Symphonic Band - For The Love of Nature - 4/20/24
From Bryan Mitschell
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UCO Symphonic Band
Brian Lamb, Conductor
Zane Radka, Guest Conductor
Eric Grigg, Guest Piano Artist
Presents
For the Love of Nature!
7:30 PM, April 20, 2024
Chickasaw Plaza Amphitheatre
Program
Terpsichorean Dances (2010) — Jodie Blackshaw (b. 1971)
After Michael Praetorius (1571-1621)
Zane Radka, guest conductor
Voices of the Inside Passage (2023) — JoAnne Harris (b. 1984)
Eric Grigg, Piano Guest Artist
Zane Radka, Electronic Midi Samples
Serenade and Dances (1989) — James Sudduth (1940-1997)
Trey Brabham & Roseanna Medina, student guest conductors
Life Unto the Age (2023) — Haley Woodrow (b. 1986)
Symphonic Band Personnel
Flutes
Melody Soto
Alison Horowitz (piccolo)
Kylee Hall
Jordan Smith
Lily Bizzell
Ethan Nixon
Claire Wilson
Clarinets
Roseanna Medina
Lliam Guill
Sam Skinner-Noble
Caden Giles (bass & contra)
Zao Avila
Saxophones
Bobby Tucker (alto)
Devin Erwin-Acker (alto)
Mason McCormack (bari)
Mark Stroud (tenor)
Trumpets
Clinton Carr
Reagan Casey
Adam Bailey
Tyson Lords
Edgar Jimenez
Horns
Sephra Jared
Lilian Litterell
Derek Stills
Julia Page
Trombones
Jonathan Kegley
Marek Polanski
Justice Johnson
Michael Lander
Euphonium
Andy Wolfe
Tubas
Caleb Coder
James Higgins
Percussion
Caden Bayne
Noah Colson
Calvin Forrester
Jimmy Miller
Piano
Eric Grigg (faculty)
Electronics
Zane Radka
About the Conductors
Brian Lamb
Brian Lamb has served as the Director of Bands at the University of Central Oklahoma since 2001. He conducts the Wind Symphony, the Symphonic Band, and the Marching Band, and teaches conducting and instrumental courses; he continues to guide all aspects of the UCO band program.
Dr. Lamb made his Carnegie Hall debut in 2005, performing with UCO friend and colleague Tess Remy in the Weill Recital Hall. In 2006, Lamb and the UCO Wind Symphony performed for a full house in the Isaac Stern Auditorium at Carnegie Hall. The UCO Wind Symphony, with Lamb as conductor, has garnered international attention and acclaim from audiences, composers, and critics alike for outstanding and creative performances and for playing an active role in commissioning projects and consortiums, including work with Carter Pann, David Maslanka, Carolyn Bremer, Richard Danielpour, Michael Daugherty, Michael Colgrass, Samuel Magrill, and others.
Lamb received his bachelor’s degree in music education from Baylor University, a master’s degree in trumpet performance and literature from the University of Notre Dame, and the doctor of musical arts degree in conducting from the University of North Texas. He has been fortunate to study with many outstanding musical mentors, including Eugene Corporon, Michael Haithcock, Gary Sousa, Larry Rachleff, Alan McMurray, Jack Stamp, Dennis Fisher, John Haynie, Barry Hopper, and William Scarlett. Prior to his UCO appointment, Dr. Lamb served as Director of Instrumental Studies at Southwest Baptist University and as director of bands and chairman of the fine arts department at James Bowie High School in Arlington, Texas.
