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Welcome to the Richland County High School 2024 Winter Concert featuring the Honors Wind Chamber Ensemble, and the Jazz Band
At this time, we ask that you place your phone on silent mode to prevent any distractions during tonight's performance.
In an effort to "go green", allow for more content, and to cut back on the cost for Richland County High School to print programs, the RCHS Bands concert program is digital. However, we know that many families would still prefer a paper copy of the program as a memento. If you would like a paper copy of tonight's concert program please fill out the form found within the link below. A paper copy will be mailed to your house within a week. https://forms.gle/JT1y2pyLR1JwuCaa9
PROGRAM NOTES - COLD DUCK TIME BY EDDIE HARRIS
“Cold Duck Time” is a rock-influenced jazz standard written by Eddie Harris. It first appeared on the album Swiss Movement by Les McCann and Eddie Harris. The first recording of this tune wasn’t well-rehearsed, and you can definitely hear that the band is learning this tune while on stage. Swiss Movement is a live album that was recorded at the Montreux Jazz Festival in 1969.
SOURCE: Learn Jazz Standards (https://www.learnjazzstandards.com/jazz-standards/cold-duck-time/)
Eddie had always wanted to play the saxophone simply because he admired its design and the way it looked. But in order to play saxophone for Captain Dyette, the aspiring musician had to plat the clarinet. He took private clarinet and saxophone lessons for many years. As his playing improved, Eddie began his saxophone career playing with all types of bands. Captain Dyette retired in his mid-sixties and passed away in his mid-seventies. In the late 50's Eddie was drafted into the Army. While in the Army, he took an audition test for the Army band which included reading music, ear training, written phrases and command of the chosen instrument, Eddie scored a 98 out of 100. This score was so high that he was recommended to join the symphony orchestra in Germany.
Eddie was posted to Germany because his orders were already processed. When he arrived overseas he found the Seventh Army Symphony Orchestra to be filled, so he was placed in the Army band in Fulda, Germany where he stayed for eight months. Shortly thereafter, he played with the symphony. A jazz band had been formed from this symphony that toured Germany, France and the rest of Europe when the entire symphony was idle. It wa this experience that honed Eddie's skills. Eddie toured Germany and France as a member of the Seventh Army Symphony Band where soon Eddie became internationally known. He also took classical saxophone lessons at the Paris Conservatory of Music before he returned to the United States.
Eddie met his wife, Sally in 1959. They were united in marriage on May 22, 1961. From this union came two daughters, Lolita and Yvonne. Eddie made his first recording with Vee-Jay Recording Co., in 1960. The jazz world felt the force of Eddie's impact in 1961, when one of the tunes was the first jazz single to sell one million copies. Eddie began recording with other record companies including Columbia, RCA and Atlantic Records. In the early to mid-sixties Eddie started playing the tenor saxophone with a trombone mouthpiece. A year later he began using a clarinet double barred joint in between the neck and instrument of the saxophone. He then began playing saxophone with a bassoon reed that had a shortened boccel inserted into the neck of the saxophone.
While recording with Atlantic Records, Eddie was the first musician to introduce electro Voice Creation for the Selmer Instrument Company. This electrical attachment for the saxophone is call ed the Varitone. Since then, he has played his electric saxophone on most of the tunes that he recorded for Atlantic Records. Some of his most popular albums include: “Electrifying Eddie Harris,” “High Voltage,” “Silver Cycles,” “The In Sound,” “Come On Down,” “Swiss Movement” and “Free Speech.”
SOURCE: All About Jazz (https://www.allaboutjazz.com/musicians/eddie-harris/)
PROGRAM NOTES - YARDBIRD SUITE BY CHARLIE PARKER
“Yardbird Suite”, a 32-bar ABBA composition, was first composed in 1940 and first recorded 11/28/1946 by the Charlie Parker Septet, consisting of Charlie Parker, Miles Davis, Lucky Thompson, Dodo Marmarosa, Vic McMillan, Arvin Garrison and Roy Porter; it became known as an anthem for beboppers. Originally known as “What Price Love?”, it is one of a very few songs for which Parker wrote lyrics. Parker had played the song with Jay McShann’s band in Kansas City; producers of McShann’s recordings rejected it as they wanted only blues material. The copyright was initially surrounded by confusion, and later by lawsuits involving Parker’s heirs.
