Pacific Symphonic Wind Ensemble

Symphonic Winds - Tasty Music

2009-11-07T08:03:00.000-08:00

I've spent a fair amount of time talking about the composers, the symphonic form, our guest soloist etc. but what are you really going to hear when you come to Evergreen Cultural Centre on November 14th, or Kay Meek Centre on the 21st?

I like to compare music to food. I like food. I like music. Some combinations of food work well and one course will enhance the next. The same goes with music. A great concert is like a great meal - one course flows into the next. You may end up somewhere completely different than you started, but the trip was connected, logical and pleasing.

Saturday's meal will begin with an exciting appetizer. The opening of deMeij's first Symphony is bold and flashy. It enlivens your taste-buds and makes you want more. Ticheli's second movement from his Second Symphony is smooth and velvety. It is filled with nuance and complexity like a truly great soup. The third course, the Scherzo from Vaughan Williams' Eighth Symphony, is small but demands your attention. It draws on some of the complexity of the second course but has a bit of a spicy kick to it that challenges you and excites you. The fourth course is fun and whimsical. It's the kind of dish that combines ingredients that really shouldn't go together. It almost feels like the chef just threw the kitchen scraps into a pot and walked away, but it works. Nothing that seemingly random could possibly work that well. This is the Finale from Ive's Fourth Symphony. The first meal is finished with a simple but perfectly matched desert: Morton Gould's famous Pavanne. The contrast is what makes this desert work. It is refreshing and will send you off to intermission in anticipation of a second round of tasty treats.

I'm not sure how to describe the second half of the concert in gastronomic terms. We open with Wagner, Trauersinfonie. At the risk of being repetitive, I think that we have our second soup course of the evening. This one however is pure cream soup. No chunks of anything. With each spoonful, you'll experience an ever-changing flavour spectrum but nothing is sudden. The next course is beef carpacio. It is simple, but stunning. What little adornment there is simply serves the main ingredient: Mozart, Concerto in C for Oboe. This is followed by the main course. This is not the main course because of it's relative importance to the other courses but more because of it's richness and body.

The Persichetti Symphony for Number 6 is rich and full. It is a meal unto itself in that takes those who experience it on profound journey and with each bite, one experiences the next step in understanding the genius of the chef. The final course of the evening returns us to Morton Gould and the grand Finale to his West Point Symphony. This is kind of finish to a meal that closes all doors to anything further. Perhaps a creme carmel with a nice smokey scotch. It finishes with a bang and leaves you completely satisfied.

Bring your appetite and join us at Evergreen Cultural Centre on Saturday, November 14th or Kay Meek Centre on Saturday, November 21st.

Mozart - Master of the Symphonic Form

2009-10-23T13:49:00.000-07:00

Few composers wrote as many symphonies as Mozart did and even fewer did so with such high quality. It was Mozart and Haydn who really defined the symphony that generations followed. So it seems only fitting that PSWE should play a Mozart symphony on our upcoming concert Symphonic Winds.

Fitting, perhaps. But we will pay homage to Mozart in a different way. We will look at a kindred spirit of the symphonic form: the concerto. The concerto is in fact a much older form than the symphony but is similar in that it is multiple movement and the movements themselves, at least in Mozart's day, similar in structure to that of the symphonic movements.

Mozart's Concerto in C for Oboe (and also written for flute), will be performed by the winner of our most recent Youth Soloist Competition. Ron Mann is young oboist currently at the University of British Columbia studying with Vancouver

Symphony Orchestra oboist, Beth Orson. Here's a little more about Ron:

"Ron Mann, 18, is in his second year of a B.Mus. in oboe performance at the University of British Columbia; he has been playing the oboe for four and half years. He studies with Beth Orson, and has worked extensively with Roger Cole, with masterclasses and coachings from James Mason, Rebecca Henderson and Morgan Zentner. This year he is playing in the UBC Symphony Orchestra and Wind Ensemble. In past, he has played with many ensembles including the Vancouver Youth Symphony Orchestra, BC Youth Philharmonic Orchestra and Capilano University Wind Ensemble and has participated in the Kiwanis Festival, earning first place standings, as well as the Royal Conservatory of Music, receiving First Class Honours with Distinction in several oboe-practical examinations. Ron's playing has been recognized by the District of North Vancouver, where he was awarded the Civic Youth Award in 2008 for his achievements. He has taken part in several music festivals including Symphony Orchestra Academy of the Pacific, Marrowstone Summer Music Festival, and UBC Summer Music Institute."

Tickets are now available from your friendly, neighbourhood PSWE musician or from the Evergreen Cultural Centre Box office for the performance on November 14th. Tickets for November 21st are available from Kay Meek Centre.

So, what is a Symphony? Really.

2009-09-04T19:22:00.000-07:00

In my last post, I talked about different uses of the word symphony but what do we mean when we talk about a Symphony?

The history of the symphony began as an overture to operas back in the days of Monteverdi and Cavalli in the 1600's. Gradually, over the next century the symphony started to gain more structure. As an overture, it took on a fast-slow-fast form that eventually split into separate movements.

By the time Haydn and Mozart got their hands on the form it was an established four movement form. The first movement is fast and in sonata form. The second is slow a

nd more free. The third is a dance in three, later to be called a scherzo and the final movement is again fast. What Haydn and Mozart were able to do was to transform the symphony into a major art form.

From here through to modern day, the symphony has attracted the most major composer and have been the chosen form form their "magnum opuses." After Mozart, very few composers wrote more than 10 symphonies. Beethoven broke ground with many of his symphonies, most notably, the 9th, the "Choral Symphony." Berlioz wrote his famous Symphonie Fantastique, Mahler his Eighth Symphony dubbed the "Symphony of a Thousand" and Shostakovich's epic Seventh Symphony "Leningrad."

