Day 3 opened with RAIN! So my planned trip to Funkytown Donuts a couple of blocks away had to wait. I began the day at a session with three panelists discussing how to approach hip hop style in band music. The panelists (and their highlighted pieces) were:
Kevin Day – “Flow” from Concerto for Wind Ensemble
Marie Douglas – Big City Lights
Katahj Copley – Dope
Later in the morning, I attended sessions on: collaboration with secondary school band directors; Lindsay Bronnenkant’s fascinating look into the reason why Holst wrote his First Suite; and a deep dive into Ida Gotkovsky’s fascinating Symphonie pour orchestre d’harmonie.
After lunch, we had another session with Marianne Ploger, followed by the Texas State University Wind Symphony conducted by Caroline Beatty. I remembered her from the Arizona State CBDNA conference in 2019, where she memorably snuck onto the podium between each piece as her group tuned. She did this again, but did allow us to heap her with applause at the end of this truly exceptional performance. Their program nicely combined contemporary and classic works:
Blessing of Light – Fanfare Edition – Jodie Blackshaw
Prelude and Fugato from Mama Dees’ Notebook – Joel Puckett
“Scherzo” from Symphony no. 9 in E minor – Ralph Vaughan Williams (trans. Merlin Patterson)
First Suite in E-flat – Gustav Holst
“The Harlequin’s Carnival” from Wayward Images – Michael Ippolito
Baião N’ Blues – Clarice Assad (trans. Joe Jaxson)
After a short break, we were back in the concert hall for the University of North Carolina Greensboro Wind Ensemble conducted by Jonathan Caldwell, featuring something old (Gotkovsky), something new (Wei), and something even newer (Cerrone).
Samsāric Dance – Dai Wei
Darkening, Then Brightening – Christopher Cerrone, with soprano Lindsay Kesselman
Symphonie pour orchestre d’harmonie – Ida Gotkovsky
Everything was very good, and the Cerrone was a highlight on the strength of Kesselman’s gripping and nuanced delivery.
The evening’s concert was the home team: the Texas Christian University Wind Symphony led by our host, Bobby Francis. Their epic show included a mega brass ensemble fanfare, two symphonies, an entire choir, and seven soloists!
The Pure in Heart – Thomas Singletary
Symphony no 6 – Quinn Mason (world premiere)
And Music Echoes Eternal Tones – Joseph Turrin (world premiere)
Coping Cadences – Shuying Li (world premiere) with six soloists
Symphony no. 5 – James Stephenson (world premiere) with choir and tenor soloist David Mejia
This concert was special in many ways, not just because it was the host band. The Singletary filled the space with beautiful brass sounds. The Mason was impressive in its scope, with the second movement tribute to Ron Nelson moving me especially. The Turrin was a touching tribute to Glen Adsit, complete with a photo montage from his personal and professional life. The Li kept the six soloists and the band busy across a diversity of styles and genres – there was even a steelpan on stage! The Stephenson was a tightly-themed epic that ended in genuine uplift. Bravo, Horned Frogs! And thank you for your hosting, especially the Tex Mex buffet that followed at the football stadium. (Perhaps the most Texas evening ever?)
Our final day opened (after my long-awaited trip to Funkytown Donuts) with a panel discussion of gender dynamics in our profession, led by 7 women who are band directors in the USA and Canada. The big takeaways: only 12% of college band directors in the USA are women (it’s 30% in Canada), so there is much more we can do to make college band directing a more inviting and accessible field for women.
Our first repertoire of the day appeared at the Small Band Program Showcase, featuring 7 bands from across the country that come from small colleges or small programs. Here they were, and what they played:
California State University, Bakersfield, Leo Sakamoto – Luminance by Shuying Li
Carthage College Wind Orchestra, Jim Ripley – Scene 1: Fortitude by Timothy Mahr
Cedarville University Wind Symphony, Chet Jenkins – Sunflower Studies by Nicole Piunno
College of Saint Benedict and Saint John’s University Wind Ensemble, Justin Zanchuk – In the Open Air, In the Silent Lines by Aaron Perrine
Dordt University, Onsby Rose – First Light by David Maslanka
Luther College Concert Band, Cory Near – Bright Shadow Fanfare by Nicole Piunno
University of Texas Permian Basin Symphonic Winds, Bryan Braue – Blue Lake Overture by John Barnes Chance
The rest of the morning was occupied with meetings, first of the divisions (full disclosure: I am the new President-Elect of the Eastern Division), then the full membership, then a very nice lunch for the board. I am very excited to be getting more deeply involved!
The afternoon’s first concert featured the Small Band Program Intercollegiate Band led by James Jackson III, which included three of my students. Jackson did truly remarkable work with these students from all over the place, bringing them to astonishing musical heights on three rigorously challenging works. They played:
Luminance – Shuying Li
Symphony no. 1 – Lee Gannon
Symphonic Metamorphosis – Paul Hindemith (trans. Keith Wilson)
Everything about this concert was extraordinary. The Li was an electric concert opener. The Gannon was dark and sad, probing questions of mortality and the why’s of life. The Hindemith is famous enough to speak for itself. Every movement sparkled with the slightly grumpy joy and humor found in all Hindemith works. The students played their hearts out, and maestro Jackson emanated joyful musicianship like the world’s finest fountains. Bravi, tutti!
