The University of Southern Mississippi

Wind Ensemble Dr. Catherine Rand, conductor

Brandon Jenkins, graduate conductor

The University of Southern Mississippi College of Arts and Sciences

School of Music presents

Mannoni Performing Arts Center Tuesday, October 6, 2020

7:30pm

University BandsThe University of Southern Mississippi Band Program had its inception in 1920 with the founding

of the first aggregation of winds, mainly a brass ensemble for students who were training as

teachers. Its current enrollment of approximately 300 students includes members from every

possible area of study in the university. While it is primarily housed in the School of Music, the

Band Program truly is the University’s program.

There are six segments of the program that include the Wind Ensemble, Symphonic Winds,

Concert Bands, University Band, the Basketball Pep Band, and “The Pride of Mississippi”

Marching Band with an enrollment of 300 students. Each of these organizations, while having its

own distinct history, stem from the success of the Marching Band that began in the 1950s with

the hiring of Dr. Raymond Mannoni.

Each of the Band Program’s concert ensembles has its place in the education of our music

majors; however, the ensembles have also provided an outlet for students throughout the

University during both the first and second semesters. Just as the Marching Band provides a

service for football experiences, these other ensembles provide academic, recruitment, and

community services. The Wind Ensemble and the Symphonic Winds have performed for the

Mississippi Bandmasters Association state convention six times. All of the groups have provided

enhancement to community projects that include numerous appearances for various citywide

events.

As a Mississippi product, the Wind Ensemble has been featured on numerous radio broadcasts

from Public Radio Mississippi and has been the only Mississippi group that can boast of having

been aired nationally on Public Radio International’s “Performance Today.” CD’s are produced

annually to feature the bands’ musicians and are provided to recruits and Mississippi band

programs as a service. 

Concert ProgramThe USM Wind Ensemble

Dr. Catherine Rand

In This Broad Earth (2015/2020) Steven Bryant (b. 1972)

March in F (1809/2003) Ludwig van Beethoven (1770 - 1827) ed. Boyd Geschwindmarsch by Beethoven (1946) Paul Hindemith (1895 - 1965) Paraphrase from Symphonia Serena

Brandon Jenkins, graduate conductor*

The Promise of Living (1954/2002) Aaron Copland (1900 - 1990) trans. Singleton

Cuban Overture (1933/2006) George Gershwin (1898 - 1937) arr. Rogers

America, the Beautiful (1882/1963) Samuel Ward (1847 - 1903) arr. Dragon

*In partial fulfillment of the D.M.A. in conducting requirements

Wind Ensemble PersonnelPiccolo 
Sarah Rodriguez, B.M.; Chalmette, LA

Flute 
Katerina Bachevska, D.M.A.; Ohrid, Macedonia Miracle Johnson, B.M.; Caledonia, MS Sarah Rodriguez, B.M.; Meraux, LA Sarah Hinchey, B.S.; Sumrall, MS

Oboe Rut Moreno Calderón, B.M.; San, José, Costa Rica Cesar Mateo Martinez Reyes, B.M.E.; San Pedro

Sula, Honduras Kailey Norton, B.M.; Mary Esther, FL

English Horn Kailey Norton, B.M.; Mary Esther, FL

Bassoon 
Paula Martinez, M.M.; Cartagena, Colombia Wesley Rogers, B.A.; Katy, TX Jordan Vestal, B.M.; Gluckstadt, MS

Contra Bassoon Jordan Vestal, B.M.; Madison, MS

Bb Clarinet
Heather Gering, D.M.A.; Wichita, KS Savannah Barefield Tims, M.M.; Crestview, FL Rebecca Robin, B.M.; Picayune, MS Adam Michael Stallings, M.M.; Marietta, GA

Bass Clarinet 
Brandon Rodriguez, B.M.; Meraux, LA

Alto Saxophone 
Juan Oviedo-Reina, M.M.; Ibagué, Colombia Chase Romans, B.M.E.; Ocean Springs, MS

Tenor Saxophone 
Morgan Webster, B.M.E.; Gulfport, MS

Baritone Saxophone 
John Klee, B.M.E.; Lake Orion, MI

French Horn 
Brandon Garrison, D.M.A.; Seguin, TX Selena Boyda, M.M.; Gulfport, MS Madeleine Case, B.M.E.; Madison, MS Brian Alston, B.M.E.; Gulfport, MS