Still active as a trumpet performer, Dr. Lamb plays in the Redbud Brass Quintet, the UCO Faculty Brass Quintet. Dr. Lamb is active as a clinician and guest conductor all over the world, and his groups have received acclaim for performances at regional, state and national conventions. In his 22-year tenure at UCO, the Wind Symphony has been selected to perform at three College Band Directors National Association (CBDNA) Regional Conventions, and they have been the collegiate honor band at six Oklahoma Music Educators Association (OkMEA) conventions. Under Lamb’s baton, the UCO Wind Symphony has released 5 CDs on the prestigious Equilibrium label, which are available on Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon, CDBaby, and all other relevant streaming services. He has contributed several published works to various journals and textbooks, and he is the author of “Music is Magic,” a children’s radio program that aired on KUCO-90.1 FM. He is a member of Pi Kappa Lambda Music Honor Society, the College Band Directors National Association, Oklahoma Music Educators Association, Music Educators National Conference, and Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia. He was honored as a Friend of the Arts by Sigma Alpha Iota, he is an honorary member of Kappa Kappa Psi, the national band service fraternity, and he was recently inducted into the Oklahoma chapter of Phi Beta Mu, the international band directors’ fraternity.
Zane Radka
Zane Radka is a first semester graduate student pursuing a Master of Music in Conducting. He currently plays in the UCO Wind Symphony and assists with the Symphonic Band. He received his undergraduate degree in tuba performance from Southwest Oklahoma State University in Weatherford. He is originally from Enid, Oklahoma, and he is a proud graduate of Pioneer-Pleasant Vale High School.
Deep Appreciation to the following:
Dr. Rob Glaubitz, Director of the School of Music
Scott Hale and Lauren Burk, CFAD Marketing
Mr. Eric Grigg, Accompanist in the School of Music
Dr. Jack Helsley, School of Music office
Taylor Shelton, UCO Office of Health Promotion
Noreen and Craig Lyman and “Emme”, UCO Stress Paws Program
Zane Radka, Bryan Mitschell, and Anthony Tompkins, for help with electronic music
Dr. Emily Butterfield, Flute, Div. Head for Winds/Percussion
Dr. Scott Erickson, Oboe
Dr. Lori Wooden, Bassoon
Dr. Dawn Lindblade-Evans, Clarinet
Brian Gorrell, Saxophone, Dir. Of Jazz Studies
Collin Ferrell, Saxophone
Dr. Peggy Moran, Horn, Asst. Director, School of Music
Dr. Ryan Sharp, Trumpet
Jeff Kidwell, Trombone
Roger Nunn, Low Brass
Bill Repavich, Percussion
Chris Prather, Percussion
Steve Pruitt, Percussion
Program Notes
Jodie Blackshaw
Jodie Blackshaw (b. 1971) grew up in the south-east of rural Australia and formed a very personal relationship with music early in life through the creative application of her imagination to musical colours and movement. Today, she continues to seek creative experiences for students through her teaching and composing so they, too, may enjoy the personal relationship she discovered in her formative years. This includes the launching of her very own four-volume series “Teaching Performance through Composition”.
In 2020 Blackshaw completed her PhD in Composition at the Australian National University. Her supervisor was Australian indigenous composer Dr. Christopher Sainsbury and her associate supervisor was Dr. Craig Kirchhoff. In addition to composing and presenting music education workshops, Blackshaw is passionate about fostering equality in concert programs, especially in schools. In 2017 she founded the Female Band Composer database, which is now cited as a tool for repertoire selection by The Midwest Clinic (access from jodieblacksow.com). In 2018 Blackshaw founded the website ColourFULL Music, which shares diverse wind band programs created by an international array of leading conductors within the wind music community and now has a following of more than 5000 music educators and conductors.
Jodie has presented at the Midwest Clinic in Chicago (2012, 2014, 2018) as well as conducted residencies and/or conference presentations in the Middle East, Hong Kong and throughout Canada, Australia and the United States. She is published by Manhattan Beach Music, GIA Music Inc., Brolga Music/C. Alan Publications, Alfred Music and Murphy Music Press Incorporated. In 2006 she won the inaugural Frank Ticheli Composition Contest and was the BandQuest composer-in-residence in 2014. Her music is played frequently internationally with performances of her first symphony appearing in Portugal, France, Germany, Switzerland, Australia and the United States. In June 2022 Blackshaw launched her ‘Conservation Series’, an infinitely growing set of works that raises both funds and awareness surrounding climate change and endangered species. Artistic Citizenship is an important component of Blackshaw’s compositions as she believes this enables students of all ages to become more emotionally engaged with their approach to music performance.
