21.05.06 Blue2 Winds Concert

2020-2021 Concert Season

Blue2 Winds Showcase Concert

Emma Angoli, MHS Band Director Jesse Clark, Brass Instructor Nyla Clements, Woodwind Instructor Adam Hackbarth, Brass Instructor Miko Roman, Woodwind Instructor

Mukwonago High School Commons Thursday | May 6 | 7:30pm

Due to copyright and privacy laws: You may not publicly display or post recordings (YouTube, Facebook, etc.) of any part of this program.

Downtown Dash (2009/2020)

Program

Kaleidoscope (2019)

Nathan Daughtrey (b. 1975) Matthew R. Putnam (b. 1968)

Entrance of the Queen of Sheba (1749/2011) Shining Moments (2019)

G.F. Handel (1685-1759) arr. David Marlatt Larry Clark (b. 1963)

A Fisherman's Tale (2009)

Ryan Meeboer (b. 1978)

In the Hall of the Mountain King (1875/2019)

Edvard Grieg (1843-1907) arr. David Marlatt

-IntermissionWestern Fair (2019)

Ryan Meeboer (b. 1978) arr. David Marlatt

Flower Duet from Lakme (1883/2012)

Leo Delibes (1836-1891) arr. David Marlatt

Dawn of the Century (1900/2019)

Last Voyage of Queen Anne’s Revenge (2010) Sheltering Sky (2012/2020) Lassus Trombone (1915/2009) Strange Humors (1998/2020)

Edward Taylor Paull (1858-1924) arr. Matthew R. Putnam Ryan Meeboer (b. 1978) arr. David Marlatt John Mackey (b. 1973) Henry Fillmore (1881-1956) arr. James Christensen John Mackey (b. 1973)

Program Notes

Downtown Dash (2009/2020)

Nathan Daughtrey (b. 1975)

Downtown Dash is meant to depict a brisk 5K road race (3.1 miles) through the city streets surrounded by towering skyscrapers. The runners are all assembled behind the starting line, anxiously awaiting the horn or gun to go off. Because there are so many runners, even after the race starts, no one is able to move very quickly until the pack thins out. Each of the 3 miles in the race have their own musical character. During the first mile (m. 17) you are finally able to settle into your own comfortable stride. You start to pick up the pace a bit during mile 2 as the music moves into 3/4 time (m. 47). During mile 3 (m. 71), fatigue is starting to set in as you pick up the pace even more, depicted by the low brass taking over and moving the key into D minor. As you reach the last tenth of a mile (m. 93), the finish line is now in your sights, so you break into an all-out sprint to the finish.

(Program notes by Nathan Daughtrey) Kaleidoscope (2019)

Matthew R. Putnam (b. 1968)

Kaleidoscope is artfully written to bring back memories of playing with a kaleidoscope as a child. Written in 3/4, this time signature creates the feel of the kaleidoscope spinning in your hands. With syncopated rhythms and a constant shift between unison and divisi playing, the music emulates the image found at the end of a kaleidoscope as it swirls and changes.

(Program Notes by Emma Angoli) Entrance of the Queen of Sheba (1749/2011)

G.F. Handel (1685-1759) arr. David Marlatt

The Entrance of the Queen of Sheba premiered in London on March 17, 1749 as the first scene of Act III in the oratorio Solomon. One of the last of Handel’s many oratorios, Solomon is rarely performed in its entirety, but Handel’s bright and lively “The Arrival of the Queen of Sheba” interlude is a widely appreciated processional set piece. It often was (and it continues to be) played during wedding ceremonies. A noted public performance of the piece occurred during the opening ceremonies of the London 2012 Olympic Games.

(Program Notes by Betsy Schwarm)

Shining Moments (2019)

Larry Clark (b. 1963)

Every person has shining moments where they are at their best, where they show others the best version of themselves. This piece is intended to musically depict this feeling in a beautiful uplifting ballad that can also teach developing bands good musicianship. A musically powerful experience.

