Beginning Band
The first band to perform is the 4th grade Beginning Band, our first song is Bugler’s Dream, arranged by Paul Lavender. The original melody was written by French composer Leo Arnaud. It was later arranged by famed American composer John Williams, as a theme song for the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles. Our arrangement uses only 6 notes and serves as a wonderful fanfare to begin our concert.
Galactic Episode is an original composition by John O’Reilly and Mark Williams. It is part of our lesson book, which is called Accent on Achievement. In composing it, Reilly and Williams used everything we learned in the first three-quarters of our lesson book. It is our most challenging piece. In it, we have to play a soft and slow section and then a loud and fast section.
The Flintstones Meet the Jetsons uses the theme shows from two of Hanna-Barbara’s most popular cartoons. It is arranged by Gerald Sebesky, who has combined the themes into one rockin’ and futuristic song.
In 2002, composer Ralph Ford published the piece Cango Caves. He was inspired to write it after having visited the caves in the Western Cape Province of South Africa. The caves were discovered in 1780, and in the years since then, scientists have recovered artifacts used by the Bushman during the Middle Stone Age. We hope you will enjoy Ford’s musical depiction of the natural caves of South Africa.
The Beginning Band’s last number is a piece written by Andrew Balent, called Band Room Boogie. Boogie-woogie style started early in the 20th century and was often played by swing bands such as the Tommy Dorsey and the Glenn Miller bands. Playing it has been a great chance for us to learn how to play in a swing style, it has been one of our favorites this year, and we hope you enjoy tapping your toe to our Boogie.
Select Band
This year’s Integrated Arts theme has been “Pittsburgh”. A number of our upcoming numbers have a connection to Pittsburgh, including our next one. Many famous jazz musicians have lived and played here, including Harold Betters, Johnny Costa, Lena Horne, Billy May, Joe Negri and Sammy Nestico. River City Blues, by Steve Hodges, was not really written for our river city. But it is a fitting tribute to it and the impact that jazz has in Pittsburgh and around the world.
The H.J. Heinz Corporation is well-known in Pittsburgh for many reasons. Ketchup is probably the number 1 reason. Over 640 million bottles are sold world-wide. We suspect that composer Dean Sorenson may have been inspired by this amazing condiment when he wrote our next number… Ketchup Is Not A Spice. It is written in a Latin style, which will sound totally different from our last blues-y number.
The Select Band portion of the program concludes with our favorite piece. Called Walkin’ to Band Man!, it is written in a funk style, where the rhythm is the main focus. This rhythmic focus is sometimes called a “Groove” and has been the preferred style of great bands, such as “Tower of Power”, “Earth, Wind and Fire” and “Average White Band”. It was written by Brad Schoener, a Pennsylvania composer who has his own publishing company called “Band Music Kids Love”. He is right, we love his music!
Advanced Band
Sousa Spectacular, like the 4th grade’s “Galactic Episode,” is from our lesson book. The arrangers, John O’Reilly and Mark Williams, used several of John Philip Sousa’s most famous marches, including “High School Cadets”. It is the most challenging piece in book I, with an entertaining percussion part, fast fingerings for the wind instruments and a key change midway through the piece.
Our next piece was written by composer Anne McGinty, in 1990. She has strong ties to Pittsburgh, as she earned her Bachelor and Masters of Music degrees from Duquesne University in flute performance and music composition. She has written more concert band pieces than any other woman in the field, and has published over 225 titles. Prelude and Dance is in two movements, one slow and one fast, both using the main melody in a canon. The most common form of a canon is a “round”, where the same melody is repeated at different times, like in “Row Row Row Your Boat” or “Frere Jacques”.
As the opening theme to the show “The Mickey Mouse Club,” this music is easily recognized all over the world. It was written by the host of the show, Jimmie Dodd. The TV show ran from 1955 to 1959. But the Mickey Mouse March can still be heard in the Walt Disney Resorts all over the world. This arrangement was done by Devon Lippmann, who grew up in suburban Pittsburgh. He is currently a band director in the Norwin School District.
The theme to the mid-60’s TV show “Secret Agent” is featured in our next number. Secret Agent Man, arranged by Ralph Ford. The main melody is inspired by that of Bond 007 and has been recorded by many groups in the past 40 years, such as “Devo” and “Blues Traveller. Many movie-watchers recognize it from and was used in “Austin Powers, International Man of Mystery.”
Our next piece, River Trilogy, is a medley of three well-known American folk songs. It opens with “Deep River,” then features clarinets and flutes with “The Water is Wide” and concludes by featuring our trumpet section in “Shenandoah”. It is arranged by John O’Reilly and is a wonderful tribute to our city, with our three rivers.
Our last song for the evening has a very strong connection to Pittsburgh. It was commissioned by North Allegheny band director Mr. Steve Kraus, specifically for McKnight and Peebles Elementary Schools. The world premiere of this number was here in our own school District. The composer is also a Pittsburgher as well. Sam Hazo has published numerous pieces for concert band, all very well-reviewed and popular worldwide. He travels all over the world, serving as a guest conductor and has worked with stars such as Brooke Shields and James Earl Jones. We hope you enjoy As Winds Dance as much as we do!
1 Comment
June 5, 2009 at 10:30 am
My students loved Cango Caves! Fun piece!