Resa's Pieces Concert Band

CBC Radio's "The Sunday Edition" Features Resa's Pieces: "Watch My Stick, Please!"

What a terrific way to start a Sunday morning!

Alisa Siegel's documentary on Resa's Pieces was broadcast June 6th on CBC Radio's The Sunday Edition. The magic of radio did wonders for our little band. Thank you Alisa and the CBC for featuring our band to reawaken the music in all of us.

• The Sunday Edition: Watch My Stick, PLEASE!
  Includes a recording of the documentary and snapshots of the band.

• If you're having trouble with the CBC's audio stream, use the following link

Resa's Pieces on CBC Radio's The Sunday Edition June 6, 2010 10am

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Do you play a string instrument - Resa's Pieces Strings is starting September 2010!

FROM CBC LISTENERS - COAST TO COAST...

Just finished hearing your broadcast and I have tears running down my cheeks. What a moving portrait of your work that CBC doc is! Done with respect, affection and enthusiasm, just as all your "Pieces" demonstrate: mutual respect, affection and enthusiasm. I can't tell you how proud we both are of you. You are doing really, really important work! —CM

I so enjoyed the piece on CBC Radio this past Sunday which gave we listeners a bit of an idea about your marvelous band and great conductor who knew that there were performers out in the community who just needed a venue and some encouragement to get those instruments back out and play!

Having been fortunate to grow up in a musical family with my father a physiotherapist whose first love was his music, I know how life giving and life preserving the ability to play music and bring such joy to others, can result in longer and happier lives for many.   My father was in his nineties when he died and although arthritis plagued his joints, he continued to play - sax and clarinet and flute and ...violin and whatever else one placed in his hands.  Actually listening to Harry and to Al brought back some keen memories of conversations we had shared as Dad was getting younger and me older.

Journey on! Godspeed, and have a great time doing what obviously brings you so much joy.

I will be with you in spirit from my home in Kentville, Nova Scotia imagining you playing your encore piece, Colonel Bogey's March.

Kindest regards —JB, Nova Scotia

Greetings Resa~

I just happened to turn on the radio as the interview of your orchestra was unfolding. It was truly touching and delightful.  Kudos on creating this wonderful opportunity for others.  As a continuing education arts instructor, I see the joy each week in my classes - their struggles, their persistence, the social aspect, but most of all the accomplishment in their painting and ideas and the great joy it truly brings. In 99% of all cases, these are threads they are picking up after a long hiatus.

What a valuable and joyful situation you have created.

I look forward to catching one of your concerts at some point !!!

Best —GB, Ancaster, ON

Resa's Pieces and RP Strings in Whole Note, Again

This time with a spoiler alert on the upcoming CBC documentary... Stay Tuned...

(click to enlarge)

CJN News Eye on Arts May 2010

Download CJN Eye On Arts Write up on Resa's Pieces May 6th

Jewish Tribune Features Resa's Pieces at Baycrest

Here's a really nice write up in the Jewish Tribune. There are some nice stories of how members of the band found Resa's Pieces as well as kudos to our own Al Fitleberg.

Download Original Article from Jewish Tribune on Baycrest March 200 concert

Baycrest Concert - March 1, 2009

What a concert! Resa's Pieces played their hearts out in snappy, black-on-black outfits to a standing (and sitting) audience at the Baycrest Retirement Home this past Sunday, March 1 2009. The whole concert lasted over an hour and a half featuring a klezmer break from KlezConnection. The audience was excited to see us again, as we were here in several previous years. Most of the audience were the elderly who are living in the home along with their loved ones listening to a concert together on a bitterly cold February Sunday afternoon. What could be better?

We played new selections including some of our new big band numbers, and received wonderful ovations. Reas received compliments about how we played. We're invited back again soon, and that's always a good thing.

After we played several songs, KlezConnection played some great klezmer as well as had a few of the Resa's Pieces members feature their singing and playing chops. Al Fitleberg hammed it up as always and their rendition of "By meer bis du schoen" was amazing.

Here are some pictures and videos of the successful gig at Baycrest.

Resa's Pieces in the Canadian Jewish News

Resa's Pieces is featured in an article of the December 4 2008 issue of the Canadian Jewish News. We've taken all measures to include page 49 out of the electronic edition for you to read and pass along to all your friends.

It's nice to have 15 minutes of fame isn't it?

Enjoy the article by downloading it and opening it in Adobe Acrobat (if you don't have Adobe Acrobat you can download it for free).

Whole Note article on Resa's Pieces

From http://thewholenote.com/wholenote/band_win.html

Band Stands (& Podiums)
Four of a kind?

by Jack MacQuarrie

For some years now the BandStand column in WholeNote has striven to serve one particular segment of the music community. It has been our goal to provide timely information for both performing groups and their audiences. In our musings over the summer break we have had time to reflect on our coverage and contemplate how we might better serve our constituency in the months ahead. That lead us to the need to define our community.

Since its inception, BandStand has focused almost exclusively on the activities of community concert bands and their all brass counterparts. But what about community symphony orchestras and the many other instrumental groups active in our area? While their numbers have grown significantly in recent years, they have not had the voice they deserve in this column.

As a preliminary step, I pulled four diverse instrumental organizations from the hat, so to speak, in order to reflect on the ways their philosophies and activities are similar and the ways in which they differ. From the band side we picked Milton Concert Band and The Koffler Concert Band (aka Resa’s Pieces, after director/founder Resa Kochberg); from the orchestral side, Orchestra Toronto and The North York Concert Orchestra.