Charles “Charlie” Parker, Jr. (Aug 29, 1920 – Mar 12, 1955) was born in Kansas City KS; his family moved across the river to Kansas City MO in 1927 and he learned to play alto saxophone in school in 1933. Two years later he left school to become a professional musician; he practiced for hours every day. Jay McShann said in a 1999 interview that around that time the group hit a chicken as they were driving to a gig. Parker yelled “Back up! You hit a yardbird!”, got the bird and cooked it for dinner that night. Injuries from a 1936 car accident for which opiates were prescribed had long-lasting and unfortunate consequences. Several years later he moved to New York, where he became bored with the changes most commonly used. He then found that by using the higher intervals of a chord as a melody line he got the sound he’d been searching for. This was then the basis for his mature style, established by the mid 1940s; in 1942 he signed up with Earl Hines for an eight-month engagement and in 1944 joined the Billy Eckstine band. In 1945 Parker became leader of his own group and with Dizzy Gillespie founded bebop; they had a six-week tour of California night clubs; Parker then stayed on until a nervous breakdown in 1946 was made worse by addictions to heroin and alcohol and led to time in a local hospital. He returned to New York in January 1947, where he was doing well until his cabaret license was revoked in 1951. He made his European debut at the Paris International Jazz Festival in 1949 and visited Scandinavia in 1950. In 1955, while traveling to Boston for a gig, Parker stopped off at Pannonica de Koenigswarter’s home, where his health so alarmed her that she had her physician exam him; diagnosed with severe ulcers, Parker refused hospitalization, but agreed to rest for a few days. On 12 March she found he had died of pneumonia.
SOURCE: KUVOJazz (https://www.kuvo.org/stories-of-standards-yardbird-suite/)
PROGRAM NOTES - ONE FOR DADDY-O BY NAT ADDERLEY
"One for Daddy-O", this release presents the amazing talents of alto saxophonist Cannonball Adderley in two outstanding performances from his best period. The first four tracks come from a concert in at the Amsterdam Concertgebouw given on November 19, 1960, when Cannonball's quintet included his brother Nat on cornet, Victor Feldman on piano, Sam Jones on bass, and Louis Hayes on drums. It highlight is, obviously, the title tune, which had been previously recorded by the saxophonist only on his widely celebrated 1958 Somethin' Else LP with Miles Davis. Tom Lord's site lists just three versions of "One for Daddy-O" in the whole Adderley discography, the Amsterdam one being the second, followed just by a third one taped two days later in Sweden (on November 22) and issued on Pablo. Victor Feldman's "Exodus" is another title from which just two performances exist by Cannonball, the other one being from his official 1960 Riverside album at the Lighthouse. While Bobby Timmons' "Dis Here" and Oscar Pettiford's "Bohemia After Dark" are tunes more frequented by Cannonball's different groups, they are always nice to hear in new performances.
The second four tunes come from a concert at Theater Bellevue, also in Amsterdam, on June 3, 1966, and feature Cannonball in a unique background, as the only horn, accompanied by local musicians, among which shines the piano artistry of Pim Jacobs (1934-1996), who is heard here in his only known recording with Cannonball. The start with a blues, and then go through a rendition of brother Nat's "Work Song", the standard "Stella by Starlight" (first recorded by Cannonball in 1957 for his album Cannonball Enroute and rarely recorded by the saxophonist), and Miles Davis' "Tune Up", of which no other versions by Cannonball are known to exist!
SOURCE: Jazz Messangers (https://www.windrep.org)
Nat Adderley may have spent a significant part of his career in the shadow of his better known older brother, the alto saxophonist Julian 'Cannonball' Adderley, but he was always a major contributor to their shared projects, and achieved a great deal in his own right after his brother's death in 1975. He was born Nathaniel Adderley, and took up trumpet as a teenager in 1946. He began playing in local bands in Florida, and made what became a career long switch to the smaller cornet in 1950. He did so against the prevailing tide. Cornet had been the horn of choice for New Orleans trumpet players in the early days of jazz, but had fallen out of fashion in favour of trumpet by the bop era. Nat Adderley Adderley evolved a distinctive signature on the instrument, blending a rich tone and earthy warmth with the horn's inherent touch of astringency to great effect. He played in an army band for a time during his military service from 1951-3, then joined the band led by vibraphonist Lionel Hampton in 1954, his first association with an established jazz figure. He remained with Hampton until 1955, and cut his earliest recordings for the Savoy and EmArcy labels that same year. Cannonball Adderley had made an early mark in New York when he sat in with bassist Oscar Pettiford at the Cafe Bohemia in Greenwich Village in 1955, but that did not translate into immediate success when the brothers joined forces in Cannonball's Quintet the following year. He broke up the group in 1957, and Nat worked with trombonist J. J. Johnson and bandleader Woody Herman before reuniting with his brother in 1959. Nat AdderleyThe earlier lack of success quickly evaporated. The band's funky, gospel-tinged jazz became one of the most successful sounds on the hard bop and soul jazz circuit, and they even scored an unexpected chart hit with 'Mercy, Mercy, Mercy' in 1966. Cannonball had featured alongside John Coltrane in Miles Davis's classic Sextet which made the legendary Kind of Blue album in 1959, and that association provided the boost he needed to take off as a star in his own right, with the cornetist very much his right hand man. Nat had continued to record under his own leadership, and made his most famous record for the Riverside label in January, 1960, with a band which featured guitarist Wes Montgomery.