As is the case with most forms and musical traditions, the 20th century opened the doors to great experimentation and influence from other musical realms. The term symphony, in contemporary composer's hands tends to be used to indicate a major musical work that stems from the grand symphonic tradition but can stray some distance from the tight definition it once had.

PSWE will be presenting two symphonies in November: one in it's entirety and one "constructed." The Persichetti Symphony No. 6 - Symphony for Band. Although Persichetti had a very distinct melodic and harmonic language he had a clear formal influence from the classical symp

hony. The work is in four movements. After a slow introduction the first movement is predominantly quick, lively and rhythmic. The second movement is slow and expressive and is given the expression marking "doloroso" (sorrowful.) The third is a dance in 6/8 time. Although it is not written in the traditional 3/4 time that many Classical symphonies were, the three feel is very present in this movement. The final movement is a lively rondo form that ends big and bold.

The "constructed" symphony that PSWE will perform takes movements from four different symphonies to give the listener a sense of what four different composers do with the symphonic form. We will open with the first movement of Johan de Meij's Symphony No. 1 - Lord of the Rings. This is a symphony that pre-dates the Lord of the Rings movies and should not be confused with the score to that trilogy by Canadian composer, Howard Shore. The first movement of de Meij's symphony is entitled Gandalf and is bold and majestic and includes reference to Gandalf's incredibly fast horse, Shadofax. The piece is tonal and his heavily influenced by the

work of the great Romantic composers. Our second movement comes from Frank Ticheli's Second Symphony that was written in 2oo3 for legendary conductor Jim Croft upon his retirement. The second movement is a slow and deeply expressive work entitled Dreams Under a New Moon. Our third movement is actually the second movement of Ralph Vaughan William's Eighth Symphony. Vaughan Williams played with the formal structure of a symphony a bit in his Eighth and switched the slow and scherzo movements. His Scherzo alla Marcia is written exclusively for the wind section of the orchestra with strings being employed in the other three movements. We will finish our symphony with a transcription of the great Finale from the Fourth Symphony of Charles Ives. Full of humour and partial quotes of popular songs of his day that will be immediately recognizable to the listener but always with a twist, this is an exciting and fun way to end our exploration of the symphonic form.

Please be sure to purchase tickets on line at Evergreen Cultural Centre for the our presentation of Symphonic Winds on November 14th. Or join us at Kay Meek Centre for the same programme on the 21st of November. As always, I encourage any questions, comments or feedback through the use of the comment button below.

Symphonic Winds

2009-08-27T10:11:00.000-07:00

The word symphony has been used over the centuries to mean very different things. Today, people speak of going to the symphony to mean that they are going to a concert where an orchestra will be performing. We also speak of Mozart's or Shostakovich's Symphony No. Z to signify a particular type of large-form composition that is constructed in a particular way. But it wasn't always this way.

The Oxford Dictionary of Music says that the word has Greek origins and meant "sounding together." It goes on to say:

"(1) In 17th and 18th cents., Sinfonia meant what we should now call an ‘overture’ to an opera, etc., i.e. a short instr. piece often consisting of 3 short sections or movements in quick‐slow‐quick form.

(2) It was also used of an orch. interlude, e.g. the ‘Pastoral’ sym. in Handel's Messiah, in a vocal work. Some 20th‐cent. composers have revived this archaic usage of the term, e.g. Stravinsky in his Symphonies of Wind Instruments ( 1920 )."*

PSWE is about to launch into an exploration of what a symphony is and will present it's findings on November 14th and 21st. Given the nature of the wind ensemble, we will lean toward more modern takes on the symphony but modern does not necessarily mean avant guard.

Ralph Vaughan Williams wrote the Scherzo to his 8th Symphony for winds alone. Richard Wagner wrote his beautiful Trauersinfonie for winds. More recently, composers such as Johan deMeij and Frank Ticheli have written brilliant works taking elements from the symphonic form. We will also take a look at a couple of brilliant transcriptions of orchestral works for winds. Fans of Mozart and Ives will have something for them on this program.

In an effort to present a broad sweep of takes on what symphony means, we will offer single movements of much of these works. We will, however, present one of the greatest symphonies written for winds in it's entirety. Vincent Persichetti's famous Symphony for Band, his sixth symphony, is a brilliant work that shows what a modern master can do with the form.

We hope that you will come back and read more on this blog as we lead up to these concerts. Feel free to post your questions about any of this repertoire or the concert itself. I will do my best to answer your questions.

Most importantly, join us at Evergreen Cultural Centre on November 14th or Kay Meek Centre on November 21st to wrap yourself in the glorious, warm sounds of PSWE and symphonic wind music.

*"Symphony." The Oxford Dictionary of Music, 2nd ed. rev. Ed. Michael Kennedy. Oxford Music Online. 27 Aug. 2009<http://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/subscriber/article/opr/t237/e10019>

A New Piece by Adam Gorb!

2009-08-17T11:35:00.000-07:00

This piece is so new, it hasn't got a title. It hasn't even been written yet.

PSWE is spearheading the commissioning of a new work buy Adam Gorb that is a subversive patriotic march. The piece will be 6-7 minutes in length and will be in the vein of a Charles Ives or Kurt Weill dig at marches. Assuming that we get support for the project, this piece that will be suitable for high school and more advanced ensembles, will be completed for the fall of 2010. It will be premiered in the 2010-11 PSWE season.

What we are looking for is folks who are interested in supporting this commission. Anyone can support to the tune of $500 Canadian. For this financial contribution, each supporter will receive a copy of the score and parts (pre-publication) and will have their name printed in the published score. This is an excellent way of supporting composers and generating new works that will hopefully become part of the repertoire.

If you are interested, please comment to this post or email me directly. If you have questions about the project, please comment so that others may benefit from your inquisitiveness.

But Wait, there's more!

2009-08-09T17:47:00.000-07:00

For those following the discussion about quality repertoire emanating from the WASBE conference last month may want to read Stephen Budiansky's latest additions to his web site. They can be found here.