The University of Texas Wind Ensemble, led by Jerry Junkin, came next. Theirs was mostly a smaller ensemble that brought a full range of dynamics to this otherwise very loud hall. Their varied repertoire included:
Fanfare for the Maestro – Donald Grantham
Triathlon – John Corigliano, with Stephen Page as saxophone(s) soloist
Celebration – Gao Hong
Overture: Le Corsair – Hector Berlioz, arr. Schuller
Wings – Warren Benson
“Noche de Encantamiento (Tema y variaciones)” from La Noche de los Mayas – Silvestre Revueltas (trans. Jacco Nefs)
The highlight of this concert for me was Celebration, a tightly constructed and colorful single movement work that this band played magnificently. Also remarkable was the middle movement of the Corigliano, in which Page probed and expanded the edges of the softest possible sound on the alto saxophone.
The conference’s final concert was the Baylor University Wind Ensemble (and Concert Choir, and Chamber Choir) led by Eric Wilson. I had been hearing about the legendary band from Baylor for years, but this was my first time actually seeing them. They exceeded all expectations that I could have dreamed up, even after a conference of other truly outstanding bands. Much of this has to do with maestro Wilson, who seems to lead selflessly and unselfconsciously, fully channeling the needs of the music. He obviously holds these students to incredibly high standards, and even the choir members seemed to adore him. They played:
Grand Canyon Fanfare – James Newton Howard (arr. Isaiah Odajima, who also conducted)
On Winged Flight – Gunther Schuller
Is a Rose – Caroline Shaw (trans. Cody Edgerton) with Lindsay Kesselman as soprano soloist
In This Breath – Shuying Li
Tower Ascending – Wayne Oquin
A Silence Haunts Me – Jake Runestad
Ballad for Wind Orchestra – Chang Su Koh
The mutual admiration was on display from the firstnote of the Howard, lovingly led Odajima. The Schuller unfolded in five short movements, which veered from atonal explorations to a straight-up circus march! Lindsay Kesselman truly shined (as usual) in the Shaw, taking a tender look at love through three cross-referential poems about roses. The softest moments were especially exquisite: I will never forget her relaxed and assured deliver accompanied by perhaps the softest combination of marimba, harp, and clarinets that I have ever heard. If the Shaw put us in a tender mood, the Li tipped us into grief and nostalgia. She and Wilson both addressed the audience before the piece, underlining its direct connection to her feelings after Glen Adsit’s untimely death barely a year ago. Adsit was Li’s partner in the last years of his life, and he was a widely beloved and admired figure within CBDNA: this conference was supposed to be HIS. And so here was the final, poignant tribute to him at this conference, lovingly penned by his partner, who also played piano, and brought to life at Wilson’s wizardly hands. There was hardly a dry eye in the house.
We had an intermission to recover (we should consider more of these in the evening concerts!) before diving back in with the Oquin, which imagined a skyscraper going up. With all of the strong emotions in the first half, the Runestad may have been the emotional core of the performance. It excerpts parts of Beethoven’s Heiligenstadt Testament, a letter to his brothers (which he never sent) in which he laments the onset of hearing loss and openly contemplates suicide. An artfully spoken segment before the music began asked us to empathize with Beethoven and his feelings. And so a musical storm with choir ensued. As it calmed for the last time, the choir repeated “Be Well,” a sign-off accompanied by gentle winds. Subtly, but obviously, Wilson continued conducting, and the musicians kept moving, but only silence remained. It was a truly poignant moment that deeply touched everyone I talked to. What could possibly follow such a uniquely haunting moment? Chang Su Koh’s exuberant Ballad did the job nicely, giving us all reason to celebrate the uniquely fine artistry of this ensemble. Wilson and his collaborators came back for several curtain calls as the ovation roared on. What a finish!
As I reflect on this conference, I have to again thank Bobby Francis and his wonderful team at TCU. As far as I could tell, just about everything was flawless, and there seems to be broad agreement that this was a supremely well-run and positive conference. It was, after all, largely dedicated to Glen Adsit, a superlative musician and a servant-leader who gave generously of his time and talents to everyone he met. He also worked tirelessly for CBDNA until literally the very end of his days. He was on our minds every day, giving us space to both grieve and celebrate while also appreciating our amazing profession and each other. We kept talking about Glen’s legacy, and I felt that everywhere, even outside the concerts. The sessions I attended seemed to be prodding CBDNA to BE BETTER, whether that’s in respecting identities and working hard to be authentic as conductors and musicians, or welcoming new people and new types of people into our profession, or being more attuned to contemporary problems like mental health and climate change. There is a future where CBDNA does all of these things and more, and it’s up to all of us who were there to put it all into effect. I look forward to being part of that effort.