PROGRAM NOTES
Portrait of a Graduate
Dr. Sthitadhi Chakraborty
Loyal School of Medicine
WVHS Bands, Class of 2015
My amazing experience in the music program at Waubonsie Valley set the foundation for cultivating my abilities in communication. I would not be where I am today in fulfilling my dream to become a doctor without them. During my years in marching band, I learned that our success was highly attributed to our tight-knit community and the student leadership. The rewarding experience of being drum major meant taking on a multitude of roles, such as reflecting the band’s collective vision, motivating the band, and serving the needs of both the individuals and the group.
To this day, I carry the lessons I learned in communication as a drum major with me and they have helped me in the variety of enriching experiences I had in college. From being a residential advisor for sophomore students in the dorms, an undergraduate research assistant at a neurology lab, and even the president of our university’s own student-led pep band, communication proved to be a vital skill in furthering myself and my abilities. I am currently in medical school at the Loyola University Chicago Stritch School of Medicine and communication is a core component of our education.
My experience in the Waubonsie Valley music program changed the way I perceived communication and it became a valuable tool for personal growth and contribution to the community.
Concert Band
Tricycle
by Andrew Boysen, Jr.
Tricycle was commissioned by the Northshore Schools, District 112 (Ill.) for the inauguration A--City Band Festival. Directors of the participating schools were Mike Brehmer, Dennis Runyon, Steve Zachar, and Glenn Williams.
The title of the work refers to both the structure of the piece and the event for which it was commissioned. The All-City Band Festival involves three schools performing and working together as one, much as all three wheels of the tricycle must work together to move forward. The music reflects this idea by having three separate themes introduced on their own before finally being combined to work together as one musical entity. The title is even more appropriate considering the playful and innocent qualities of the piece as a whole. Tricycle is a piece that is meant to be light, fun, and happy.
-notes by the composer
Stormbreak
by Jim Casella
Stormbreak was written as a sequel of sorts to Technology, another moderately simple piece for percussion octet that has since become quite popular for beginning-level percussion ensembles. Opening with nature-effect sounds, the storm breaks into a rhythmic “tip of the hat” to Technology on the rim of the snare drum. As rhythmic layers add in, the syncopated motif of Stormbreak becomes clear and continues to drive the piece throughout.
-notes by the composer
Simple Gifts
by Frank Ticheli
Frank Ticheli explains in the original program notes, "My work is built from four Shaker melodies - a sensuous nature song, a lively dance tune, a tender lullaby, and most famously, "Simple Gifts," the hymn that celebrates the Shaker's love of simplicity and humility. In setting these songs, I sought subtle ways to preserve their simple, straightforward beauty. Melodic freshness and interest were achieved primarily through variations of harmony, of texture, and especially, of orchestration."
Frank Ticheli goes on to state, "The third movement is based on a Shaker lullaby, 'Here Take This Lovely Flower,' found in Dorothy Berliner Commin's extraordinary collection, Lullabies of the World and in Daniel W. Patterson's monumental collection, The Shaker Spiritual. This song is an example of the phenomenon of the gift song, music received from spirits by Shaker mediums while in trance (see pp. 316 in Patterson, op cit., for a detailed account, and also Harold E. Cook's Shaker Music: A Manifestation of American Folk Culture, pp. 52). Although the Shakers practiced celibacy, there were many children in their communities, including the children of recent converts as well as orphans whom they took in. Like many Shaker songs, this lullaby embodies the Shakers' ideal of childlike simplicity."
-notes by the composer
Symphonic Band
Prairie Songs
by Pierre La Plante
Prairie Songs is based on two songs from the Midwest. These songs were sung and known in Wisconsin and, therefore, seem appropriate for a piece celebrating the state's sesquicentennial (1848-1998).
The Pinery Boy, from the Eau Claire region of Wisconsin, is used in the opening section of Prairie Songs. The song tells the story of a young girl who set out in search of her lover, a raftsman working on the river. Her search ends when she learns from the captain that her lover has perished in the river. The young lady returns home and dies of a broken heart. Despite the tragic, and at times melodramatic nature of the verse, the melody is broad and expansive in scope (an octave plus three notes). The setting of this tune in Prairie Songs is intended to convey a feeling of grandeur and beauty of the (land before time).
The second section of the piece quotes "The Turkey Song" which some authorities believe originated in Kentucky and moved west with the settlers. It is found in various collections of childrens' folksongs, including those of Pete Seeger and Jill Trinka.
Common melodic patterns between the two songs make them sound as though they are related. The two themes are presented concurrently in the maestoso section just prior to the coda (allegro).
-notes by the composer
America Verses
by Timothy Broege
America Verses charts an expressive/emotional ascent and descent. After the somber opening verse, the music takes on more movement in verse 2 while remaining serious in character. In verse 3, however, the music becomes playful, even jaunty, rising to a "grand cakewalk," (typically found in ragtime music). A transition passage returns the mood to one of somber reflection, in verse 4. The concluding measures are marked "prayerfully," and the harmony is not resolved until the concluding notes of the chimes are sounded.
What is America Verses about? It is obvious that this is not a conventionally celebratory piece of music. Surely at the end of the twentieth century the need for tub-thumping patriotic music is decidedly less than it was a hundred years ago. The history of America is complex, to say the least, and the joys and sorrows of American life are equally complex. There has been much to celebrate, and much to lament; much to be proud of, much to regret. Some of this ambivalence finds its way into America Verses. If the composer loves his country – which he does – that love is conditioned by an awareness of how much remains to be done before America is transformed into an enlightened, creative and just society. It is for the listener to determine the message of the work, to decide whether the music ends on a note of despair, or in a mood of hushed optimism.