New Season Announced

2009-08-09T12:02:00.000-07:00

Our first rehearsal of the new season is one month away. This is when the musicians of PSWE will begin preparing a cornucopia of new repertoire for your listening enjoyment. Mark the following dates on your calendar:

November 14th - Evergreen Cultural Centre - 8pm - Symphonic Winds

November 21st - Kay Meek Centre - 8pm - Symphonic Winds

February 13th - Evergreen Cultural Centre - 8pm - The Joy of Sax

April 18th - Evergreen Cultural Centre - 2pm - Low Blow

April 24th - Kay Meek Centre - 8pm - In the Spotlight

June 19th - Evergreen Cultural Centre - 8pm - All in Good Fun

Check back soon for details on each of the programs and see you all in the new season!

WASBE Resonance - Quality Repertoire - Final word

2009-07-27T08:38:00.000-07:00

Stephen Budiansky has now placed the transcript of his speech at the WASBE conference on his web site. Apparently, the discussion is happening on many other forums around the internet and he is feeling like he is being misrepresented in some of these arenas. Don't believe what I say or what anyone else says. Read the transcript for yourself via this link.

Again, I encourage you to comment. Push the button below.

WASBE Resonance - Quality Repertoire - Follow up

2009-07-21T14:09:00.000-07:00

I love the dialogue that this topic has generated. As I'm sure that I've said before, there was much discussion in Cincinnati around the plight of repertoire for school music programs and by extension, the quality of the repertoire for bands in general. I'm excited to say that this discussion is continuing over a week later.

Mr. Budiansky has replied to my posts on this blog and has further elaborated on his thoughts on the subject. If you have anything further to add, please press the comment button below and chime in with your 2¢ worth. And please visit Mr. Budiansky's own web site to read his original article and follow up articles.

Here's part of the email dialogue that has transpired over the past couple of days:

Budiansky: "By the way, on the "Dr Suess" analogy -- which I see RW Smith promotes,too, on his web page -- I really think this is bogus. For one thing, there is so much great music by great composers or for that matter traditional folk music etc that is accessible to beginners there's no need for Dr Suessoid material. And, it's absurd to suggest that this is "adults imposing their tastes on children" -- this is giving them the real McCoy instead of pandering to what they imagine kids need but in fact is just a way for a bunch of bad publishers to keep the money flowing in.

Second, if kids were still reading Dr Suess in middle school and high school I think everyone would agree they were suffering from a severe case of remedial education. There's just no excuse for middle and high school (and for that matter even college bands) to be playing the garbage when they could be playing real music. Imposing "adult tastes" indeed -- how
about imposing GOOD taste.

Third, I have yet to encounter the musical equivalent of Dr Suess in any of the "educational music" for band I've heard or looked at -- it's mostly the equivalent of "My Butt Went Psycho" or other such great works of modern children's literature. Dr Suess was WAY better than this stuff."

Crompton: "What rang true with the the Dr. Seuss analogy is that it is incredibly difficult to find descent quality repertoire with minimal technical challenges when the medium for teaching the music is performance in band. I was disheartened a number of years ago by an article in the Instrumentalist magazine that quoted at least one of the biggest name composers for young bands as saying that it was impossible to write good music at an easily playable level. If they can't write it, who can? There has to be some balance point that brings quality music, through original compositions and quality transcriptions of "the great music" to young players. Seuss and others have done so in literature. We didn't read a "transcribed" version of "War and Piece" as young kids! the struggle is to find it in music. I think that it is worth the struggle and that is why I attend the conferences and wade through the publisher's CDs. Amongst all the crap, there has to be quality repertoire for the younger players. I'm not suggesting that we feed Seuss to 12th graders.

What many of my colleagues are afraid to teach is the music that students won't immediately like on first hearing. They don't want to challenge the students for fear that they might quit their elective courses. Unfortunately, it is the brighter kids that they loose and then they feel they have to play music that is yet more dumbed-down. I guess that I am saying that the adults have to impose their tastes on the students. Where else are the students going to develop an opportunity to think critically about the music that they play."

Budiansky: "One more point on "Dr Suess": I really just don't buy this analogy at all. The Tolstoy comparison is a reductio ad absurdum, because the fact is that there is a lot of good music that is both easy and authentic. Yes, there are some terrible cutesy "transcriptions," or rather adaptations, of famous pieces that are not worth playing. But there are a lot of nonsimplified transcriptions of real music that are worth playing and are accessible to beginning players. And again, even if there is some small justification for using this made-for-school music at the very beginning levels, there cannot possibly be any defensible reason to still be using it at high school and college levels -- where it is rampant.

But I just don't see that you need to pander to the imagined childish tastes of beginning players to get them into music. All the evidence shows that when you present even younger kids with the real thing, they respond with enthusiasm and have their taste whetted for more good things."

Crompton: "I guess that the value I see in the Seuss analogy is that we have to teach the students about form, harmonic language, melodic language, etc. To thrust an Ives march parody on young, first-year players who have never played a march is unfair. They can't possibly understand how the parody is brilliant without first understanding the conventions of march form and style. I know that I am guilty, at times, of putting music in the hands of younger players that they might be able to handle from a technical standpoint but not conceptually. Seuss, to me, is quality writing that allows young readers an opportunity to learn form, rhyme and vocabulary that will point them toward Shakespeare. I agree whole-heartedly that if a college musician is being fed the formulaic, non-imaginative crap that we are talking about, the music education system is failing miserably."

I am very interested in hearing other's opinions, whether you are a music educator, parent, composer, publisher or school music grad. Press the comment button below and chime in!

WASBE Resonance - Quality Repertoire

2009-07-14T19:33:00.000-07:00

As happens with any good conference, there are concepts, conversations, and ideas that continue to resonate for a significant time after one's returned home. The one discussion that has resonated with me, and I suspect a number of conference delegates is the one introduced by the journalist, Stephen Budiansky.