To find out more please visit jodieblackshaw.com
Terpsichorean Dances. Michael Praetorius (1571-1621), German composer and archivist, was fanatical about recording the details of the many countries he visited, with a focus on the kind of music and musical instruments he encountered. The culmination of this fascination was his three-volume treatise, Syntagma Musicum, a compendium of in- on German music, musical instruments, and performance practice. But much more well-known today is Praetorius’ 1612 collection of 312 dances from the royal courts of France, known as Terpsichore, named for the Greek Muse of dance. These dances were not composed by Praetorius; instead, he recorded and harmonized the melodies into three, four, five, and sometimes even six parts in order to avoid their imminent extinction. In my setting for concert band, three dances from the collection are featured; Springtanz, Leaping Dance; Der Lautenspieler, the Lute Player; and Der Schutzenkonig; the Archer King.
To favor Praetorius’ infatuation with different musical instruments, this setting for band employs a variety of colors, and features soloists and sections alike. Performers are invited to play in a most animated nature to reinforce the strong sense of pulse required in all dance music!
JoAnne Harris
JoAnne Harris (b. 1984) is an American pianist, conductor, arranger, composer and vocalist.
From the country’s heartland, Ms. Harris attended Concordia College in Moorhead, Minn., and Juilliard. Ms. Harris has orchestrated, conducted and recorded film scores at Abbey Road, East West, The Village, and Avatar with artists such as Grammy-winning Kurt Elling and members of the Hungarian Radio Symphony Orchestra. Her work includes scores for Mal de Ojo (HBO), Cassandra French’s Finishing School (Audience network on DirecTV), 20/20 (ABC), Primetime (ABC), and Dateline (NBC). She has worked as orchestrator and conductor on City of Lies (2018), The Infiltrator (2016), and Cook Off! (2017).
Conducting work includes the Shinnyo-En Lantern Lighting Festival at Lincoln Center (2014, 2015) and serving as the musical director for the New York New Stages festival production of the musical Four Women (2018). She has been an arranger for How I Paid for College (off-Broadway, 2015), Sylvia (Broadway, 2016), Evolution (aerial circus show in Shenzhen, China, 2014) and Chris Cester of the band Jet. She is a 2015 ASCAP “Composer to Watch”, and her concert music includes a winning entry of the Dallas Winds brass fanfare competition.
Ms. Harris teaches orchestration for cinema at CUNY Brooklyn College. She is an active member of Women in Music, a steering committee member of the Society of Composers and Lyricists in New York and a board member of the New York Chapter of the Ravel Study Group.
-Composer and arranger biographies reprinted from Windrep.org.
Voices of the Inside Passage, features field recordings of humpback whale calls collected by bioacoustician Dr. Michelle Fournet. During the early days of the COVID – 19 pandemic, Michelle quickly put hydrophones in Glacier Bay National Park, part of Alaska’s Inside Passage. She hypothesized that without boat traffic whales would communicate more elaborately in ways that humans had never heard before. Her early findings support this theory. I was curious to explore this idea musically: what can be said with more nuance in moments of stillness? Michelle’s research also moved me to consider ways in which human conversation changed during the pandemic, and continues to do so in its wake.
-Program Note by the composer, printed in the score.