-notes by the composer
Dances Americanesque
by William Owens
This short three-movement tour-de-force is a musical collage of traditional dance forms. A lively Promenade opens with a fanfare statement and is quite regal in nature. The leisurely Waltz opens with flute solo and features rich harmonies and interesting textures throughout. The rousing Galop is characterized by a brisk tempo and whimsical technical passages. A wonderful collection of styles that ends in a rousing surge of musical energy!
-notes by the composer
Symphonic Winds
Excerpts from The Firebird
by Igor Stravinsky, arr. Jay BoCook
The Firebird is a ballet and orchestral concert work by the Russian composer Igor Stravinsky. It was written for the 1910 Paris season of Sergei Diaghilev's Ballets Russes company; the original choreography was by Michel Fokine, with a scenario by Alexandre Benois and Fokine based on the Russian fairy tales of the Firebird and the blessing and curse it possesses for its owner. When first performed at the Opéra de Paris on 25 June 1910, the work was an instant success with both audience and critics.
The ballet has historic significance not only as Stravinsky's breakthrough piece, but also as the beginning of the collaboration between Diaghilev and Stravinsky that would also produce the acclaimed ballets Petrushka (1911) and The Rite of Spring (1913).
- note from Wind Repertory Project
The Lord of the Rings
by Johan de Meij, arr. Paul Lavender
The Lord of the Rings was originally conceived and written as a full five-movement symphony for wind band. After close consultation with the composer, Paul Lavender has masterfully adapted and condensed three of the original five movements of this masterpiece into a practical concert version for younger bands.
Although it is not simple to summarize such an extensive and complex work, the main outline is as follows: the central theme is the Ring, made by primeval forces that decide the safety or destruction of the world. For years it was the possession of the creature Gollum, but when the ring falls into the hands of the Hobbits the evil forces awaken, and the struggle for the ring commences. There is but one solution to save the World from disaster: the ring must be destroyed by the fire in which it was forged: Mount Doom in the heart of Mordor, the country of the evil Lord Sauron.
It is the Hobbit Frodo who is assigned to carry out this task, and to assist him a company, the Fellowship of the Ring, is formed under the leadership of Gandalf, the wizard, which includes the Hobbits Sam, Peregrin and Merin, the Dwarf Gimli, the Elf Legolas, Boromir and Aragorn, the later King. The companions are secretly followed by Gollum, who does not shun any means, however perfidious, to recover his priceless ring. However, the companions soon fall apart and , after many pernicious adventures and a surprising dénouement, Frodo and Sam can at last return to their familiar home, The Shire.
- notes from the composer
Wind Symphony
English Folk Song Suite
by Ralph Vaughan Williams
Folk Song Suite was commissioned by the band of the Royal Military School of Music. It was premiered on 4 July 1923, at Kneller Hall, H.E. Adkins conducting. In three movements, the suite contains many different folk songs from the Norfolk and Somerset regions of England, including Seventeen Come Sunday, Pretty Caroline, Dives and Lazarus, My Bonny Boy, Green Bushes, Blow Away the Morning Dew, High Germany, and The Tree So High. Historically, the suite is considered (along with Gustav Holst’s two suites for military band) to be a cornerstone work in the literature, and one of the earliest “serious” works for the wind band.
- notes from Wind Repertory Project
Tight Squeeze
by Alex Shapiro
On the heels of composing Paper Cut, which pairs a wind band with not only an electronic track but a ream of printer paper, I knew I wanted to create another even more up-tempo, groove-oriented piece that would be fun for fidgety teenagers with the attention spans of diabetic gnats. Okay, even fun for calmer musicians. Unexpectedly, that turned out to feature a twelve-tone row theme, possibly the world's first for high school band, at least this far west of Vienna.
Initially the melody only had eight notes. When I noticed that none repeated themselves, I decided to go for broke, in a tip of the hat to my beloved 90-year old German composition teacher Ursula Mamlok, who was a renowned serialist during the earlier years of her career. The only serialism I've ever been interested in is granola, but I had a good time with this little tone row, which I paired with a techno-rock-infused percussion groove and electric bass line (yeah, I know; Schoenberg did that first), plus a few Latin rhythms and a hint of jazz. Voila: Electroacoustic Twelve-tone Techno Latin Bebop.
The twelve pitches are first introduced in all their chromatic glory at bars 7-10, and they reappear in different keys throughout the piece. The music, however, is not really in any key at all, since I only think in terms of keys if I'm locked out of my car. And if I were locked out of my car, this is probably the kind of thing I'd be hearing in my head while frantically trying to get back in.
Which leads to the title, which has nothing to do with my car. It has everything to do with a young gull who landed on a rock in front of my desk window as I was finishing this music, with a sizable flounder, uh, floundering in his clamped beak. The rather goofy-looking bird was having a challenging time figuring out how to swallow his windfall. I said to the bird, "Wow, tight squeeze!", and immediately realized that all these notes that were cramming the score page would soon be squeezing through the students’ instruments, as snugly as a fat flounder in a gull's mouth. I also realized that talking to birds is pointless; they make lousy conversationalists.
- program notes by composer
Emperata Overture
by Claude T. Smith
This first published work of Claude T. Smith was released in 1964. Over the ensuing years it has become the standard of comparison in concert band literature. The mixed meter along with the lyrical freshness typical of Smith ushered in a new era for composers writing for concert band. Emperata Overture is simply a "must" for every working band director.
Emperata Overture opens with a fanfare-like statement by the brass section accompanied by percussion in the background. The main theme is then stated by the clarinets with a rhythmic brass background in 4/4 meter, but occasionally a 7/8 meter separates phrases. The middle section presents a lyrical statement of a new theme by a flute soloist followed by reiterations of the theme in various sections of the band as well as by the full band. The ending is highlighted by a change of key and a restatement of themes, making a very exciting finish.