Logistics Meetings in London - Part 2

Meetings in London continued today, with a full slate of planning and instructions for the band directors who are bringing musicians to the 2019 LNYDP. 

In the morning we visited several concert halls that will host the London New Year's Festival "Music for London" gala concert series. I learned today that the DGN Wind Ensemble has been officially scheduled for the December 29th concert to be held at Cadogan Hall.  I am very excited about this because it is the same hall that our school played in 2010-11. This beautiful venue has a tremendous acoustic, and I was reminded of that this morning as I had the opportunity to hear a professional chamber ensemble doing a rehearsal on stage. Cadogan Hall is the home of the London's Royal Philharmonic Orchestra.



Following the tour of the concert venues, the band directors were led through a detailed walk of the parade route, and given very specific instructions about how the bands are to stage (pre-parade), move through the various turns, and finally how the TV Zone performance will be coordinated for a global TV audience that will reach hundreds of millions of spectators all over the world.  

Do you know the famous song, 'A Nightingale Sang In Berkeley Square?' It has been performed by many famous singers over the decades. I think my two favorite versions are Nat King Cole's, and the vocal ensemble Manhattan Transfer. Well, this is where the bands will line up on New Year's Day! (Here's a little history about the song, if you're interested.) We will also have our official photograph staged in this square before we step off for the parade performance.  

From Berkeley Square the band will move toward the Ritz Hotel, and then travel down the major boulevard toward Piccadilly Circus. From there we will turn down Waterloo Place and head toward the Guards Crimean War Memorial. 

Then on to the famous Trafalgar Square where thousands will watch the band make a turn toward the Houses of Parliament. (No, I'm not listening to music with earbuds; I am listening to the parade logistics director talk to our group through a "whisper guide," that allowed everyone in our group to hear him over the loud city traffic!)

Yesterday, when we took a bus tour of London, the guide shared this thought with the band directors: "It would be brilliant for you to manage your student's expectations about 'Big Ben' so they are not disappointed when they arrive in December." First, I love it when Brits use of the word "brilliant" instead of "smart." (I'm sure you will hear this repeatedly when you travel on the tour.) His point was that Big Ben, and portions of the Houses of Parliament, are undergoing major restorations that are long overdue. I was reminded of this today, as we walked down the parade route on Whitehall. Here is a picture of what Big Ben currently looks like:

So, you have been warned (and I am 'brilliant'!). Big Ben will not be your best photo-op for selfies on tour. But fear not, there are dozens of iconic/historical vistas that await you!

We concluded our parade walk in the TV Zone area, and we were given specific instructions about the set up of the grandstands, the dimensions of the performance area, and how the band is to coordinate the performance in this area. 

Click Here to view the parade route.

After a brief lunch break, I attended a four-hour planning meeting that consisted of round-table conversations with multiple stakeholders who will ensure the success of the LNYDP, and our tour:

• Concert Productions Team: This group manages the gala concert series as well as the musical performance aspect of the parade. We discussed literature, personnel numbers, instrumentation, percussion & harp rentals, and music timings. 
• Equipment & Transportation Team: Coordinating the shipment of our instruments and uniforms to England, and back.
• Group Organizer's Team: This group coordinates the placement of our "Tour Assistant." This person will be with us at all times, at the hotel, and coordinating our movement through every aspect of the itinerary
• Audio Walks: I met with the company that developed special digital audio guides that we will use during our tour.
• Communications / Web & Social Media: This group manages the worldwide distribution of the television broadcast, as well as the Social Media channels.
• Health and Safety: The LNYDP has outstanding plans in place to care for the welfare of all parade participants during their stay in London. These were reviewed in detail today. 
• International Transportation: I met with the woman who is coordinating our flights to and from London, and learned exactly which pieces of information she will need from us, and on what timetable, to be able to issue tickets. Our band is so large that we will need to be divided into at least two, if not three, different flights groups. 
• Itinerary: My final meeting was with the team that coordinates our itinerary, taking into account the special requests we have made for the tour. We covered the plan for each and every minute of our week in London, including menus, tours, ticketed events, and procedures for traveling throughout the city.

Logistics Meetings in London - Part 1

Greetings DGN Band families, and future world-travelers! This is Mr. Teague, reporting from London, where I am attending a series of meetings this week relative to our upcoming tour and performances in the London New Year's Day Parade Festival. 

This morning we met with the head of the Blue Badge Guides that will coordinate our tours of the city in late December. I am confident that our students will receive a first-class experience as they experience this great city. 

In the afternoon I had meetings with management of The Cumberland Hotel, which will be our home base for the duration of our stay. I was joined in these meetings by the Executive Director of the parade, as well as a music teacher from California. His band will also stay at The Cumberland. 

The Cumberland is a beautiful property, and located right in the heart of central London (Oxford Street). The rooms have just undergone a renovation, and are beautifully appointed. The room pictured in this post was the largest of the four rooms I've been shown. Many of our students will stay in "doubles," but in a room like this one the hotel will likely add a third bed to make the space a "triple." 

A very nice upgrade in the recent room renovation was the addition of electrical outlets that have direct USB ports. This makes charging phones and tablets super-easy, and limits the need to even bring converters on the trip. I also learned that every traveler in our band will have access to complimentary Wi-Fi in the hotel, which may eliminate the need for families to purchase international mobile phone plans. (We will discuss tech & communication recommendations in more detail next fall.)

Our hotel, The Cumberland, is a beautiful building with a long history in the city. However it has recently been purchased by Hard Rock Hotels, and will be re-branded as such in April of 2019. For those of you who are rock-n-roll fans or enjoy rock-music history, you might appreciate this fun fact: Room 5001 (overlooking Oxford Street) was the location of guitarist Jimi Hendrix final interview, within a week of his death. Hendrix was a frequent guest at this hotel. 

I am very pleased with the outcome of the meetings today. In addition to understanding the layout of the hotel and room configurations, I was shown all of the facilities that our band will use during our stay (rooms for instrument storage, the dining rooms, the ballroom where we will celebrate New Year's Eve, etc.).