As I reported a few days ago, his session was entitled The Problem with Band Repertoire in Music Education; or, First, Shoot All the Composers. Mr. Budiansky discussed his frustration and disappointment with his own children's music programme as they went through high school. He is not a music educator or professional musician, but he does have enough of an amateur background in music to be interested and informed when it comes to music. In fact, I was lucky enough to find him in the hotel bar at dinner. He has a particular affinity for Ives and a thorough knowledge of music history in general.

His frustration revolves around the fact that the curriculum and content of the music program that his children went through was centred around substandard repertoire. They graduated with very little knowledge of music and have not picked up their instruments since the day they played their last concert at school. They have not developed a love of music that has carried them into their adult lives. This is despite the fact that they were both quite competent players on their instruments and, I assume, graduated with respectable marks in the course.

Mr. Budiansky is a respected journalist and as such, did not simply write the article that started all of this discussion without checking his facts and finding out if the school his children attended was unique. Unfortunately, it was not. He has since, written articles for the WASBE Journal with retired conductor of the US Marine Band, Timothy Foley for which much research was done. You can find the original article, the WASBE journal piece and a follow up to the original Washington Post article on his web site.

He observes that much of the music that is written and played in the US - and I don't think Canada is any different - is written by composers who exist within an industry that is interested in making money by creating material that will make bands sound good so that they can win festivals. He notes that many of the composers of these pieces have advanced degrees in music education and are concerned with relating music across school curriculum and tend to be highly formulaic "cookie-cutter" type pieces. He goes on to make the comparison with English teachers and remarks that if the high school English curriculum replaced Shakespeare with "the winner of the 1991 Iowa English teachers' novel-writing contest," parents would respond with a vengeance.

I am very much in agreement with Mr. Budiansky's stance but I wonder if there is any value in the music being written by contemporary composers of school band music and how we rectify this situation.

The issue of the value of the compositions is a tough one. In Bach's day, there had to be many composers that we have never heard of. Composers who wrote a fair amount of mediocre music for specific purposes. Not every church or court composer was a musical genius. It has been time that has filtered out the work of the best. I am continually in a quandary as I try to encourage Canadian composers to consider the wind band medium as a vehicle for their expression. I think that there are times when we have to endure the mediocre in order to allow young composers to learn and to sift through the talent to try and find the next potential Beethoven or Stravinsky. Perhaps the educational market is no different. The issue is that these people get paid a good salary to write and are placed on pedestals by music teachers. There are a few of the composers that Budiansky attacks that do have the occasional good piece of music. I think that some are genuinely in the position of writing a quality piece of music early in their careers and publishers hire them to duplicate their success. But maybe they only had the one good piece in them!

The second issue is harder. How do we rectify the situation? The education system is in a situation not that different than many arts organizations found themselves in with cigarette companies. The music publisher often are very supportive of conferences, festivals, and honour groups. They donate music and help pay for their composers to conduct and adjudicate. The buy booths at conference. We had a number of publishers in the trade show at the WASBE conference. I sincerely doubt that they made enough from sales at the conference to pay for their expenses, but they came in support and for that, I am truly grateful. I think that issue lies with the teachers. It is easy for a young teacher to go to a reading clinic or go on the JW Pepper web site and be told what is a best seller or editor's choice. This is surely great repertoire, correct? It takes time, energy and money to research repertoire, to buy CDs and to attend concerts and conferences. I would be surprised if many school band directors actually listened to band music for pleasure. And if their knowledge of band repertoire is the greatest hits of the Hal Leonard catalogue, it is no wonder.

If music teachers were to spend the time listening and studying the music that they work with, they will find the great repertoire and won't buy the crap. The latest, isn't necessarily the best. As much as I'm a proponent of developing the wind repertoire, a school music program is about teaching music, and that means playing quality transcriptions of the great composers in addition to playing contemporary repertoire written for the wind medium.

Mark Fonder of Ithaca College in New York, responded on his own session the day after Mr. Budiansky's that the occasional formulaic piece is good to teach form, but a steady diet is inexcusable. I wonder about that statement. Can we not find great repertoire, original or in transcription, that teaches what we need it to teach? He also states that we should not inflict adult tastes on children. They are not equipped to handle the more advanced repertoire. He reminds us that we learn to read with Dr. Seuss and Eric Carle not James Joyce. I agree heartily. We just have to work very hard as music educators to find the Seuss's and Carle's in amongst all the cheap imitations.

I don't think that we need to shoot the composers (at least not all of them!) In some cases it is the publishers and sometimes it is the teachers that need to re-examine what it is they are doing. But whatever the solution is there certainly is a problem that needs to be fixed.

There is a comment button below and I would very much like to hear responses on this. I don't pretend to have all the answers and maybe I am way off the mark. But I think that this is an important issue to discuss and debate.

WASBE Day 6 & 7 cont.

2009-07-13T08:32:00.000-07:00

It's over. I spent far too much time sitting yesterday. Sitting in planes. Sitting on busses. Sitting in airports. The added bonus was sitting waiting for the pilot's seat to be replaced before we borded the flight from Chicago to Vancouver.

I promised that I would wrap day 7, so here it is:

The morning sessions got harder and harder as the week progressed as the nights before them seemed to get extended. It was well worth waking up on Saturday morning for Mark Fonder's (Ithaca College, NY) session on repertoire for younger musicians. I have reviewed the session in detail again on the WASBE blog so won't go into detail here.

The WASBE AGM occurred immediately following. Much of the meeting was working through the formalities of such an event, but the highlights were the announcement of Odd Terje Lysebo as President-Elect and the presentations promoting the upcoming conference sites in Taiwan and Hungary. Glenn Price passed the ceremonial gavel to Leon Bly who now steps in as President.

