Garrett Bands Winter Concert II May 13, 2021 - Featuring: GMS 6th Grade Band GMS 7 & 8th Grade Band GHS Concert Band Scan for an online program
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Garrett Bands Winter Concert II
May 13, 2021
Featuring:
GMS 6th Grade Band
GMS 7 & 8th Grade Band
GHS Concert Band
Scan for an online program:6th Grade Band
Selections from Essential Elements, Book 1
#56 – Old Macdonald Had a Band
#58 – Hard Rock Blues
#62 – Camptown Races
#71 – Chiapanecas (Mexican Clapping Song)
#75 – Basic Blues
Gallant March Michael Sweeney (b. 1952)
7/8th Grade Band
Ash & Stone Tyler S. Grant (b. 1995)
Psalm 42 Samuel R. Hazo (b. 1966)
Bartok: Folk Trilogy Anne McGinty (b. 1945)
GHS Concert Band
The Liberty Bell John Philip Sousa (1854 – 1932)
On a Hymnsong of Philip Bliss David R. Holsinger (b. 1945)
The Raptor Rides the Whale Andrew David Perkins (b. 1978)6th Grade Band Members
Flute Trumpet Trombone
Sebastian Aguilar Lily Bush Logan Griffith
Anna Griffin Ethan Van Buskirk
Alto Saxophone Charlotte Lemen
Brian Ellis Baritone
Keagen Peck Aubryha Maggert
Percussion
Dante Maslin
7/8th Grade Band Members
Flute Tuba
Landon Best French Horn Daniel Sanchez
Abigail Carlson Korbin Restle Paul Swonger
Clarinet Trumpet Baritone
Isaac Allen Sophia Boltz Nolan Wood
Zapphora Burgo Rhianna Leighty Ryan Kochendorfer
Michelle Sanchez Brayden Robertson
Alivia Stickler Percussion
Abigail Thomas Trombone Evan Kelham
Wesley Blaker Lane Kennedy
Saxophone Andrew Kelham Tatum Lockhart
Jose Fuentes Sydney Suelzer Krystana Nungester
Klarissa Stalter, bari Avery Sprunger
Shelby Wells Landen WerkheiserGHS Concert Band Members
Flute Saxophones Trombones
Kirsten Kelham* Carson Culler, tenor Dylan Andrews
Rachael Kilgore Cyrus Fredrick, bari Micah Carlson
Tori Perkins Landon Handshoe, alto Addison Koble*
Teagan Koble, alto Ethan Sheffield
Clarinet Mikayla Taylor*, alto
Arionna Gordon Percussion
Danielle Kilgore, bass French Horn Logan Borns
Victoria Sheffield Olivia Chappell Michael Ellis
Darian Simmons Lucas McFall Grace Haaser
Braden Koble
Trumpets
Katie Blessinger *- denotes senior
Cameron Terry*
Cierra Wilcoxson*Program Notes Selections from Essential Elements, Book 1, various composers The Essential Elements books have been a staple for band programs throughout the country as a method book for beginners. These books are utilized as resources and learning tools for students. Through these books, students learn popular folk songs (like Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star) and other songs that they will be familiar with as a collective before branching out into different, more complex parts as they become independent. The selections being performed this evening are a combination of these folk songs and popular classical tunes. Through this most recent cycle leading up to this concert, we were able to dive into more independence of parts in “Old Macdonald Had a Band”, and learn more about playing cultural styles in “Chiapanecas”, as well as start to read accidentals in “Basic Blues”. Gallant March by Michael Sweeney Michael Sweeney is an avid composer of band music, born in 1952, and is currently the Director of Band Publications with Hal Leonard. A graduate of IU (Bloomington), Sweeney also has experience as a band director in Indiana and Ohio teaching all levels from elementary to high school. Sweeney is known for his award-winning compositions in Ancient Voices and Imperium, which are recognized in the venerable Teaching Music Through Performance in Band books. Ash & Stone by Tyler S. Grant From the composer’s website: Tyler S. Grant (b. June 23, 1995) is an Atlanta-based composer of music for concert bands, marching bands and chamber groups; many of which have been performed around the world and by musicians of all levels. His works for wind band have been found on Editor’s Choice lists from various international music distributors. His work Panoramic Fanfare was named a winner in the 2014 “Call for Fanfares” Competition hosted by the Dallas Wind Symphony which has since been performed by collegiate and professional ensembles across North America and Europe. Notable performance venues of his work include The Midwest Clinic, Carnegie Hall, Meyerson Symphony Center (Dallas), The Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, and numerous state-wide, national, and international music conventions. In addition to his writing, Tyler enjoys conducting and clinic engagements with ensembles throughout the country. He has contributed interviews to articles in School Band & Orchestra Magazine, The Instrumentalist, and was recently a contributing author in Alfred Music Publishing Company’s Sound Innovations: Ensemble Development series. Tyler is a graduate of the University of Alabama where he holds a degree in instrumental music education. He currently resides in Atlanta, Georgia where he is on the music faculty at Holy Innocents’ Episcopal School and maintains an active composing and conducting schedule. Ash & Stone is a work commissioned by a consortium of bands around the U.S. In it, Grant attempts to depict essentially the planet’s continually changing land formations. Picture volcanic eruptions, earthquakes, and other types of natural phenomenon that occur. These displays of utter power can be terrifying and shattering to civilizations, but at a fundamental level can be a wondrous display of the power of our planet’s change throughout time. This piece “juxtaposes the portrayal of shifting tectonic plates and erupting magma with the depictions of the awe and majesty of Mother Earth”.