SOURCE: All About Jazz (https://www.allaboutjazz.com/musicians/nat-adderley/)
PROGRAM NOTES - STRAIGHT LIFE BY SONNY CURTIS
Recorded at the Van Gelder Studios in November of 1970 and released in early 1971, “Straight Life” was the second recording by trumpet/flugelhorn player Freddie Hubbard for Creed Taylor’s newly-independent CTI label.
The album featured only three songs: the title tune, Weldon Irvine’s “Mr. Clean” and the standard “Here’s That Rainy Day”.
And what a band! Herbie Hancock featured on electric keyboards, guitarist George Benson, tenor saxophonist Joe Henderson, bassist Ron Carter, drummer Jack DeJohnette, percussionist Richard “Pablo” Landrum and Weldon Irvine on tambourine. More about Weldon in a bit.
The album starts with Freddie and Jack engaged in a bit of “call and response” to begin “Straight Life”, the only tune on Side One and clocking in at 17 minutes 30 seconds. One of the things I like about this track is Jack DeJohnette’s drum sound, especially in view of how anonymous sounding drummers were to become on later CTI releases.
I think “Mr. Clean” is the standout track on the album. While the tune stays locked into an F min7 chord throughout, it never sounds that way largely due to bassist Ron Carter. Behind the first soloist (Freddie Hubbard), he plays a pattern that sticks largely to the root and fifth of the chord (F and C).
Joe Henderson’s up next. For him, Carter fashions a motif that adds a couple of notes: the seventh (E flat) and F an octave above.
While Herbie’s solo pushes the harmonic structure to the limit, the figure Ron Carter plays behind him keeps the tune firmly rooted. Carter glissandos up from a low C to an F (fifth and root) which, when played by him is tasty enough. But then Carter jumps up to the F an octave above on beats three and four with a figure comprised of eighth notes and dotted eighth notes. And Rudy Van Gelder captures the sound of Carter’s bass beautifully.
“Here’s That Rainy Day” closes the album with the trio of Hubbard, Benson and Carter.
As for Weldon Irvine, the composer of “Mr. Clean” and heard on tambourine on the record, about the only thing I knew about him for quite some time was that he composed “Liberated Brother”, a tune that appeared on Horace Silver’s 1973 Blue Note release “In Pursuit of the 27th Man.”
Irvine served as Nina Simone’s music director in the late 1960s and early 1970s. During this time he wrote the lyrics for her song “To Be Young, Gifted and Black” which she introduced at the Harlem Cultural Festival in August 1969 to a crowd of 50,000 people, a performance included in the recently released documentary film “Summer of Soul”.
In 1999, Irvine released “The Price of Freedom” using his rap name mAster Wel. It was a compilation of original songs by hip-hop, jazz, funk, and R&B artists in response to the senseless shooting of Amadou Diallo by four New York City police officers. They were charged with second degree murder but all were acquitted.
If you’re thinking Weldon Irvine is deserving of a documentary, one was completed just before the pandemic hit in full force called “Digging for Weldon Irvine.”
Join Night Beat host Doug Crane on Wednesday, July 28, at 8 pm as he features Freddie Hubbard’s “Straight Life,” released 50 years ago in early 1971. Joining Freddie is Herbie Hancock, Ron Carter, Jack DeJohnette, Joe Henderson and George Benson. Some say “Straight Life” is the best of the half dozen albums Freddie recorded for Creed Taylor’s CTI label.
