What are our "Open Rehearsals" exactly?

Over the past one and a half years since COVID-19 hit, when all the events were on hold, all the venues were quiet, and most everyone stayed home, we came together (6 feet apart) to practice and have a sense of normalcy in our lives. Our very own RB Anthony has arranged well over 150 new pieces for wind quintet during the course of the pandemic, and along with other arrangements we've procured we needed an outlet to have some fun, try out new pieces, and keep our sanity. Enter the "open rehearsal" where we have set up in parks around town, brought out new and favorite pieces of music, and invited our friends and families to some live entertainment - something which has been sorely lacking for a while now. 

Our rehearsals have taken us all over San Diego - we started with a few in Liberty Station, moved to Civita in Mission Valley, out east to Harry Griffen Park, stayed central in Balboa Park's Zoro Gardens, and most recently at Trolley Barn Park in University Heights. We bring our own stools, stands, and music - which is a lot easier now that we've transitioned to our new tablets to hold all of the arrangements within our library. 

The open rehearsals are fun for us, since they of course give us a chance to run music, see if there is anything RB needs to fix, and typically by the end of a two hour set we've come up with more arrangement requests for him to work on. Over the course of these rehearsals, we've gone through new arrangements of:

• Oldies covers like Rockin' Robin, Mrs. Robinson, 
• Broadway from Hamilton, Les Miserables, Phantom of the Opera, Fiddler on the Roof, etc...
• Movie themes from Pocahontas, Mulan, Willy Wonka, Scooby Doo, Wizard of Oz, etc
• Pop covers of Marry You, Billy Joel medleys, the Beach Boys, etc
• Patriotic tunes including the Marines Hymn, America the Beautiful, Yankee Doodle Dandy, etc

There are, of course, so many more categories and special types of arrangements, it would be difficult to put everything down in a blog post, but you're always welcome to check out our music library!

These open rehearsal aren't just great for us - but for the community as well. At each venue we've rehearsed at, we have invited the local community to come out and watch, bring a picnic, and enjoy the evening. We are well aware that entertainment has been scarce, so letting people relax safely while outside has been well received. We have so many kids that come out and get to learn about live music as well, it's been an education experience during a time when there just weren't many of those available. 

While we are now seeing many restrictions loosening up, more live music and performance available for people to go to, and while LCQ is also busier than ever performing at weddings that were rescheduled from last year, we still plan to do a few of these rehearsals for the community at parks or open space that is available. Keep on following us on Instagram and Facebook to learn when an upcoming "open rehearsal" is going to take place, we look forward to seeing you there!