The after lunch, the International Youth Wind Orchestra took the stage to perform a concert of what was billed as the top standard repertoire for winds conducted by the "Three Icons:" Frank Battisti, H. Robert Reynolds and Donald Hunsberger. The choice to play standard rep was somewhat of a departure for this ensemble as it generally programs newer works. But this entire project was about filming the three icons in rehearsal, interview and performance performing the three most major sets of repertoire available to us: both Holst Suites, Lincolnshire Posy, and Hindemith's Symphony in Bb. The DVD will be released at an unannounced future date.

The performance was outstanding. Each of these fine conductors out their own stamp on each of the pieces and the students did an outstanding job of playing the works. My favourite was Reynold's performance of Lincolnshire. There was a way that Reynold's got directly to the music and transported the listener that nobody else really did. I'm looking forward to hearing it again on disc and on DVD.

Having said that, all of the performances except the New Sousa Band from earlier in the week were recorded and are available for purchase from Mark Custom Recordings. I highly recommend getting a copy of at least the highlights disc.

A reception followed that was presented by the host city of the 2011 conference in Taiwan.

The final concert was presented by the US Marine Band, "The President's Own." I had been looking forward to this performance all week. The Higden Percussion Concerto, a performance of the Ives, The Alcotts and Husa's Music for Prague: 1968 drew me in with great anticipation. The band opened with the obligatory march which moved into an incredibly fast performance of Shostakovich's Festive Overture. I thought that from a programming perspective, the move from the march to the overture was a tasteful way of easing the audience toward the more challenging repertoire to follow. The Higden Percussion Concerto was masterfully performed but the piece itself seemed to fall into the trap that many other concerti do. It was a virtuosic showpiece with a couple of interesting ideas but little musical substance. I couldn't get images of Neil Peart out of my head at one point. The Ives was, by contrast, expressive and moving.

At this point, Glenn Price too the stage to present the first WASBE Lifetime Achievement award to Karel Husa. He is in his 80s now and seemed to be moved by the recognition. He returned to his seat to listen to a very powerful performance of his Music for Prague:1968. By the end of the piece, I felt that I had heard the best concert of the week, despite the fact that all of the repertoire didn't match my taste. What happened next, although not unexpected, was offensive and turned my stomach. The performance of the first encore of Stars and Stripes Forever was unquestionably the worst possible piece to follow the Husa. It was in direct opposition from musical and ideological perspectives. I understand that this is what the Marine Band does and this is what people expect. I also get that not everyone in the audience were trained musicians and may have not completely understood or even like the Husa. But I think that perhaps tradition could have been modified, just this once to either leave us with the Husa ringing in our ears or find a more appropriate piece to follow it with.

The week ended with a banquet, which I missed this time in favour of actually seeing a bit of Cincinnati and having dinner with a good friend that I only get to see once every two years. We did, of course, return to the hotel bar to spend our last evening with the WASBE crowd and start to say our goodbyes.

Thank you, so much PSWE for helping me get to WASBE again. I know that it has been a very worthwhile trip as much in inspiration as anything pragmatic. I hope that it translates into something tangeable for you.

WASBE Day 6 & 7

2009-07-12T08:15:00.000-07:00

You can't say that I didn't warn you. Like a carefully crafted crescendo, the bulk of the energy and activity in the conference happened in the final two days. Hence the missed day of reporting.

Day 6 seemed to split in half. The first half of the day was brought to you by Jack Stamp and Eugene Corporon - with one notable exception - and the second half of the day belonged to Asia. The morning repertoire session was performed by the Keystone Wind Ensemble. I won't report here on the repertoire presented as much of that is covered in my blog entry for the WASBE web site. But I did find it interesting that, in some ways, Keystone is much like PSWE, they are essentially an alumni band of Indiana University of Pennsylvania and bring together outstanding players, some who are and some who aren't involved in music professionally. The significant difference is that Keystone is a recording ensemble and have only performed five live concerts in their history!

The other part of the Stamp/Corporon presentation was a session discussing the recording history and methods of the groups that they have jointly been involved in recording over the last twenty years. It was interesting for me to learn about how they record, how they finance and how they distribute their recordings. They also issued a sizeable document listing every CD that they have released and the repertoire contained on each.

The most provocative session of the week occurred between these two and was entitled The Problem with Band Repertoire in Music Education: or, First, Shoot all the Composers! This talk was given by a Washington Post journalist [Mr. Budiansky has corrected me. He was written for the Washington Post but is not, in fact employed by the Washington Post. He is a free-lance writer, author and historian.}who published an article in 2005 bemoaning the lack of music being taught in schools. This was written from the standpoint of a band parent who's kids had survived a school music program to never play or show much interest in music at all after graduation. He blames the failure of the music education system in North America on the curriculum. The curriculum is so focussed on preparing for the next performance and trying to win the next competition, that the kids don't get to truly learn about music. The music that is selected as the core of the curriculum is designed to help make your band sound good rather than teach them about musical history, style and aesthetics. He blames the composers and the publishers for continuously spewing out formulaic crap that becomes the diet for music students. As one can imagine, there was a fair amount of debate that ensued, both in the actual session and in the halls and bars for the rest of conference. Both composer and publisher viewpoints were represented in the session itself as well as many conductors and music educators. A sensitive issue was exposed and, I suspect, will continue to generate discussion for some time to come.

The afternoon concert was presented by the China Youth Corps Band and I have to admit that the repertoire was so uninteresting to me that I left at intermission.

The evening concert was a pleasant surprise. I have to admit that I was not particularly looking forward to it given my experience with the programming of many of the Japanese bands that I have heard before but the Philharmonic Winds OSAKAN played some very interesting repertoire without falling into too many of the traps that many of their neighbouring bands do. I was particularly surprised by a work by Mark Camphouse entitled Anthem. Mr. Camphouse dealt with the Iraq war and the American involvement. He quoted both the Iraqi and American national anthems and I was afraid that this could turn out to be cliched, crass or obvious. This was far from the truth. The use of the American anthem was subtle and tasteful. If I knew the Iraqi anthem, I would be able to comment on it. It was an expressive and captivating work that will need to be listened to again, if not actually performed!

