“An American Elegy,” the JWP bands’ concert program inspired by a Frank Ticheli piece of the same name, left several audience members giving a standing ovation on Monday, May 13. The three-hour concert featuring six bands and a sax quartet from grades 5-12 was split into two concerts. And all three hours showed just how far the music program had grown since Band Director Adam Hille started at JWP six years ago.
The evening gave challenges to all involved and gave the audience a few glimpses of the process of warming up and rehearsing the pieces. To start, the 5th-grade band played a concert Bb major scale, a warmup familiar to anyone who’s played an instrument. The players followed that with “When the Saints Go Marching In” and one of Hille’s favorites, the “Banana Boat Song” by Bruce Pearson.
The 6th grade featured slightly more challenging rhythms, starting with the “Stone Age Stomp” by Timothy Loast and ending with Quincy H. Hillard’s “Eagle Command March.” The 5-7 concert ended with the 7th graders performing “Beethoven’s 9th Symphony” (also known as “Ode to Joy”), “Chariots of Fire” arranged by Michael Sweeney, and John O’Riley’s Fallbrook March.
The 8-12 portion of the evening began with the jazz band performing “Here’s That Rainy Day” by James Van Heusen and arranged for the jazz band by Dave Barduhn. The piece featured Myles Kruger as a soloist on the alto saxophone. The band then performed “Baja Breeze” by Larry Neeck, with trumpeter Alex Kleve getting a solo.
The saxophone quartet then entered the stage. The quartet featured Devin Cowdin on soprano saxophone, Luke Cahill on alto saxophone, Kayle Langford on tenor sax, and Myles Kruger on baritone saxophone. The quartet performed an arrangement of John Lennon’s “Imagine” and Billy Joel’s “For the Longest Time.”
The 8-9 concert band then performed one of two Frank Tichelli pieces for the evening: “Joy.” Following that was “A Shaker March,” a traditional song arranged for band by John Kinyon.
After performing “The Red Balloon” by Anne McGinty, Hille really wanted to challenge the band while giving the audience another behind-the-scenes moment by having them sightread — or look at and perform for the first time — “At Twilight,” by Tyler S. Grant. Considering it was their first time looking at it, the band did a fantastic job performing it. They ended their set with “Fire Dance Ritual” by Robert E. Foster Jr.
The 10-12 wind ensemble (with some freshmen to make a more-rounded ensemble) performed a symphony by Randall Stanridge called “The Darklands.” Hille told the audience that he had tackled the idea of having the band perform a symphony for a long time. “We haven’t really been able to wrap our heads around performing a symphony until this year,” he explained.
“The Darklands” is a story based on the journey of David, an adventurer who stumbles upon a castle. This symphony featured five movements, the first being “A March Through the Black Forest.” The beginning of David’s adventure. The following three movements, 2-4, are dedicated to each character David faces.
The second movement sees David face the Dark Prince in “The Dance of the Dark Prince.” It was followed by a slower third movement, “The Serpent Priest and the Black Bell.” The fourth movement featured a waltz called “The Queen’s Masque,” where David meets the castle’s queen while she hosts her masquerades.
The fifth and final movement was a fast-paced “Escape from Darkheart Castle.”
Before moving on, Hille awarded many of the band members with letters. He also took time to acknowledge the seniors: Lexie Dahlberg on flute, Lauren White on clarinet, Lydia Sack on the baritone saxophone, Kaden Baker on the French horn, Hunter Mudgett on the bass guitar, and Austin Carda on percussion.
“I don’t know how we’re going to go on without all of these seniors,” Hille said. “The amount of time they’ve put into learning their instrument, their dedication to the music department, showing what it means to be a musician, a friend, and a leader…all of these seniors have all of these qualities. These are future pilots, educators, engineers…these seniors behind me have shown me more dedication than I could have ever asked for.”
The following students also received awards: Gavin Weedman, trumpet, and Jason Wheelock, trombone, for Most Valuable Freshmen; Hunter Mudgett for the Louis Armstrong Award; and Lydia Sack for the John Philip Sousa Award. Hille chose Mudgett and Sack for their awards, while the students voted for the Most Valuable Freshmen, which was a tie this year.
The feature piece of the night, “An American Elegy” by Ticheli showed the growth of the band program and featured Alex Kleve with a solo on trumpet. To get the effect of sounding distant that the piece required, Kleve had to run up three flights of stairs to get to the top floor near the sound room and run back down in less than a minute each time.
“An American Elegy” was created after the Columbine shooting to honor the victims and provide some hope, and was commissioned by the Columbine Commissioning Fund for this purpose. The first paragraph of the program notes reads, “‘An American Elegy’ is, above all, an expression of hope. It was composed in memory of those who lost their lives at Columbine High School on April 20, 1999, and to honor the survivors. It is offered as a tribute to their great strength and courage in the face of a terrible tragedy. I hope the work can also serve as one reminder of how fragile and precious life is and how intimately connected we all are as human beings.”
After closing their set with Ticheli, the 8-9 concert band joined the wind ensemble for one last piece: “Salvation is Created” by Pavel Chesnokov and arranged for concert band by Bruce H. Houseknecht. This gave Hille the chance to highlight the growth of the JWP band program, which has about 70 members from 8-12.
“I’d like you to take a good luck of everyone on the stage,” Hille said. “This is incredibly impressive. What’s more impressive is the growth we’ve put into the program.”
A photo of the entire high school band in Hille’s first year was projected above the ensemble. When he began in 2018-19, there were 14 musicians in the entire high school band. “And they played their butts off,” he acknowledged. “But it’s nothing compared to what you see behind me. If that doesn’t show growth. I don’t know what does.”
Those closing words by Hille were perfect for ending the evening by featuring musicians who have matured and grown in their adventure with the JWP music program. They have all come so far, and although six seniors will be ending their musical adventure at JWP, they will always have the memories they made in the band room and the auditorium.
