Wind concert features traditional repertoire

Katrina S. Edmond, Staff Writer
Published On: 10/ 7/2008

The UAB Wind Symphony and Symphony Band will have a free concert on Sunday in the Jemison Concert Hall at the Alys Stephens Center.

Sue Samuels, director of bands at UAB, explains that the repertoire that will be played in this concert is traditional wind band repertoire of the 20th century.

“The type of repertoire that will be played in this concert will be traditional wind band repertoire of the 20th century, including composers such as John Philip Sousa, Gustav Holst, Frank Ticheli and other contemporary band composers,” Samuels said.

“There are two separate groups that both rehearse on Tuesdays and Thursdays in the fall, for one and a half hours each rehearsal,” Samuels said. “The Wind Symphony and Symphony Band are classes that the students enroll in for one credit hour. In addition to the full band classes, students meet in small group sections (i.e. clarinets, trumpets, percussion, etc.) two times per concert preparation period.”

Hernandez Stroud, Wind Symphony Principal Trumpet, explains that the preparation time for the concerts varies depending upon the expectations and nature of the concert.

“Typically, preparation time, depending on the expectations and nature of the concert, is around two to three and a half months,” Stroud said. “The process is often tedious, as aforementioned. The juxtaposition of rhythms, the compilation of chords and the overall unity of any musical ensemble are key in preparing and polishing for a concert. The most difficult part when preparing for a concert is, as the time draws nears, the level of selectivity and refinement that musicians undertake increases. The quality of the music transforms over time and the ability to notice small fractures in the texture of the music becomes more and more sharpened.”

Sarah Katherine Johnson, a member of the Symphony Band, explained that preparation for this concert is intense.
“For this concert we started out by sight reading lots and lots of music at the beginning of the semester and worked on the songs that really seemed to fit the band until we had a final list of the songs to play on the concert,” Johnson said. “We practiced as a group, in sectionals of percussion, brass, and woodwinds, in sectionals that were section to section, e.g. flutes, clarinets, trumpets, etc. And we also had to make time as individuals to practice our parts. We also got to explore and find our many different strengths and weakness by having multiple conductors work with us. Through all this work, we’ve arranged a concert that I really think the audience will enjoy.”

Caleb Cash, a member of the Wind Symphony, believes that the hardest part of practice is perfecting the details.
“The hardest part is trying to perfect the small details that music has for the ensemble,” Cash said. “Another hard part is getting everyone in the ensemble to play the same emotion that the music portrays.”

“There are two major concerts for each group each semester in the Alys Stephens Center,” Samuels said. “On top of that, the Wind Symphony plays for the annual UAB Honor Bands each December, tours throughout the state of Alabama performing for other college students or high school students, and has performed at the Alabama Music Educators Association State Conference and at the College Band Directors National Association Southern Division Conference in 2007, 2008, respectively. The Wind Symphony can also be heard at the spring commencement ceremonies for UAB and the Symphony Band gives annual performances for local senior citizens at a nearby church. Both groups will perform an outdoors ‘pops’ concert this spring here on campus.”
 

Email: kse2005@uab.edu