Wind Ensemble Tours Overseas By Keith Davis Will our hair dryers convert? "That's a question I've been hearing a lot lately," music school admissions coordinator Graham Stewart said four days before the Ithaca College Wind Ensemble left for a week-long tour of England and Ireland. "A lot of the musicians are wondering if their 110-volt hair dryers will work on the 220-volt standard in Britain." The solution? "We made some phone calls and found out one of the hotels can handle 110," Stewart said. "But some of the other hotels can't, so we're telling people it's probably better to buy a cheap hair dryer when they get over there. That'll probably be less expensive than buying a voltage converter." A minor issue? Maybe. But it has been one of many logistical challenges Stewart has faced in planning an overseas tour by a 59-member group. Will the synthesizer scheduled to be used in one of the performances in Ireland also pose voltage conversion problems? Does everyone have up-to-date passports? Are the hotel reservations confirmed? Are the performance venues set? Does everyone have a plane ticket? (A week before the group was scheduled to leave, the packet with the tickets arrived-without a ticket for music school dean Arthur Ostrander. Overnight mail to the rescue.) "We found out," Ostrander said, "that you can't assume anything." As a result, the last several months have been a time of increasingly intense preparation. The musicians who auditioned for the tour were selected in May so they could spend the summer learning the music. Then, the Monday after classes started, daily rehearsals began. Meanwhile, Ostrander and Stewart stayed in contact with music school staff, faculty members, the staff at the London Center, and tour company representatives. "Things certainly stepped up over the summer," Ostrander said. "But really, we've been getting ready for this tour for the last two years because that's when the invitation came." The invitation was from the British Association of Symphonic Bands and Wind Ensembles (BASBWE), which each year invites a group from the United States to represent the country at the BASBWE conference in Canterbury. The conference will feature concerts, clinics, exhibits, and workshops by and for teachers, players, conductors, and composers of wind music, including master classes held by Ithaca College faculty members Gordon Stout, Steven Mauk, and Dana Wilson. "A lot of the groundwork for this tour was laid some time ago by [conductor] Rodney Winther," Ostrander added. "He was on sabbatic last spring and was actually in England and was able to line up the hotels and performing venues." Though the groundwork was an important first step, a lot of crucial details kept popping up. For example, will music stands be available at the performing venues or will the performers have to bring their own? As it turned out, no more than 20 stands were available at the sites, which meant the musicians would have to bring their own folding stands from Ithaca. That was no minor concern when the most important thing to keep in mind was traveling light. "Will it fit?" Stewart said. "That's probably the most important question we had to keep asking ourselves. Will it fit?" The instruments, for example; will they fit into the buses? To answer that, each musician had to list his or her instrument and its dimensions in inches. On paper, the numbers looked fine, but when Ostrander and Stewart actually checked the bay of the bus that would take the group from the College to JFK International in New York, they found the percussion cases lacked a few critical inches of clearance. Suddenly an extra vehicle was needed. Another concern was whether the musicians would fit into the vehicles. In England, yes; a double-decker bus would have room for 70 passengers, and a second vehicle could carry the instruments. But in Ireland, where there are no double-decker buses and regular coaches only seat 47, a second coach had to be booked. To make the fit even snugger, the musicians were limited to one piece of carry-on luggage, one bag they could check, and their instruments. Though the tour has the potential to be somewhat confining physically, it also promises to broaden experiences and widen horizons. "This tour is a thrilling experience to offer a young musician," Ostrander said. "It's one thing to prepare for an audience in your own country, it's quite something else to perform at top venues in England and Ireland. This is truly an outstanding performing ensemble, and to be an ambassador for your College and your country is something that doesn't happen every day. I can't think of any greater reward for all this preparation than that."

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