 small ensembles – Premiere Flute Ensemble, Premiere Strings Blue, and Premiere Strings Red. (For Premiere/Sinfonia Wind Ensemble, visit this page.)
All rehearsals are held on Monday evenings via Zoom. Musicians are expected to be prepared and logged in to rehearsal 15 minutes prior to start time. Cameras must be kept ON for the entire duration of the rehearsal session.
| BYSO Fall 2020 Small Ensemble Schedule |
| Ensemble Name |
Director |
Rehearsal Time |
| Premiere Flute Ensemble |
Na Young Ham |
6:45 – 7:45 PM |
| Premiere Strings Blue |
David Drassal |
7:30 – 8:30 PM |
| Premiere Strings Red |
David Drassal |
6:15 – 7:15 PM |
About
Premiere Orchestra is an intermediate orchestra in the Bellevue Youth Symphony Orchestra organization. The typical Premiere Orchestra student has had some private instruction and school ensemble experience and is working to improve technical proficiency.
Premiere Orchestra introduces young musicians to full orchestral instrumentation (strings, woodwinds, brass, and percussion) with repertoire that appropriately challenges their experience level. Past works performed include Brahms’s Hungarian Dances 5 & 6, Vaughan Williams’s Rhosymedre, and Mendelssohn’s Sinfonia No. 7 in D minor.
Conductor: David Drassal
David Drassal holds a Master's and Bachelor's degree in Music Education from Central Washington University. Mr. Drassal currently teaches orchestra at Tyee Middle School in the Bellevue School District. Learn more.
Contact David Drassal at premiere@byso.org
Messages from the Conductor
Welcome to Premiere String Ensembles- Fall 2020
Premiere Red Ensemble- Mondays 6:15-7:15
Premiere Blue Ensemble- Mondays 7:30-8:30
We will be working on an arrangement of Vivaldi’s Allegro in D Major by Fackenpohl
November 10, 2020:
Great work learning your parts for this challenging piece! The next step is to line everything up with a metronome. You now all have access to Smart Music, so please use this as a practice tool. You can even record into the software to have it show you how accurately you are performing each section of the music.
Next Monday we will be playing through each section of the piece and recording it in chunks. Please come with your part all ready to put together with the rest of the musicians at quarter note = 96. That is our performance tempo.
I am looking forward to hearing and seeing your progress next Monday evening. Have a great week!
Mr. Drassal
October 27, 2020:
Great work last night! Thank you for your continued work on Baroque bowing style and for your diligence in practicing with a metronome. That is going to help us immensely as we start to work on ensemble and recording our parts.
Next Monday we will focus on the A major section- from rehearsal D to rehearsal F. Please come ready to perform small sections of that just like we did last night. Feel free to change the fingerings if there are any that do not work for you. Email me if you have any questions about the music or if you need clarification or guidance on any of the information. Looking forward to seeing you all next Monday night!
Mr. Drassal
Message from October 20, 2020:
Good morning, BYSO premiere musicians. Thank you for your work last night and your patience as we work out the small tech issues as we begin the quarter. I am very optimistic about our work together this fall and it has been great seeing and hearing you all at our Monday rehearsals.
Next Monday, October 26, we will stay in the Zoom meeting for the duration of our rehearsal. We will be doing a fair amount of call and response as we continue our work on Baroque bowing styles. Please spend time this week practicing up to letter E in your music with a metronome. Our ability to line up all of our rhythms to a steady pulse will be crucial as we begin recording and rehearsing our music together. Your target pulse is quarter note = 96. Please have a metronome with you at our rehearsal next Monday evening. I would like to hear each of you play small sections of your music with your metronome.
Let me know if you have any questions about the music or if you need any help with the technology that we are using. Thank you for your diligent home practice this week. See you next Monday evening!
Mr. Drassal