(Program Notes by Larry Clark) A Fisherman's Tale (2009)

Ryan Meeboer (b. 1978)

Using the style of Canadian folk songs from the east coast and the story telling features of Newfoundland, A Fisherman's Tale is a piece about a trip out into the ocean. The piece opens with the solemn, chorale-like movement Farewell, as the fisherman leaves his home and family to begin the excursion, and closes with Return to Harbour, an up tempo movement representing the workers’ successful homecoming.

(Program Notes by Eighth Note Publications) In the Hall of the Mountain King (1875/2019)

Edvard Grieg (1843-1907) arr. David Marlatt

In the Hall of the Mountain King is a piece of orchestral music composed

by Edvard Grieg in 1875 as incidental music for the sixth scene of act 2 in Henrik Ibsen's 1867 play Peer Gynt. The sequence in which the it is used is when Peer sneaks into the Troll Mountain King's castle. The piece is played when Peer attempts to escape from the King. Peer Gynt's slow, careful footsteps are played by the lower 2 voices. The footsteps of the King's trolls are played quietly by other instruments. When the trolls spot Peer, they give chase and the music begins to speed up to a wild finish!

(Program Notes by Eighth Note Publications)

Western Fair (2019)

Ryan Meeboer (b. 1978) arr. David Marlatt

Western Fair is an energetic, uplifting piece that can be fun for both players to perform and listeners to hear. It is composed using two main melodies that are performed in many forms, combined in various fragments and supported with different harmonic backgrounds, giving it new life each time it is heard. The piece slowly builds from a simple flugel horn solo into an epic, cut-time feel in the middle before driving to an exciting ending.

(Program Notes by Eighth Note Publications) Flower Duet from Lakme (1883/2012)

Leo Delibes (1836-1891) arr. David Marlatt

The Flower Duet is a duet for soprano and mezzo-soprano in the first act of Léo Delibes' opera Lakmé, premiered in Paris in 1883. It is sung by the characters Lakmé, daughter of a Brahmin priest, and her servant Mallika, as they go to gather flowers by a river.

(Program Notes by “World of Opera” National Public Radio) Dawn of the Century (1900/2019)

Edward Taylor Paull (1858-1924) arr. Matthew R. Putnam

E.T. Paull was a turn of the century composer, arranger, and sheet music publisher. He began publishing in 1894, specializing in marches. In order to sell music, it was marketed with uniquely colorful front cover illustrations to catch the eye of buyers. He was the first music publisher to use five-color lithography for his sheet music. For this reason alone, music published by his firm has become highly collectible in the modern era and has latterly aroused interest in the composer.

(Program notes by David A. Jasen) Last Voyage of Queen Anne’s Revenge (2010)

Ryan Meeboer (b. 1978) arr. David Marlatt

Queen Anne's Revenge was the final ship sailed by Edward Thatch, also known as the pirate, Blackbeard. To give the "Pirate-like" feeling to the music, it has been composed in 6/8 time, as have many pieces about pirates.

(Program Notes by Eighth Note Publications)

Sheltering Sky (2012/2020)

John Mackey (b. 1973)

The wind band medium has, in the twenty-first century, a host of disparate styles that dominate its texture. At the core of its contemporary development exist a group of composers who dazzle with scintillating and frightening virtuosity. As such, at first listening one might experience John Mackey’s Sheltering Sky as a striking departure. Its serene and simple presentation is a throwback of sorts – a nostalgic portrait of time suspended.

The work itself has a folksong-like quality – intended by the composer – and through this an immediate sense of familiarity emerges. Certainly the repertoire has a long and proud tradition of weaving folk songs into its identity, from the days of Holst and Vaughan Williams to modern treatments by such figures as Donald Grantham and Frank Ticheli. Whereas these composers incorporated extant melodies into their works, however, Mackey takes a play from Percy Grainger. Grainger’s Colonial Song seemingly sets a beautiful folksong melody in an enchanting way (so enchanting, in fact, that he reworked the tune into two other pieces: Australian Up-Country Tune and The Gum-Suckers March). In reality, however, Grainger’s melody was entirely original – his own concoction to express how he felt about his native Australia. Likewise, although the melodies of Sheltering Sky have a recognizable quality (hints of the contours and colors of Danny Boy and Shenandoah are perceptible), the tunes themselves are original to the work, imparting a sense of hazy distance as though they were from a half-remembered dream.

