| Time |
School |
IHSA Name |
Director |
Size |
Show Title |
Quick Notes |
| 12:15 | Oak Park-River Forest | Oak Park (O.P.-River Forest) | Anthony Svejda | | Chaos Theory | 3 movements:
I. Random Conditions
II. The Butterfly Effect
III. Eventual Order
|
| 12:30 | Fremd | Palatine (Fremd) | Matthew Moore | | Pirates! | |
| 12:45 | Elk Grove | Elk Grove Village (E.G.) | Ron Fiorito | 100 | Lux | |
| 1:00 | Herscher | Herscher | Rachel Dickman, Josh Youngs | | The Pursuit | Music includes "Pursuit" by Matt Conaway (b. 1979). Mr Conaway currently works at the West Lafayette (Ind.) Community School Corporation, where he directs all fifth- through 12th-grade bands.
Also included in Herscher's musical selections is "Splashes of Gold" by another contemporary American composer, James L Hosay.
Music for the show was arranged by Katrina Cessna.
|
| 1:15 | Wheaton North | Wheaton (North) | Jon Noworyta | | Prison of the Mind | |
| 1:30 | Kaneland | Maple Park (Kaneland) | Aaron Puckett, Rebecca Anderson | | x! | Music by Key Poulan includes four movements, mixed with multiple titles, including I & II: X-Clamation and X-Celeration; III: X-Haustion; and IV: X-Aggeration, X-Otic, and X-Plosion. |
| 2:00 | Downers Grove South | Downers Grove (South) | Craig Roselieb | 120 | Beyond the Storm | music is by Andrew Boysen Jr. ... School hosts Downers Grove Music Bowl, 10/9 ... 17 bands expected to perform ... it's gonna be a lotta work for all the students in the DGS band. |
| 2:15 | Lockport Township | Lockport (Twp.) | Brian Covey, Anna Mudroch | | Echoes of Change | The show features the music of Percy Aldridge Grainger (1882-1961), who was born in Melbourne, Australia, and took his first piano lessons from his mom. He then studied at the Hoch Conservatory in Frankfurt, Germany, and there became friends with Edvard Grieg, among other composers.
He is perhaps best known as an experimental composer and for his piano settings of folk songs like "Irish Tune from County Derry," "Molly on the Shore," and "Shepherds' Hey."
But he was also a virtuoso pianist, known in his time for his interpretations of Grieg's music. In addition, he gets credit for developing a "synthesizer and composing machine" long before anyone had ever heard the word "Korg."
|
| 2:30 | Huntley | Huntley | Nick Konwerski | | Medusa | |
| 2:45 | Waubonsie Valley | Aurora (Waubonsie Valley) | Joshua Chodoroff | | Halos | Music drawn from "In the Spting, at the Time When Kings Go Off to War" by David Holsinger and "Sketches on a Tudor Psalm" by Fisher Tull. |
| 3:00 | Wheeling | Wheeling | Brian Logan, Andrew Sturgeon, Mark Hiebert | 112 | Metamorphosis | Paul Hindemith's Symphony in B-flat for Concert Band is often considered a landmark work. There wasn't much of a market for wind ensemble music 60 years ago, so composers of the late 19th and early 20th centuries tended to write for orchestra, opera, chamber ensembles, or basically for any group that would pay them. Hindemith, however, who had emigrated from Germany to escape Hitler's tyranny, was different.
But this work, which gets prominent attention in Wheeling's show, aptly titled "Metamorphosis," represents not only a metamorphosis in the beauty, precision, and acceptance of music for winds, but also a transformation in Hindemith's works. He finished writing it in 1951, and it was first performed by the US Army band "Pershing's Own" on April 5, 1951, in Washington, D.C.
Wheeling's show also includes Hindemith's Concerto (Konzertmuzik) for Brass and Strings , Op. 50 (1930), and his Symphonic Metamorphoses on Themes of Weber (1943). Where else did you think the title came from?
About the titular work, Hindemith was approached by a ballet choreographer, Léonide Massine, to compose music for a ballet based on the work of composer Carl Maria von Weber. But when Hindemith saw Massine's choreography, he decided to take a pass, leading him to compose the Symphonic Metamorphoses instead. More complete program notes about the work, published by the Salisbury Symphony Orchestra, can be found here .
Hindemith would certainly find Wheeling's choreography—or rather, drill—much more acceptable. It comes direct from Pete Weber (no relation, as far as we know). Band director Brian Logan said the Mr Weber who is still alive in the 21st century had written drill for the Santa Clara Vanguard in the past. Dwayne Rice, another drum corps veteran, arranged the music of the 20th-century master.
|
| 3:15 | Lincoln-Way West | New Lenox (Lincoln-Way West) | Steve Nedzel, Adam Rusek (percussion), Megan Piper (guard), Andrew Imig (stud. tchr.) | 46 | Ring of Fire: Music of the Pacific Rim | Newly opened for 2009-10 school year ... featuring original music by Craig Andrew Fitzpatrick ... senior night is Oct. 22, indoor concert on Oct. 25 ... director Steve Nedzel came from Lincoln-Way Central, which split its growing student population to form this school two years ago. |
| 3:45 | Lemont | Lemont (H.S.) | David Nommensen, Matthew Doherty | | Of Lore and Legend | Music includes excerpts from Hector Berlioz's Symphonie Fantastique ,
"Song of the Blacksmith" Gustav Holst's Second Suite in F for Military Band , and "Along the Caney Fork" by James L Hosay.