Trumpet
Caleb Guilbeau, M.M.; Ellisville, MS Chase Mitchell, B.M.; Lucedale, MS Jared Bush, B.M.E.; Ellisville, MS Andrew Lott, B.M.E.; Hattiesburg, MS Audrey Hotard, B.M.; Madisonville, LA Trombone 
Caleb Owenby, M.M.; Ft. Walton Beach, FL Nicholas Dauerer, B.M.; Smyrna, TN

Bass Trombone Joseph Dunn, B.M.E.; Crestview, FL

Euphonium Peyton Sills, B.M.E.; Madison, MS Holton Johnson, B.M.E.; Gulfport, MS

Tuba Allen Parrish, D.M.A.; Panama City, FL James Fair, D.M.A.; Pace, FL

String Bass Ana Patricia Arosemena, M.M.; Panama City,

Panama

Piano Luciana Simões, D.M.A.; Santos, São Paulo, Brasil

Percussion 
Nathan Sanders, D.M.A.; Hurley, MS Matthew Keegan, M.M.; New Orleans, LA Colten Yates, B.M.E.; Summit, MS Bernardo Bucheli, B.M.; Quito, Ecuador Roberto Palomeque, D.M.A.; Pijijiapan, Chiapas,

Mexico





Notes(1) Steven Bryant: In This Broad Earth

COME, said the Muse,
Sing me a song no poet yet has chanted,
Sing me the Universal. In this broad Earth of ours,
Amid the measureless grossness and the slag,
Enclosed and safe within its central heart,
Nestles the seed Perfection.

– from Walt Whitman’s “Song of the Universal” from Leaves of Grass

In This Broad Earth  is a short fanfare, adapted for flexible five-part ensemble (and optional percussion) from the band work of the same name. Inspired by beauty I witness when hiking in the Austrian Alps with my wife, Verena, the music celebrates the earth, our only home (for now).

Note from Steven Bryant

(2) Ludwig van Beethoven/Boyd: March in F

In 1807, Beethoven composed a little March (WoO 29) for two clarinets, two horns and two bassoons for Prince Esterhazy in connection with his trip to Eisenstadt in September 1807. Beginning in 1809, the Beethoven marches for band appear. The first, a March in F (WoO 18) was composed "for his Royal Highness Archduke Anton, 1809." Additional marches for band appear in 1810. The first was another March in F composed "for his Royal Highness Archduke Anton, 1810, Baden, on the 3rd Summer month." This march (WoO 19) and the March in F were performed at the tournament at Laxenburg held on August 25, 1810, in honor of the birthday of Empress Maria Ludovica. In this year, Beethoven also composed the Ecossaise in D (WoO 22); Ecossaise in G (WoO 23 - not in the collected works); Polonaise in D (WoO 21); and the March in C WoO 20); all for military band.

The final known march that Beethoven composed is the March (WoO 24) of 1816. This was in response to a request from lieutenant Commander Franz Xaver Embel of the Civil Artillery Corps asking Beethoven for a "March of Turkish Music." In the final months of his life, Beethoven still hoped to compose future wind compositions. In December 1826, he spoke with Adolf Schesinger about some military marches which he intended to compose for the Royal Band of the King of Prussia. Unfortunately he did not live to compose any additional works.

Note from John Boyd

Notes(3) Paul Hindemith: Geschwindmarsch by Beethoven

Like much of Hindemith's music written after World War II, the  Symphonia Serena  (1946) combines a new preoccupation with intensely chromatic counterpoint and a wry sense of humor, a feature largely dormant in the composer's music since his departure from Germany in the 1930s. As might be expected from a composer whose own instrumental expertise fostered a special affinity with performers, Hindemith also filled his score with a multitude of felicities that could be counted on to delight players and listeners alike: witty parody, ingenious instrumental combinations, and different simultaneous tempi. A miniature military march by Beethoven, the Yorck’sche Marsch (March in F), is the thematic basis for the second movement,  Geschwindmarsch by Beethoven.

This scherzo is scored entirely for winds and brass. Chattering woodwinds create a shifting chromatic background for fragments of Beethoven's theme, stuttered out amusingly by horns and tuba. A trio section presents the same theme in irregular chordal phrases, with woodwinds imitating the reedy drone of bagpipes. The return of the main section presents Beethoven's march theme in its entirety, with the same élan and harmonic abandon that Hindemith employed twenty-five years earlier in his orchestral jazz parody Ragtime (Well-Tempered).