SOURCE: JUVO Jazz (https://www.kuvo.org/the-night-beat-features-freddie-hubbards-straight-life/)
In the pantheon of jazz trumpeters, Freddie Hubbard stands as one of the boldest and most inventive artists of the bop, hard-bop and post-bop eras. Although influenced by titans like Miles Davis and Clifford Brown, Hubbard ultimately forged his own unique sound – a careful balance of bravado and subtlety that fueled more than fifty solo recordings and countless collaborations with some of the most prominent jazz artists of his era. Shortly after his death at the end of 2008, Down Beat called him “the most powerful and prolific trumpeter in jazz.” Embedded in his massive body of recorded work is a legacy that will continue to influence trumpeters and other jazz artists for generations to come.
Hubbard was born on April 7, 1938, In Indianapolis, Indiana. As a student and band member at Arsenal Technical High School, he demonstrated early talents on the tuba, French horn, and mellophone before eventually settling on the trumpet and flugelhorn. He was first introduced to jazz by his brother, Earmon, Jr., a piano player and a devotee of Bud Powell.
Hubbard’s budding musical talents caught the attention of Lee Katzman, a former sideman of Stan Kenton. Katzman convinced the young trumpeter to study at the Arthur Jordan Conservatory of Music with Max Woodbury, the principal trumpeter of the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra.
As a teenager, Hubbard worked and recorded with the Montgomery Brothers – Wes, Monk and Buddy. His first recording session was for an album called The Montgomery Brothers and Five Others. Around that same time, he also assembled his first band, the Jazz Contemporaries, with bassist (and manager) Larry Ridley, saxophonist/flutist James Spaulding, pianist Walt Miller and drummer Paul Parker. The quintet became recurring players at George’s Bar, the well known club on Indiana Avenue.
In 1958, Hubbard moved to New York at age 20 and quickly established himself as one of the bright young trumpeters on the scene, astonishing critics and fans alike with the depth and maturity of his playing. Within the first two years of his arrival in the Big Apple, he landed gigs with veteran jazz artists Philly Joe Jones, Sonny Rollins, Slide Hampton and Eric Dolphy. He joined Quincy Jones in a tour of Europe that stretched from 1960 to 1961.
Per a recommendation from Miles Davis, Hubbard was signed to Blue Note, where he recorded Open Sesame, his solo debut, in 1960 at the age of 22. The album, which also featured Tina Brooks and McCoy Tyner, marked the launch of one of the most meteoric careers in jazz. Within a year’s time, Hubbard followed up with his second and third recordings – Goin’ Up (1960), with Tyner and Hank Mobley, and Hub Cap (1961), with Julian Priester and Jimmy Heath.
In 1961, Hubbard released what many consider to be his masterpiece, Ready For Freddie, which marked his first Blue Note collaboration with Wayne Shorter. Later that same year, he joined Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers. In the span of a few short years, this hard-blowing young lion had quickly established himself as an important new voice in jazz.
Hubbard left the Jazz Messengers in 1964 to form his own small group, whose ranks included Kenny Barron and Louis Hayes. Throughout the remainder of the decade, he also played in bands led by a variety of other high-profile jazz artists. He was a significant presence on Herbie Hancock’s Blue Note recordings, beginning with Takin’ Off (1962) – Hancock’s debut as a leader – and continuing on Empyrean Isles (1964) and Maiden Voyage (1965). Hubbard’s other noteworthy session work in the 1960s included Ornette Coleman’s Free Jazz(1960), Oliver Nelson’s The Blues and the Abstract Truth (1961), Eric Dolphy’s Out To Lunch (1964), and John Coltrane’s Ascension (1965).
He achieved his greatest popular success in the 1970s with a series of crossover albums on Atlantic and CTI Records. His early ‘70s jazz albums for CTI – Red Clay (1970), Straight Life (1970) and First Light (1971) – were particularly well received (First Light won a Grammy for Best Instrumental Jazz Performance). Later in the decade, he returned to the acoustic, hard-bop idiom with the V.S.O.P. quintet, which teamed him with members of the 1960s Miles Davis Quintet: Herbie Hancock, Wayne Shorter, Tony Williams and Ron Carter. Hubbard also stepped briefly into the pop arena when he played a solo on “Zanzibar,” a track from Billy Joel’s Grammy-winning 1978 album, 52nd Street.