James Sudduth
James Sudduth (19 October 1940, Crosbyton, Texas – 3 December 1997, Lubbock, Texas) was an American band director and composer. Mr. Sudduth earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees at Texas Tech University. Sudduth began his professional career with the Lubbock Independent School District. He finished it as director of bands at Texas Tech University, Lubbock, a post he attained in 1981 and held until his death. Between the ISD and Tech, he worked as director of bands at Southwest Texas State University (now Texas State University), and as an assistant professor of music and director of the marching band at Northwestern University.
In his supervisory role at Tech, he oversaw the entire band program. He also conducted the university’s nationally-acclaimed Symphonic Band and directed the Texas Tech Band and Orchestra Camp, one of the largest youth music camps in the nation. Sudduth also taught arranging and conducting at both the graduate and undergraduate level. Sudduth’s arrangements, transcriptions, and compositions, for both marching and concert band, numbered more than 300. Many of them were published.
Omicron Delta Kappa and Mortar Board honored Sudduth in 1982 for outstanding service to Texas Tech. The next year he participated in the National Intercollegiate Band. Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia Fraternity of America awarded him the National Citation of Excellence in 1985 for outstanding contributions to music. Sudduth was guest conductor of the Lubbock Symphony Orchestra at Ballet Lubbock’s performances of Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker from 1987 through 1993. In addition, he conducted the Lubbock Youth Symphony Orchestra in 1992 and led several of the Lubbock Symphony Orchestra’s pops concerts. In October 1988 he became the first American to guest-conduct the Seoul Wind Ensemble in Seoul, South Korea. In May 1993 he conducted the Texas Tech University Symphonic Band at Carnegie Hall. In 1995 he received the Distinguished Service to Music Medal, the highest honor that can be bestowed by Kappa Kappa Psi / Tau Beta Sigma National Honorary Band Fraternity.
-Composer biography reprinted from Windrep.org.
Serenade and Dances is a theme and variation on an original melody written by Mr. Sudduth. The piece was commissioned by Jent’s House of Music, Lubbock, TX, for the Brownfield High School Band, who premiered the work at the 1989 TMEA Convention, as the AAA Honor Band.
Haley Woodrow
Haley Woodrow (b. 1984, Texas) is an American composer, arranger and conductor.
Ms. Woodrow has always been curious about music. A native Texan, she began her performance career as a trumpet player, graduating from Grapevine High School in 2003 and attending the University of Texas at Arlington from 2003 to 2008. At UTA, she spent ten consecutive semesters as the jazz trumpet chair in the Jazz Orchestra. After seven years of employment as the orchestra director and arranger at Cornerstone Baptist Church in Arlington, Texas, she went back to school in 2014 and earned her master’s in music composition at Texas Christian University.
Today Ms. Woodrow is a freelancing composer and arranger, and publishes her music through her company, Woodrow Music. Haley also teaches piano at the King’s University and leads a chamber music and composition program for Tarrant County College. She and her husband co-direct a newly formed Dallas/Fort Worth based jazz orchestra as volunteers in the Texas State Guard.
-Composer biography reprinted from Windrep.org.
Life Unto the Age, is the result of a commissioning consortium, and the UCO Bands were part of that group. Composer Haley Woodrow writes about her experience with the “Love of Pets commissioning consortium:
When the sun rises, it begins a new day. And when it sets, it marks the end of the day. The events are so similar, and are only differentiated by the position of the viewer. In the same way, the beginning and ending of life are very similar. To us on earth, death looks like death. But for the pet who died, the one now in the position of eternity…it is life. The term Life Unto the Age, translated from the Greek “aionios zoe”, is an age describing life itself. The term communicates the idea of being fully alive, and can encompass this state in both earth and heaven. Our pets have a way of practicing “aionios zoe” daily by living life to the fullest. In doing so they remind us of the things that matter most, namely: loyalty, family, friendship, and chiefly – unconditional love. This work is dedicated to them. Thank you to the For the Love of Pets Consortium who have generously supported this artistic endeavor and enabled me to musically speak on the subjects of hope, life, and love.
-Program Note by the composer, printed in the score.
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