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Our Program – Approved!

What a relief! We received word that the program we submitted for our Midwest performance was approved this morning. The programs of all the performing groups won’t be posted by the Midwest Office until late October, but it’s now officially okay for me to write about them.

The question I get asked more than any other about Midwest is “What are you playing?” Finally I can share! My guess is that most aren’t interested in long-winded descriptions, so I’ll keep them short.

Essanay Fanfare – Douglas Akey (2006, manuscript, Grade 3)
The title for our Midwest Commission will eventually become “Joy Fantasique.” Doug would really like to change the title, but if that change isn’t approved by the Midwest Office, he’ll keep it the original title until after the premier. I’m excited to read through the fanfare for the first time after our concert this week.

Ancient Dialogue – Patrick Burns (Daehn Publications, 2006, new, Grade 2)
This is a great work, in ABA form, based on “Baises Moy” (“Kiss Me”), a French folk tune dating back to the Renaissance. The theme moves through the band as dialogues between contrasting wind groups. I particularly like the way the composer successfully marries the Renaissance feel with more contemporary harmonies.

Little Suite for Band – Clare Grundman (Boosey & Hawkes, 1957, old, Grade 2)
For months, my heart was set on performing “Fantasy on American Sailing Songs” at Midwest. Grundman was never an option…I love his stuff and feel it to be literature that every middle school band should be playing. Not only that, because of the challenges his music generally presents, I knew we’d become a more mature group just by preparing it. While going through the “60th Anniversary” required list one more time, I realized that “Little Suite for Band” would be the perfect way to slightly ease up on the difficulty of the program while we still gain the benefits of preparing Grundman.

Albanian Dance – Shelley Hanson (Boosey & Hawkes, 2005, old, Grade 4)
This work is part of last year’s Windependence series. It’s a fun work. The greatest challenge will be getting the technique up to speed. It fits the strengths of our band, though, so hopefully I won’t loose too much hair over this one.

Our Kingsland Spring – Samuel R. Hazo (Hal Leonard, 2005, new, Grade 2)
This is the first movement to Hazo’s “Georgia Suite.” The first movement, “Ascend,” was given its world premier by Tapp Middle School at the 2004 Midwest Clinic. That was a great concert. As with most of Hazo’s work, this will be well liked by our audiences.

Chinese Folk Song Medley – Robert Garofalo (Grand Mesa Music, 1999, old, Grade 2)
This work hasn’t received nearly the attention it deserves. On the easy side of grade two, it is a wonderful example of the type of authentic cultural music our students should be exposed to. There is a significant amount of optional singing that I’m still deciding on. My current hope is to try to have the kids sing the folk songs in the original Chinese instead of the English translations. We’ll see.

Orange Bowl – Henry Fillmore (Carl Fischer, 1939 POP, old, Grade 3)
Good stuff. We’re performing this on Wednesday. The kids are playing it, but not really PLAYING it. We’ll have a lot of cleaning to do when we dust it off in a few weeks.

Prelude and Fugue in D minor – J.S. Bach/Roland Moehlmann (Alfred, 1953, old, Grade 3)
From “Eight Little Preludes and Fugues,” this work isn’t played nearly as much as the Prelude and Fugue in Bb, but it shares a lot of similar qualities. The technique is reasonable, and there is just so much good stuff to teach. The biggest challenges will be getting the polyphony to fit and work together and, of course, pitch. In fact, our next warm-up chorale will be in D minor to help the kids adjust to that key.

Ye Banks and Braes O’ Bonnie Doon – arr. Michael Sweeney (Hal Leonard, 2006, new, Grade 1)
This is a great, very accessible, arrangement of this wonderful Scottish folk tune. It’ll be a fun one to rehearse. It also sets up our last work very well.

Symphony No. 4 for Winds and Percussion (4th Movement) – Andrew Boysen, Jr. (Kjos, 2006, new, Grade 3)

Symphony No.4 is a work we commissioned for our 2004 performance at the IMEA All-State Conference. Because of its length, nearly 12 minutes, we’ll only be performing the last movement. This work as been amazingly well received wherever I’ve brought it, and I’m very excited to share it with our Midwest audience.

This Wednesday we’ll be performing three of the Midwest works for the first time. Following this concert we’ll have four weeks to prepare four more for our next concert.

(For topic suggestions or questions relating to our Midwest performance I can be contacted via email: cdestefano@skokie735.k12.il.us or through the contact page on our website.)

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