My time, right now is running out and I need to get ready to catch a plane to come home. I may finish this up in transit or tomorrow when I return. Now, stuff the suitcase and find my passport!

WASBE Day 5

2009-07-09T19:52:00.000-07:00

Day five has drawn to a close it is becoming apparent that the whole event is rapidly coming to a close. As we near the end, I'm packing more and more in in an attempt to get as much out of the week as possible.

The day started with another early repertoire session, this time hosted by the Philharmonic Winds OSAKAN. They were, again, extremely well prepared and presented a session with five works from five different cultures. The Japanese piece by Yo Goto was inspired by Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata and played on the word relationship of lunar and lunatic. Fantasma Lunare was inspired by Beethoven but rarely overtly quoted Beethoven. It is a striking original work that would ring a chord, as it were with many types of listeners. We often don't get to hear original Korean band music and Koh Chang-su changes this with his Pansori'c Rhapsody based on the traditional Korean two-person dramas played out by voice and drum. Both are difficult pieces but offer something fresh to the repertoire.

Two session put on by the Conductor's Guild on technique and a lunch meeting regarding the schools network, brought us to a great dialogue with three prominent composers: Jennifer Higden, Gary Carpenter and Steven Bryant. Martin Ellerby, himself a prolific writer of wind music, moderated the session. For a full review of this session, see my blog entry on the WASBE web site.

The ended with dinner sandwiched between two concerts by very prominent American Bands: The Keystone Wind Ensemble under Jack Stamp and the North Texas Wind Symphony under Eugene Corporon. The first was a loud but well-played concert that included a trumpet feature by Joseph Turrin entitled Chronicles and Jack Stamp's Symphony No. 1: "In Memoriam David Diamond." Both were exciting and engaging works that brought the audience to their feet.

The North Texas performance was as polished as you might expect from this outstanding ensemble. The highlight was a new piece by Steven Bryant, Ecstatic Waters that successfully paired electronic sounds with winds. Many have tried this combination and I was not alone in thinking that this may be the first if not only successful work that combined the two. Again, not an easy piece, but very engaging both for the novelty of the concept but also for the pure expression of the music.

WASBE Day 4

2009-07-08T21:57:00.000-07:00

Hi folks,

Another day in Cincinnati has come to and end. I have to admit that it started a little slow. The result of experiencing the local whiskeys until a little too late last night.

When I did get into the university, I attended a very informative session on the current activity in South and Central America in the Wind Band movement. It is interesting to hear how national governments are adopting a strong attitude toward instrumental music in an effort to keep kids busy and weapons out of their hands! I also learned of a number of composers who are beginning to write wind music from the many South American cultures.

I was then given the privilege of introducing the open rehearsal of the International Youth Wind Orchestra. The conductors are H. Robert Reynolds, Frank Battisti and Donald Hunsberger. They are all working standard repertoire (Linconshire Posy, the Holst Suites and Hindemith's Symphony in Bb) in a project that will result in a comprehensive DVD set that looks at the rehearsal process of these three icons and their approach to these four standard works.

The rehearsal itself was followed up by a forum where these gentlemen expressed their views on the works at hand, conducting in general and answered questions from the audience. It was truly amazing to benefit from the experience and wisdom of these three men.

The session was followed by a short concert by the Westlake High School Wind Ensemble from Austin Texas. This group is truly an amazing high school ensemble and they played an interesting program. Who knew that Carter Pann (of Slalom fame) could write something slow and expressive!

I had the opportunity to have dinner with Odd Terje and we were able to catch up on a lot of things. We then returned for a pre-concert talk ad an amazing performance by the Royal Northern College of Music Wind Ensemble. They played a mostly very contemporary programme that included a number of current and ex RNMC faculty composers. The performance ended with a truly exciting performance of Metropolis by Adam Gorb.

The reception and concert also allowed me an opportunity to finaly meet Joseph Turin and to thank him for Jazzalogue and to discuss saxophone repertoire with an up and coming composer at the RNMC and to talk in more concrete terms with Adam about the proposed sax quartet! Off to bed, so I don't sleep through the proceedings tomorrow. I have sessions to review on the WASBE blog and meetings to go to!

WASBE Day 3

2009-07-08T05:32:00.000-07:00

There was a discussion two years ago in Killarney about whether it was possible and whether any composer in their right mind would write a piece for wind band that never went louder than mezzo piano. I'm still not sure what the answer is but Adam Gorb gave it a good try.

Tuesday morning started with the second repertoire session hosted by the Royal Northern College of Music and their three directors, Tim Reynish, Clark Rundell and Mark Heron. They presented 6 works from the UK for winds, one of which was a piece by Adam called Tranquility. This pieces stays below mezzo piano through much of it's probably 6 minute duration but it does climax significantly stronger. There is some beautiful quite writing though. The piece ends with a series of gorgeous quiet brass chords and is, so far, one of my favourite pieces from the reading sessions. The rest of the session included a great new(ish) piece by Kenneth Hesketh called The Guilded Theatre and pieces by two new composers to me: Emily Howard and Duncan Ward.

I attended and reviewed a session on rehearsal strategies later in the morning. It was hosted by a wonderful high school band from Texas and run by Gary Hill and Clark Rundell. Some brilliant insight to rehearsal techniques in light of current research on neuroscience and cognitive psychology. If you want to read more about this one, go to the WASBE blog.