As the ‘80s got under way, Hubbard was once again leading his own group, playing at concerts and festivals in the U.S. and Europe. He frequently collaborated with Joe Henderson, playing a repertory of hard-bop and modal-jazz pieces. Other associations throughout the decade included Monterey Jazz Festival dates with Bobby Hutcherson; studio projects with Woody Shaw and Benny Golson; and a live recording in Holland (Feel the Wind) with Blakey in 1988.
In 1990, he appeared in Japan in an American-Japanese concert package that also featured Elvin Jones, Sonny Fortune, George Duke, Benny Green, Ron Carter and Rufus Reid. He also performed at the Warsaw Jazz Festival – a date that was recorded and released in 1992.
Other pursuits in the early ‘90s included the formation of a new band of emerging young artists: Christian McBride, Javon Jackson, Carl Allen and Benny Green. He continued to seek out fresh young talent as the decade unfolded by collaborating with the New Jazz Composers Octet. Hubbard performed and recorded with the Octet – a collective led by fellow trumpeter David Weiss – for the last decade of his career, culminating with his final recording, On The Real Side, released in 2008.
Despite failing health as the new century got under way, Hubbard continued to carry the jazz torch by participating in clinics and residencies at various colleges around the country to share the wealth of his knowledge with up-and-coming artists. In 2006, the National Endowment for the Arts granted Hubbard its highest honor in jazz, the NEA Jazz Masters Award.
He suffered a heart attack in late November 2008 in Sherman Oaks, California, and died a few weeks later, on December 29, at the age of 70.
At his peak, Freddie Hubbard was a brilliant virtuoso performer with a rich, full tone that remained consistent in slow passages as well as fast ones. As one of the greatest hard-bop trumpeters of his era, he created impassioned blues lines without sacrificing the context of the music he was playing. He was perhaps one of the greatest technical trumpeters ever to play in the jazz idiom, and arguably the most influential.
SOURCE: Freddie Hubbard Music (https://freddiehubbardmusic.com/freddie-hubbard-biography/)
PROGRAM NOTES - HOSTS OF FREEDOM BY KARL L. KING
Hosts of Freedom was penned in the year of Karl L. King’s move to Fort Dodge, Iowa, after serving as a performer and conductor of several prominent circus bands of the day. Hosts of Freedom represents a simple, effective and straightforward form that the composer used again and again during his long and productive career as a composer. The march was clearly designed to meet the needs of less experienced players while offering engaging melodies, bright counter melodies and interesting parts for all sections. Originally published in 1920, it contains much of the flavor of “the big top” and it served as a fast finale for many circus bands.
SOURCE: Wind Repertory Project (https://www.windrep.org/Hosts_of_Freedom)
Many listeners, at least American listeners, associate only the iconic John Philip Sousa with band music, but Karl L. King was a formidable, if less-imposing rival. He wrote many band pieces to honor schools and universities and for use at circuses, his most famous being Barnum & Bailey's Favorite.
Karl Laurence King was born February 21, 1891, in Paintersville, OH. He showed musical talent late in his childhood and began playing trombone in the Canton (Ohio) Marine Band. At the behest of his teacher he took up the baritone and found it better suited to his skills. He never had any training in theory or composition, but studied the subjects on his own and became quite a capable orchestrator.
By 17 he produced his first march; two years later he began playing baritone with the band of Robinson's Famous Circus. Within a few years he became the ensemble's director. In 1914 he was appointed bandmaster of the Sells Floto-Buffalo Bill band, holding the post for two years. During 1917-1918 he served in the same capacity for Barnum & Bailey's Greatest Show on Earth. During this time he wrote the aforementioned hit march, Barnum & Bailey's Favorite, and he also met his wife Ruth, who played calliope in the band.
In 1920, King moved his family, which now included an infant son, to Fort Dodge, IA, to serve as director of the municipal band, called the Fort Dodge Military Band. He also supported the family with a publishing company he had earlier established, while his wife operated a related business dealing in the sale of musical instruments. King, of course, used his publishing company to publish his own growing list of marches, waltzes, serenades, gallops, overtures, and rags.
Over the next several decades King provided many marches for the universities associated with the Big Ten, including Indiana, Our Indiana and Viking March. His Fort Dodge ensemble grew in prominence, too, making many tours, with appearances typically occurring at fairs and universities. King served as bandmaster of the Fort Dodge band for 38 years, retiring in 1959. He continued to make guest appearances leading other bands into the 1960s. He died in Fort Dodge in 1971, leaving an output of approximately 300 works, most (188) being marches or screamers (circus marches).