The work unfolds in a sweeping arch structure, with cascading phrases that elide effortlessly. The introduction presents softly articulated harmonies stacking through a surrounding placidity. From there emerge statements of each of the two folksong-like melodies – the call as a sighing descent in solo oboe, and its answer as a hopeful rising line in trumpet. Though the composer’s trademark virtuosity is absent, his harmonic language remains. Mackey avoids traditional triadic sonorities almost exclusively, instead choosing more indistinct chords with diatonic extensions (particularly seventh and ninth chords) that facilitate the hazy sonic world that the piece inhabits. Near cadences, chromatic dissonances fill the narrow spaces in these harmonies, creating an even greater pull toward wistful nostalgia. Each new phrase begins over the resolution of the previous one, creating a sense of motion that never completely stops. The melodies themselves unfold and eventually dissipate until at last the serene introductory material returns – the opening chords finally coming to rest.

(Program notes by Jake Wallace)

Lassus Trombone (1915/2009)

Henry Fillmore (1881-1956) arr. James Christensen

Lassus Trombone was John Philip Sousa’s favorite smear. He programmed the tune on every concert of one of his final tours. It was also Fillmore’s favorite.

Delegates who attended the 1949 Southern Division meeting of the Music Educators' National Conference in Tampa, Florida, may have forgotten most of the other details, but they will never forget "Uncle Henry,” dressed in his customary white suit and wielding a huge baton, conducting a line of trombonists stretched across a football field playing his Lassus Trombone.

(Program Note from “Program Notes for Band”) Strange Humors (1998/2020)

John Mackey (b. 1973)

Strange Humors represents another of Mackey’s works (after “Redline Tango”) that has been transcribed for wind ensemble. The first version of “Strange Humors” was a student piece for string quartet and djembe that Mackey wrote while pursuing his graduate degree at The Juilliard School. It was later adapted for use by the Parsons Dance Company, with choreography by Robert Battle. Its transcription came at the behest of Richard Floyd on behalf of the American Bandmasters Association. The piece represents a merging of musical cultures — the modal melodies and syncopated rhythms of middle Eastern music with the percussive accompaniment of African drumming.

At the heart of the work lies the pulse of the djembe, which remains from the original version. The djembe, an hourglass-shaped drum played with bare hands, is a major part of the customs of west African countries such as Mali and Guinea, where djembe ensembles accompany many functional celebrations of society.

The piece opens with a sultry English horn solo, a line laced with Phrygian influence representing the “typical” melodies of the most northeastern parts of the African continent — most notably Egypt, but also parts of the Arabian peninsula. Later, the saxophones emulate the snaking lines of the English horn.

The addition of brass and auxiliary percussion to the original orchestration makes for particular impact during the shout sections of the piece, and the groove of the djembe combined with the quirky rhythms throughout leave an impression that lingers in the listener’s mind long after its conclusion.

(Program notes by Jake Wallace)

Performers

Due to the importance of every part, students are listed alphabetically.

Jacob Anderson Jules Barlow Andie Barron Matt Bloom Andrew Blum Amelia Boerger Brooke Conner Gael Constans Mailen Fingland Kaylyn Geuder Ethan Henken Jessica Howell Ellie Huebner Katie Kaczinski Michael Kaczinski Grace Kearney Samantha Kohlmann

Alex Mersfelder Darren Meyer Michael Sadowski Brynn Schmitz-Guy Liz Sellers McKenna Sherrod Zack Simonson Cameron Smith Dominic Sponholz Josh Stobbe Luke Treutelaar Caleb Turk Sarah Ullrich Paige Wilde Katharine Wilhelm Claire Wright