The two concerts de jour began with the Frysk Fanfare Orchestra. Many PSWE members had the opportunity to hear them in Singapore and know that this is essentially a European invention that is an extended brass/saxophone section from the wind band. There are a couple of instrument that we don't usually have in the band like Eb Tuba and a fluglehorn section but otherwise, they are very similar. The players in this group are truly outstanding and they presented an extremely well prepared concert that focused primarily on Dutch composers. The highlight for me came in the form of two pieces by Marco Pütz. One was a rescoring for a piece that he written for wind band called Die Judenbuche and the other was a premiere of Four Earth Songs for Soprano and Fanfare Band based on the poetry of Graeme King.

The second concert was given by the Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music Chamber Players. Again the program was exceedingly well prepared and performed. The first half introduced me to a Martinu and an Ibert work. La Revue de Cuisine was by Martinu was particularly entertaining.

WASBE Day 2

2009-07-06T21:30:00.000-07:00

Well,

Day 2 is behind me (just barely). The day started with a great repertoire session of music from South America. Unfortunately, the band from Brazil that had originally planned to be here couldn't make it, so most of it was done via video. Some interesting music is being composed south of the equator and we may see some of it show up on a future PSWE concert!

Following that session was a workshop on interpreting and performing Sousa marches. Keith Brion and the New Sousa Band did a wonderful workshop for an hour and a half on repertoire that is often seriously underrated in Canada.

The afternoon offered up an open rehearsal with the Royal Northern College of Music with Tim Reynish and Clark Rundell. Some interesting insights on rehearsing Vaughan Williams and Gorb! I look forward to hearing them in concert tomorrow night.

A wonderful dinner with Mark and Jennie Morette was followed by a concert by a very good Spanish ensemble. Some solid Spanish music was performed in addition to one Russian work. Pieces that caught my ear were Concertango for Alto Sax, Jazz Trio and Wind Ensemble by Luis Serrano Alarcón and Wind of Yemen by Boris Pigovat.

Of course there were many other meetings with friends old and new either at the display booths or over a drink in the bar. I had the opportunity to meet Mike Christianson of the Gotham Wind Symphony and was told by Jens Lindemann that he is working on the US premier of Trajectories. I wish him the best with that and hope that it comes to fruition!

WASBE Day 1

2009-07-05T20:58:00.000-07:00

Well, Day 1 is done.

As people continue to trickle in, old connections are being re-established and the music has started to flow.

After the opening ceremony, two high school groups performed: one from James Logan High School in California and the other from Lockport township in Indiana. Both were amazing school level ensembles - something we don't hear much at WASBE conferences. They played challenging programs that included premiers of works by Brett Abigaña and Jonathan Newman and impressive performances of Bells for Stokowski by Michael Daugherty, Song for Lyndsay by Andrew Boysen Jr., and Redline Tango by John Mackey.

The evening performance was by Keith Brion's New Sousa Band. It included a feature performance by PSWE friend Jens Lindemann. He played up a storm and wore a jacket that would make Don Cherry jealous. This group is made up of pro players with the specific aim of presenting Sousa concerts as they were originally presented some 100 years ago. Highlights, beside's Jens's performance of Air Varie on "Hope Told a Flattering Tale", included Humoresque by Sousa and John Beck's performance of Xylophonia. We may just see a couple of the pieces I heard today show up on future PSWE programs!

It was nice to reconnect with a number of PSWE friends such as Glenn Price, Adam Gorb, Marco Pütz and Odd Terje Lysebo. it's also been great to start to make new contacts who may come home to meet the band in coming seasons!

Summer in Cincinnati

2009-07-05T05:25:00.001-07:00

What does a band director do on summer vacation? Go to a band conference of course! I'm sitting in my hotel room in Cincinnati right now anticipating the beginning of the bi-annual WASBE conference. For those long time followers of PSWE, you know that WASBE is the World Association of Symphonic Bands and Wind Ensembles and PSWE performed at this same conference back in 2005 in Singapore.

This week's activities look particularly impressive. There will be more than 14 concerts by groups like the New Sousa Band from the US, the Royal Northern College of Music Wind Ensemble from the UK, the Frysk Fanfare Band from the Netherlands, the Brazil Wind Orchestra, the CCM Chamber Players from right here in Cincinnati, The North Texas Wind Symphony and the US Marine Band. We will be treated to performances by high school ensembles for the first time in my memory and will get to hear and participate in discussions about repertoire, conducting rehearsal technique and every other aspect of the wind band world. It looks to be an exciting week.

I'll try to update this blog on a daily basis and will also be writing reviews of a number of sessions for the WASBE blog. I hope you enjoy!

The News

2009-05-19T09:00:00.000-07:00

Attached is a link to an article done by Jessica Barrett of the North Shore News. Both Noel MacDonald and I were interviewed for the article and Ms. Barrett is able to make us both sound like we know what we are talking about. No small task! Thanks to the North Shore News and Jessica Barrett for this exposure!

Here's the article.

You missed the concert?

2009-05-13T17:40:00.000-07:00

It's OK. Take a deep breath. Yes, the band was in top form. Yes, the music was amazing. Yes, our soloists left the audience in awe. But it's not a lost cause.

We will be playing the concert again this coming Friday night at Kay Meek Centre in West Vancouver. Same repertoire. Same amazing musicians. If anything, it should be an even better performance with one concert and another rehearsal under our belts.

Don't miss this opportunity! We can't do the concert a third time. This is your last chance.

Tickets can be bought on line.

This is how to get to the theatre.

See you there.

I'll be looking for you!

Moving Pictures

2009-05-03T11:31:00.000-07:00

Film makers have known of the power of music from day one. Even before they'd figured out the technology of including sound on film, organists were hired to accompany the playing of silent movies. The great big band leader, Count Basie, got his start in the music business playing for the movies.

These days, movie producers pay big bucks to add a level of emotion that is not possible with visuals alone. There is a long line of outstanding composers that have either written for the movies or have made a career of writing for the movies.