Note from Mark Satola

(4) Aaron Copland/Singleton: The Promise of Living

The Promise of Living (1954) is a quintet that unites hobos and family at the end of the first act in celebration of the harvest and its traditions. Even without voices, the use of the folk hymn Zion’s Walls and Copland’s transparent scoring create a clear dramatic sequence. A dramatic gesture gives way to a quiet, lyrical passage, in which the gentle rise and fall of the melody suggests the unfolding sequence of wistful thoughts. Woodwinds gradually interject to create a sense of dialogue, both internal and, eventually, external.

The answer comes, this time fuller, building to a passage that is signature Copland: a smooth melody rooted in open harmonies, with bits of short repeated motives in call and response style which keep the music moving. Brass eventually join the scene, their chorale style underscoring the ritualistic role of the moment without losing the introspective quality that draws together community and individual, past and present.

Note from the Los Angeles Philharmonic


Notes(5) George Gershwin/Roger: Cuban Overture

The island nation of Cuba was the object of an American obsession in the early twentieth century. Clubs, restaurants, and hotels catering to affluent tourists lined the streets of balmy Havana, where George Gershwin went on holiday in 1932. He described his time there as “two hysterical weeks in which no sleep was had.” An orchestral tone-poem in homage to the city soon followed, and was premiered by the New York Philharmonic under the working title “Rumba for Orchestra” in August 1932.

Because percussion is essential to the Cuban groove— still a relatively new delight to the Manhattan of Gershwin’s era—the composer decided to include a large complement of authentic Cuban instruments, some of which he actually purchased in Havana and brought home to New York. He also carefully diagrammed his desired placement of the Latin percussion section, up front and center alongside the conductor. Gershwin’s impressionistic soundscape, somewhat in the vein of earlier music by Albéniz and Granados, liberally quotes several Cuban folk melodies like the well-known “La Paloma.”

The piece was first heard as part of an all-Gershwin stadium evening, by all accounts the most wildly successful concert of his brief, brilliant career. Later on the title was changed to Cuban Overture. It is still enjoyed by contemporary audiences, though performances are relatively infrequent in part because of the sizable percussion requirements involved.

Note from Curtis Lindsay


Notes(6) Samuel Ward/Dragon: America, the Beautiful

O, beautiful for spacious skies, For amber waves of grain, For purple mountain majesties, Above the fruited plain.

America! America! God shed His grace on thee, And crown thy good with brotherhood From Sea to shining sea.

– Katharine Lee Bates

The rich musical legacy that Carmen Dragon left the world usually includes his solid reputation as a consummate orchestrator. He is best remembered for the iconic arrangement of America, the Beautiful for both symphony orchestra and symphonic band. Samuel Ward's familiar tune enjoys a sumptuous feast of harmonic color and instrumental nuance.

Note from the Publisher

Faculty/StaffSchool of Music

Dr. Jay Dean, Director Dr. Douglas Rust, Associate Director

University Bands Dr. Catherine Rand, Director of Bands

Dr. Colin R. McKenzie, Associate Director of Bands; Director, The Pride of Mississippi  Dr. Travis K. Higa, Assistant Director of Bands

Mr. Lawrence M. Panella, Director of Jazz Studies Mrs. Michelle Chandler, Staff Associate

Woodwind, Brass, and Percussion Division  Dr. Danilo Mezzadri, flute

Dr. Galit Kaunitz, oboe Dr. Jackie McIlwain, clarinet

Dr. Kim Woolly, bassoon Dr. Dannel Espinoza, saxophone 

Dr. Timothy J. Tesh, trumpet Dr. Jacquelyn Adams, horn

Dr. Ben McIlwain, trombone Dr. Richard Perry, euphonium/tuba 

Dr. John Wooton, percussion

University Bands Graduate Assistants  James Fair, D.M.A. Tuba

Caleb Guilbeau, M.M. Trumpet Kayla Moyers, M.M. Conducting

Lindsay Sandberg, D.M.A. Conducting Nathan Sanders, D.M.A. Percussion

Adam Stallings, M.M. Clarinet Justin Swearinger, D.M.A. Conducting

We hope that you will consider making a donation in support of The University of Southern Mississippi Bands. Each dollar you donate will be used to support programs which will enrich student experiences in the University Bands. If this interests you, please contribute to the following fund:

0046 - Pride of Mississippi and Dixie Darling Development Fund

Thank you for your continued support of The University of Southern Mississippi Bands!