Psalm 42 by Samuel R. Hazo
Samuel Hazo currently resides in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania with his wife and children. Hazo is a
very well-known composer, with performance credits by ensembles like the Tokyo Kosei Wind
Orchestra, Birmingham Symphonic Winds, and the Klavier Wind Project, as well as his works
being performed in the 2012 Summer Olympic Games. Hazo was the first to win both awards
recognized by the National Band Association in 2003. Hazo was most recently honored to have
been asked to compose a work in remembrance of those lost in the shooting at the Sandy Hook
Elementary School, which resulted in a massive work for Choir, Orchestra, and Band.
Psalm 42 is similar in its inspiration, in that it is a work out of a direct response to Hazo’s
relationship with his student’s family and a tragic event that occurred. From the composer:
Psalm 42 is dedicated to the McCurrie family of Upper St. Clair, Pennsylvania. I so
admired this family’s faith and strength, that I felt compelled to arrange this chorale for
them. As a teacher, I often get to see children and their families at the most joyous as well
as the most devastating times in their lives. An unfortunate example of the latter was when
I attended five-year-old Gregory McCurrie’s funeral mass in 2002.
Gregory was born with a condition called “Deletion 13-Q Syndrome.” Even though it was
an unrelated heart condition that caused his passing at age 5, Deletion 13-Q made him
completely reliant on others for even for the simplest of physical tasks or communication. I
taught trumpet to his three older brothers, and had gotten to know the family through their
involvement in band. Every time I saw Mrs. McCurrie at the school, she always had
Gregory in her arms. Even as he aged, his growing body never seemed heavy to her. It
always seemed that her love for him provided her with an admirable and unflinching
strength that only mothers have.
Watching the McCurrie family raise Greg with an unfathomable number of challenges,
and finally sharing in their grief at his funeral, provided me with the opportunity to see
people whose sense of love and faith were most deserving of admiration.
At Gregory’s funeral mass, the first selection the congregation was asked to sing was
Psalm 42. I kept the melody in my head the whole way back to work, where I scored this
arrangement. Two of his brothers, who were in our school band, played this for the first
time in our winter concert. It is a tribute to Gregory’s memory, and to the unconditional
love he gave, and that his brothers, sister, and parents returned in abundance.
Bartok: Folk Trilogy by Anne McGinty
Anne McGinty is certainly set apart for being one of the most prolific women composers for the
concert band of our time. Writing for beginners to advanced level musicians, McGinty is known
for writing accessible, yet quality educational music. Outside of her time composing, McGinty is a
known flutist. Also, she formed a music publishing company titled Queenwood Publications along
with her husband, John Edmonson.
Bartok: Folk Trilogy is a tribute to the composer Bela Bartok, and the contributions to collecting,
conserving, and arranging Slavonic folk songs. McGinty uses familiar Slavonic folk song melodies
for an energetic piece of music that involves mixed-meters, polychords, and advanced rhythmic
ideas. The end is sure to be a fun time played by the whole ensemble!The Liberty Bell by John Philip Sousa
John Philip Sousa grew up with the Marine Band, as he was born near the Marine Barracks in
1854 where his father was a Marine Band musician. Sousa grew up with an intimate knowledge
of the marine band, where he would later use this to his advantage to bring the Marine Band to
an unprecedented level of excellence, earning the title “March King”. At a young age, Sousa
began studying the piano, violin, and music theory in a private conservatory while in his normal
studies in Washington, DC. After playing with the Marine Band and then being discharged for a
short time, Sousa accepted the 17th leadership position of the U.S. Marine Band in 1880. Notable
compositions by John Philip Sousa include Stars and Stripes Forever, The Washington Post, Semper
Fidelis, among many others.
The Liberty Bell is a composition of a great amount of coincidence. The story goes that Sousa was
going to utilize this piece in an upcoming operetta of Francis Wilson, but was not offered enough
money for the commission. Sousa held out on his composition, and later used it to commemorate his
son marching in his first parade in Philadelphia. This parade was honoring the Liberty Bell, which
had just returned from a tour. Further coincidence from the composition includes that allegedly
Sousa requested to utilize a melody of Sousa’s first soprano, Marcella Lindh after hearing her
whistle it in passing.
