The last day! (A couple of days late – sorry). And it was a doozy. After the Arizona State concert the night before, it was hard to imagine the impact any other group could have. But today’s bands all had something distinct to say.
After a morning of meetings, we heard the Wind Symphony from California State University, Fullerton, led by Dustin Barr:
Rapture – Patrick Harlin
Double Play (mvt. 1) – Cindy McTee
Bell Piece: Free Ramble on John Dowland’s “Now, O’ Now, I Needs Must Part” – Percy Grainger
What is Written on the Leaves – David Biedenbender
This group played with wonderful clarity, and were especially exquisite in softer dynamics. The Harlin was a primal opening that explored an experience unique to deep cave spelunkers. The McTee was colorful and dissonant. The Grainger began with a simple tenor and piano setting of the original Dowland tune, transitioning very naturally into a beautifully dark, Grainger-y treatment. The Biedenbender was a celebration of mentors and their lasting influence, set on a symphonic scale.
After lunch, we gathered to hear this year’s Small Band Program Intercollegiate Band, directed by Rodney Dorsey. This included 92 students from 37 small band programs around the country playing their hearts out. Dorsey picked some marvelous repertoire:
La Procession du Rocio – Joaquin Turina, arr. Reed
Anahita – Roshanne Etezady
Here We Rest – Anthony Barfield
Sketches on a Tudor Psalm – Fisher Tull
Dance of the Jesters – Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, arr. Cramer
This was especially exciting for me and the many other small college band directors, watching our students play in this larger ensemble on this enormous stage. The students’ excitement was palpable, as was their connection, having spent most of the previous 72 hours together in rehearsal. Much of the repertoire (Turina, Tull, Tchaikovsky) was familiar. The Etezady was three movements of tribute to the Zoroastrian goddess of the night, who was depicted in a mural in the State House in Albany, NY. Sadly, this mural is hidden behind a false ceiling, having been condemned due to structural problems. Thankfully, Etezady gives a glimmering character portrait of the goddess Anahita in her three movements. The Barfield is based on a choir piece of his, dedicated to 2011 tornado victims in Alabama. This repertoire all brought out the best in these fine players.
The conference ended with a mic-drop of a concert by the University of Southern California Thornton School of Music Wind Ensemble, led by H. Robert Reynolds, who received a medal for distinguished service during the concert. Sharon Lavery and Frank Ticheli also made conducting appearances.
Downey Overture – Oscar Navarro
Clarinet Concerto – Frank Ticheli
“Parody” from On Winged Flight: Divertimento for Band – Gunther Schuller
The Navarro was a dazzling opener, which Lavery, who commissioned the piece, conducted from memory. The Dahl and the Copland, both conducted by Reynolds, were both premiered in this hall by this ensemble at the 1964 CBDNA national convention. This performance thus represented an especially meaningful reprise of both pieces, which have since become staples of the serious wind band repertoire. As one colleague put it, Reynolds showed us all how both of these pieces are supposed to go. Both pieces also showed some truly impressive and sensitive playing from the ensemble. The Ticheli, with the composer conducting, used a different soloist for each movement. All of them were students (2 masters and 1 JUNIOR), and all three fully owned their respective movements. The concert (and thus the conference) ended with the Schuller, a tongue-in-cheek closer that paid tribute to Charles Ives, James Reese Europe, and Henry Fillmore.
That was 2 days ago. Since then, we’ve all gone our separate ways, enriched by what we saw and heard in Tempe. The organizers, particularly Jason Caslor and the ASU graduate TAs, did an amazing amount of work and put together an event that, like the ASU concert, paid tribute to the past while looking forward and charting new directions for CBDNA. For me, it will be hard to ever top the significance of this conference, with my first national presentations, my student’s duck-in-water fit in the Intercollegiate Band, and of course, the celebration of my school and my mentor, Gary Hill. I treasured being able to deepen friendships with colleagues from around the country, and forging new connections that will strengthen in the future. CBDNA is full of amazing, kind, thoughtful people, whose company I will long for until the next one of these rolls around. To once again repurpose a phrase, this time in the spirit of camaraderie:
You are here
and so here I am