John Williams is likely one of the best known names in the movie soundtrack business with titles like Star Wars, ET, Jaws, and Indiana Jones on his resume, it is unlikely that you can't sing at least one John Williams theme. There have been many composers that have been known for their concert writing that have also written for film. Dmitri Shostakovich is one of the most famous early composers for film. Much of what he wrote for film hasn't been heard by western ears but is slowly being discovered in Russia. He explored the role of the composer in the film process. In todays world, most composers write to an already formed visual product. Shostakovich wrote the music to an opera that he wanted to present as an animated film. The music existed first and he asked an animator to produce the film to his completed music.

John Philip Sousa, known as the March King, thought along the same lines. He wrote music that he hoped would be used by movie producers. To my knowledge, it was never used, but he did create some highly visual music that is a delightful departure from his prolific march output.

Come to Evergreen Cultural Centre on May 9th or Kay Meek Centre on May 15th to hear PSWE perform the music of some of these and other incredible composers for film.

OK, I'll Bite...

2009-03-27T15:41:00.000-07:00

Blog readership has gone up significantly in recent weeks. I'm not posting as regularly as I'd like but I'm seeing plenty of hits, particularly from California and other parts of the US. The primary target of this blog is people who attend our concerts and members of the band. What are folks from further away looking for when you access the blog. Please comment below and perhaps, I can build content that you will find interesting and useful on a more regular basis.

How to Get your PSWE fix

2009-02-28T07:47:00.000-08:00

Although you won't see PSWE as a whole in a public concert until May, we are keeping busy over the coming months. Here's what's going on:

A number of members of PSWE will be involved in Coquitlam's Water's Edge Festival on March 7th and 8th. The PSWE brass section has formed a group named West Coast Brassworks and will be performing a wide variety of music from 10-11am on the Lakeside Stage at Larfage Lake on Saturday, March 7th. You can then sprint down the path to Glen Pine Pavillion to catch Sax Noir at 11am. Sax Noir is a wonderful sax quartet made up of PSWE members Debbie Webb, Val Crocker and Chuck Currie and Ward Blair. Their performances are always captivating and entertaining.

A rare opportunity to hear an innovative work by Canadian Composer R. Murray Schaeffer is also part of the Water's Edge Festival. The piece Music for Wilderness Lake is in two parts and is performed by a trombone ensemble assembled around Lafarge Lake. Part 1 - Dusk - will be performed at 5pm on Saturday, March 7th and Part 2 - Dawn will occur at 7:30am the next morning. PSWE trombone players and our talented (and potentially very wet) Associate Conductor will be performing.

For More info on Waters Edge Festival, go to their extensive web site.

On April 2nd, PSWE will be working with the elementary band students of the North Vancouver School DIstrict. This is an annual event where PSWE members work directly with the students to teach them ways to improve their skills on their instruments and then all of the members of the band perform on a concert to help model those skills in a concert setting. If you have children in the North Vancouver Elementary School bands, you are encouraged to bring them to this event at Boundary School and Lucas Centre. More information is available through their school band teacher.

Busy times! If we don't see you before, make sure that you reserve May 9th or May 15th for performances of Moving Pictures at Evergreen Cultural Centre and Kay Meek respectively!

Guy's Gallimaufry - aka Music; The Food of Love - Part 2

2009-02-19T09:14:00.000-08:00

Guy Woolfenden is another well respected english composer with a long history of creating wonderful music for a myriad of ensembles but his specialty is in theatre music - in particular, theatre music associated with Shakespeare. He as written for the Royal Shakespeare Company, the Comedie-Francaise, the Burgtheater, the Teatro Stabile and the Norwegian National Theatre.

The Woolfenden work that the we will present this weekend is Gallimaufry and is, as is quoted in The Winter's Tale, "a hotch potch made up of all the scraps of the larder." It is a collection of music that has been used in the Royal Shakespeare Company's production of Henry the IV in 1982. As one would expect, it is full of scenic imagery including the pomp of royalty to an all out tavern brawl.

So, join King Henry and Falstaff and other Shakespearean favourites in PSWE's musical celebration of the world of the Bard at the Evergreen Cultural Centre on February 21st at 8pm Tickets are available on line or at the Evergreen Cultural Centre Box Office.

Music: The Food of Love - Part 1

2009-02-10T20:22:00.000-08:00

The Pacific Symphonic Wind Ensemble will be presenting an exciting concert of music that comes directly or indirectly from the inspiration of Shakespeare. Some repertoire is from the ballet, some from the theatre and some simply from the god of drama who would have inspired Shakespeare himself.

Rather than tell you about the music that you will hear and the background of each piece, I am going to give you a little background on the composers whose music we will present on February 20th.

Edward Gregson is a name that should be familiar to those of you who have followed PSWE over the years. Among other works, he is the composer of the title track of our "Festivo!" CD that came out in 2001. He is a prolific composer having written for band, orchestra, choir, chamber ensembles, theatre, film and television. He has taught composition at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester and served as their Principal for 12 years before retiring in 2008. He was recently awarded an Honourary Doctorate from Manchester University to add to an impressive list of other honourary degrees and fellowships from other British universities.

His work is dramatic and exciting. It is accessable on a first listen but gives the audience member a reason to come back for multiple listens. Each time you will discover something new. "The Sword and the Crown" will be presented on February 20th and is drawn from incidental music that he composed for the Royal Shakespeare Company. It incorporates a number of sounds and effects that draw out the imagery of the plays they were written for. It doesn't take a very active imagination to be able to "see" the scenes that this music was written for.

I expect that you will enjoy listening to Gregson's "The Sword and the Crown" as much as we have enjoyed rehearsing it. If you do like it, you will also enjoy listening to our recording of "Festivo" available at the Evergreen Cultural Centre Gift Shop and on line at Amazon.com.

See you February 21st at 8pm at the Evergreen Cultural Centre!