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Upcoming Events Date

Time

Event

May 7

N/A

Virtual Solo & Ensemble Deadline (State)

May 8

All Day

Blue2 Winds & Perc Recording Sessions

Mukwonago High School

May 13

7:00pm

MHS/PVMS Combined Jazz Concert

Greenwald PAC

May 15

7:00pm

Blue2 Percussion Showcase Concert

West Gym

May 18

After School

Elementary Instrument Fitting Night

Clarendon Avenue Elementary

May 19

TBA

MHS Bands Finale Concert

Greenwald PAC

May 20

TBA

PVMS Bands Finale Concert

MHS West Gym

May 26

3:00pm

Blue2 Perc/Winds Farmer’s Market Performance

Mukwonago Field Park

May 27

After School

Elementary Instrument Fitting Night

Rolling Hills Elementary

May 31

9:30am

Memorial Day Parade & Ceremony

Mukwonago Library

Jun 1

7:00pm Encore: MHS Music Dept Award & Senior Night

Location

MHS West Gym

For more information on upcoming events, visit our website: www.mukwonagobands.org

Fine Arts Boosters

What We Do We support the arts in the Mukwonago Area School District through volunteerism, fundraising, and advocacy.

Membership Dues Membership Dues support around 25% of the MFAB budget. There are options available for every family ($30, $60, or $90) and a business membership option ($250) for our community partners. Note that some funding for each individual art is based on the percentage of families it has registered for MFAB. Simply by signing up, you are supporting your student!

How Can You Join? https://www.mukwonagofineartsboosters.com/get-involved Want to Become More Involved?

Attend a meeting! Meetings are the second Tuesday of the month at 6:30 pm via Zoom. The meeting link can be found at: https://www.mukwonagofineartsboosters.com/get-involved

MFAB Sulla Cima Members The Bloom Family The Brandt Family The Cotturone Family Czeshinski Family David and Marin Dobbs The D'Amour Family The Esmeier Family The Fleischer Family The Marrari Family

Dan & Dawn Henkhaus Colin and Marci Hughes The Kaczinski Family The Marrari Family David and Jenifer Mersfelder The Myers Family Chris and Katy O’Connor Oftedahl Family

The Panetta Family Pett Family Laura and Francis Pilon The Shaffer Family The Sherrod Family The Simonson Family The Turk Family The Wilhelm Family

MFAB Sulla Cima Business Members Kyle & Kristin Christensen

For more information on upcoming events, visit our website: www.mukwonagofineartsboosters.com

Special Thanks MASD Board of Education Shawn McNulty, MASD Superintendent Stephanie Blue, Director of Student Learning Tom Karthausser, Director of Business Affairs Ben Kossow, Coordinator of Student Assessment Data and Analysis Christine Bowden, Director of Pupil Services Dustin Lehman, Coordinator of College and Career Readiness Susan Muenter, Director of Human Resources Andy Wegner, District Supervisor of Buildings and Grounds Jim Darin, MHS Principal Sarah Dianich, & Stephanie Krenz, MHS Associate Principals William Plant, MHS Dean of Students Andy Trudell, MHS Activities Director Dean Kovnesky, MHS Head Custodian MHS Custodial Staff Luke Spielman, PVMS Principal Lee Libecki, PVMS Associate Principal Holly Bodish, PVMS Dean of Students Jenny Peterson, PVMS Band Director PJ Uhazie, MHS Choir Director Lori Wildemann, PVMS Choir Director Julie Hanisch, MHS Drama Director Dale Wimer and Alexa Zakutansky, MHS Orchestra Directors Sarah Oftedahl, PVMS Orchestra Director Amanda Caretta-Hull, Nyla Clements & Ben Warrichaiet, MES Band Directors Emilee Deck, Kathy Doty, Adam Hackbarth & Caryn Ruesch, MES Music Teachers Joseph Coldwell, PAC Technical Coordinator Carmen Scott, PAC House Manager & Technical Assistant PAC Usher Corps PAC Student Crew JoAnn Barkley, District Printing