In the "Berlioz takes a trip" episode of Leonard Bernstein's Young People's Concerts , the conductor writes about Symphonie Fantastique : "Berlioz tells it like it is," he says. "You take a trip, you wind up screaming at your own funeral."
Of course, he's referring to the composer's own program notes for the work. It was intended as program music, to tell the story of an artist with an overactive imagination. It could have been Berlioz himself, writing some sort of musical autobiography.
"An artist gifted with a lively imagination has poisoned himself with opium in the depths of despair," he writes. It's a story of his unrequited love for a beautiful woman.
The composition uses what is known as an idée fixe (a fixed idea). It's a musical obsession of sorts, one that cannot be escaped, as it shows up time and again. Here, the idée fixe is intended to represent the artist's beloved.
Berlioz writes: "Convinced that his love is spurned, the artist poisons himself with opium. The dose of narcotic, while too weak to cause his death, plunges him into a heavy sleep accompanied by the strangest of visions. He dreams that he has killed his beloved, that he is condemned, led to the scaffold and is witnessing his own execution. The procession advances to the sound of a march that is sometimes sombre and wild, and sometimes brilliant and solemn, in which a dull sound of heavy footsteps follows without transition the loudest outbursts. At the end of the march, the first four bars of the idée fixe reappear like a final thought of love interrupted by the fatal blow."
For the record, the Caney Fork River is near Granville, Tenn., considered by many to be "the heart of Americana." James Hosay (b. 1959) is an American composer born near Nashville, Tenn. His first assignment after college was as a trumpeter with the 26th US Army Band at Fort Hamilton, N.Y., according to his biography. He's now enjoying military retirement, with his girlfriend and family in Virginia Beach. |
| 4:00 | Andrew | Tinley Park (Andrew) | Mark Iwinski | | In the Shadow of Leaves | Title refers to Samurai tradition, not necessarily as warriors but as administrators. Latest book edition is probably The Art of the Samurai: Yamamoto Tsunetomo's Hagakure , by Yamamoto Tsunetomo, translated by Barry D. Steben, Duncan Baird, September 2008, ISBN 1-84483-720-3.
The word "Hagakure" is usually translated as "In the shadow of Leaves" or "hidden leaves." It refers to a time in Samurai history, during which there were no major campaigns to fight. The Samurai had to reinvent themselves in order to function during a time of peace, when their fighting skills were of little use.
In modern times, many readers take the volume as one of self-awareness, mostly in the spiritual domain. We need to understand, at the deepest possible level, how we fit into the world.
Much is written about the culture of the Samurai, including this by Inazo Nitobe in a 1905 book entitled Bushido—The Soul of Japan : "Honor may be demolished, but its light and its glory will long survive their ruins. Like its symbolic flower, after it is blown to the four winds, it will still bless mankind with the perfume with which it will enrich life. Ages after, when its custom will have been buried and its name forgotten, its fragrance will come floating in the air as from a far-off, unseen hill."
Mark Iwinski is a new director at the school, succeeding Dan Romano, who retired last year after a 30-year career, the last 27 of which were at Andrew High School.
Music is by Hans Zimmer and Tetsunoke Kushida. |
| 4:15 | Lincoln-Way East | Frankfort (Lincoln-Way East) | Clifton Smith, Cary Ruklic | 190 | Blue Cathedral | |
| 4:30 | Prospect | Mt. Prospect (Prospect) | Chris Barnum | | Away above the Chimney Tops | |
| 5:00 | Naperville North | Naperville (North) | Dan Moore, Brian Van Kley, Paulette Rife (guard), Katie Macentire (guard), Kay Moore (pit), Randy Kulik (brass), Brian Johnson (brass), Chris Vanderwall (drumline) | 130 | Coulrophobia | Title purports to mean a fear of clowns, but since the band has ingeniously incorporated comedy into their shows for more than a decade, nobody's exactly concerned about checking a dictionary.
With music based on circus tunes, which Dan Moore has arranged so they get more and more convoluted as the show progresses, the band tells the story of two young children who go to a circus. At first, they join in with the clowns and have lots of fun. But then, some of the clowns become aggressive and put on scary masks. The children, Suzie and Timmy, want to escape from the circus.
Then another clown, intended to be based on Emmett Kelly's famous but sad tramp clown, sees them in peril and comes to their rescue. He shows them the many wonders of the circus and puts a smile back on their faces. All seems well, but in the end, it's only a circus, diverting our attention all too briefly from the many things we deal with in the real world.
Marching band is extracurricular at Naperville North, but no auditions are required. "All are welcome," Mr Moore said. |
| 5:15 | Lake Park | Roselle (Lake Park) | Mike Chiodo, Ron Hardin (drill), Kevin Nevsimal (brass), Moulee Gupta (ww), Matt Stein (perc), Joe Roach (perc), Amy Sharp (guard), Paul Wiercioch (visuals) | 180 | Birds of a Feather | usually a semi-finalist at Bands of America Grand Nationals ... 1996 Grand National Champion ... 1st in Class 6A, 2nd in state, at ISU in 2009 ... hosts Lancer Joust festival, 9/11
Show explores different sides of birds—musically and visually: It opens with the playful dance of a young bird's first flight. Part II shows us the hummingbird and transitions into the beauty of the peacock. Intensity builds in Part III, as the band brings to life the woodpecker and hawk, and the eagle's majestic flight has the final word. |
| |
| Time | Other Performing Schools | Personnel | Show Information, if known |
|---|
| 4:45 | Waukesha (North), Wis. | Greg Richlin, Roman Blenski, Sandy Fugh (guard) | 2009 state champs (Class AAAA WSMA) ... Macy's 2010 selection |
