WASBE Day 6 & 7

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 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

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

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

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

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

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

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!