Fun fact: The Liberty Bell was the longtime theme song to the famous Monty Python’s Flying Circus
because “the troupe thought it would not be associated with the program's content, and that the
first bell strike and subsequent melody would give the impression of getting "straight down to
business."
On a Hymnsong of Philip Bliss by David R. Holsinger
Currently, David Holsinger is the Director of the Lee University Wind Ensemble in Cleveland,
Tennessee. He served a great 15 years as composer-in-residence at Shady Grove Church in
Grand Prairie, Texas prior to where he is now. Holsinger was born in 1945 in Missouri, where he
also attended Central Methodist College, and Central Missouri State University. He later moved
on to the University of Kansas, Lawrence. Holsinger is an award winning composer, and an
elected member of the American Bandmasters Association. Holsinger’s compositions have earned
a great amount of clout in the music education realm, with On a Hymnsong of Philip Bliss being one
of the most recognizable and relevant.
The composer’s notes about the music do justice to the relevance of this piece of music and how
easily it displays the emotions it is attempting to portray:
Horatio G. Spafford, a Chicago Presbyterian layman and successful businessman, planned
a European trip for his family in 1873. In November of that year, due to unexpected last
minute business developments, he had to remain in Chicago; but he sent his wife and four
daughters on ahead as scheduled aboard the S.S. Ville du Havre. He expected to follow
in a few days. On November 22, the ship was struck by the Lochearn, an English vessel,
and sank in twelve minutes. Several days later the survivors were finally landed in
Cardiff, Wales, and Mrs. Spafford cabled her husband, “Saved alone.” Shortly
afterward, Spafford left by ship to join his bereaved wife.It is speculated that on the sea near the area where it was thought his four daughters had
drowned, Spafford penned this text with words so significantly describing his own
personal grief, “When sorrows like sea billows roll...” It is noteworthy, however, that
Spafford does not dwell on the theme of life’s sorrows and trials, but focuses attention in
the third stanza on the redemptive work of Christ. Humanly speaking, it is amazing that
one could experience such personal tragedy and sorrow as did Horatio Spafford and still
be able to say with such convincing clarity, “It is well with my soul...”
Hymnwriter Philip Bliss was so impressed with the experience and expression of Spafford’s
text that he shortly wrote the music for it, first published in 1876. Bliss was a prolific writer
of gospel songs throughout his brief lifetime, and in most cases he wrote both the words
and the music. This hymn is one of the few exceptions.
There is speculation that this was perhaps the last gospel song written by Bliss. Bliss and his
wife, Lucy, were killed in a train wreck in Ashtabula, Ohio, on December 29, 1876. Most
sources mention that Bliss actually escaped from the flames first, but was then killed when
he went back into the train to try to rescue is wife. Neither body was ever found.
As a postscript, Bliss’s trunk was salvaged from the wreckage, and in it, evangelist D. W.
Whittle found an unfinished hymn, which began, “I know not what awaits me, God kindly
veils my eyes...”
The Raptor Rides the Whale by Andrew David Perkins
Andrew David Perkins is an ASCAP Plus Award recipient and a GRAMMY nominated music
educator, conductor, and composer. He currently is the Director of Instrumental Music and Music
Technology at Fenton High School in Fenton, Michigan, where he is also the Music Director and
Conductor of the Fenton Community Orchestra. Perkins is a clinician nationally and abroad, and
really enjoys writing music for younger musicians. Recent commissions include the Flint Youth
Symphony Orchestra, and the Conservatoire de Limonest, among others.
As a note on this specific composer and work, it was an absolute joy to work on in preparation for
this performance. The High School Concert Band had the pleasure to rehearse with Perkins over a
Google Meet, where Perkins gave really valuable feedback on how we were performing the
music and even got to tweak some things to help us understand the music better. Additionally,
there was a great Q&A session with the composer that students got to hear and connect more with
the composer, learning about inspirations for this specific piece of music. It is so wonderful to see
students better able to connect with music by relating to someone who wrote something significant.
Relating to these composers and understanding that they are all human is such a great tool to
furthering the love of music.
The Raptor Rides the Whale is a driving, aggressive piece of music that is meant to depict a
specific work of art by the artist, Stirling Prentice aka Winged Beast (see below for the artwork).
Perkins intended this piece as a “metaphoric manifestation of the imagined melee between these
two iconic creatures”. To help the listener better understand the relationship of this battle, the
composer uses some extended techniques and mallets in the percussion (the featured section of
this piece) to create some really unique sound effects. Interestingly, there is not a deeper level to
the significance of this piece of music other than its connection to the art as well as that it just
sounds really cool. Even the artist, when asked by the composer on his inspiration said “I don’tknow. I thought it would just look cool.” From the composer, “Perhaps, like a discarded chapter from a Michael Crichton novel, the outcome of this improbable rendezvous would be best left to our imaginations. I humbly offer the soundtrack.” Art Credit to Stirling Prentice aka Winged Beast. Photo from the composer’s website.
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