SOURCE: ALLMUSIC (https://www.allmusic.com/artist/karl-l-king-mn0001786923#biography)
PROGRAM NOTES - SCARBOROUGH FAIR ARRANGED BY SCOTT STANTON
Scott Stanton is a professional educator, musician, and administrator with experience in public and private music instruction at all levels including the community college and university settings. As Director of Fine Arts at William Penn University and Department Chair at the College of Eastern Utah, he has taught music theory, music history, music technology, and directed bands, orchestras, choirs and synthesizer ensembles. His transcriptions of Mannheim Steamroller’s music for synthesizer ensemble are published by Dots and Lines Ink, Omaha, NE. His original jazz and concert band compositions are published by C. L. Barnhouse Co., Oskaloosa, IA.
In addition to writing and performing with his jazz trio, “Jazz Between Friends”, he is active as an adjudicator, clinician, and guest artist. Scott is the founder of Pro Musica, a community music school in Price, Utah. He holds a Bachelor of Arts in Music from Monmouth College, Monmouth Illinois and a Master’s of Music Education from VanderCook College of Music, Chicago. He is a member of many professional organizations including; ASCAP, American Choral Directors Association, Music Educators National Conference, and the International Association of Jazz Educators.
SOURCE: Wind Repertory Project (https://www.windrep.org/Scott_Stanton)
PROGRAM NOTES - PUCK & ELFIN DANCE
he mystic and magical qualities of old legends have always fascinated composers. These two short piano pieces by Edvard Grieg (1843-1907) show his keen skill in writing animated character pieces.
Grieg wrote very colorful orchestral music, and he has used that same palette of timbres in his piano music. This type of music seems an ideal choice to be scored for wind instruments, capable of providing the color that was written into these pieces.
Puck (1901-1905) is designated Opus 73, number 3; Elfin Dance (1866-67) is Opus 12, number 4.
SOURCE: Program note from the conductor's score
Edvard Hagerup Grieg (15 June 1843, Bergen, Norway – 4 September 1907, Bergen, Norway) was a Norwegian composer and pianist who composed in the Romantic period.
Grieg was raised in a musical home. His mother, Gesine, became his first piano teacher, who taught him to play from the age of six. He studied in several schools including Tank's School, and often brought in examples of his music to class.
In the summer of 1858, Grieg met the eminent Norwegian violinist Ole Bull, who was a friend of the family, and whose brother was married to Grieg's aunt. Bull noticed the 15-year-old boy's talent and persuaded his parents to send him to further develop his talents at the Leipzig Conservatory, then directed by Ignaz Moscheles. In 1863, Grieg went to Copenhagen, Denmark, and stayed there for three years. He met the Danish composers J. P. E. Hartmann, and Niels Gade. He also met his fellow Norwegian composer Rikard Nordraak (composer of the Norwegian national anthem), who became a good friend and source of great inspiration. Nordraak died in 1866, and Grieg composed a funeral march in his honor. Grieg had close ties with the Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra (Harmonien), and later became Music Director of the orchestra from 1880–1882.
From 1866 to 1874, Grieg resided in the Norwegian capital, Oslo, where he worked as a private teacher and a conductor and served as one of the co-founders of a short-lived Academy of Music. In 1868, Franz Liszt, who had not yet met Grieg, wrote a testimonial for him to the Norwegian Ministry of Education, which led to Grieg obtaining a travel grant. The two men met in Rome in 1870. In 1876, Grieg composed incidental music for the premiere of Ibsen's play Peer Gynt, at the request of the author.
In 1903, Grieg made nine 78-rpm gramophone recordings of his piano music in Paris; all of these historic discs have been reissued on both LPs and CDs and, despite limited fidelity, show his artistry as a pianist. Grieg also made live-recording player piano music rolls for the Welte-Mignon reproducing system, all of which survive today and can be heard.
Grieg’s stature as “Norway’s greatest composer” is generally recognized, but Grieg’s status as a “great” composer without the Nationalist modifier is not so generally acknowledged. Part of the difficulty in making a case for Grieg’s greatness as a composer is the relative paucity of knowledge among the general concert going public about his music outside of the Peer Gynt Suites and the Piano Concerto; composers of the succeeding generation, though, seemed to know his music well. Debussy and Bartok were influenced significantly by Grieg’s music. William Halverson traces Grieg’s influences to “Sibelius in Finland, Carl Nielsen in Denmark, Delius in England, Grainger, MacDowell, and Gershwin in the United States, Debussy and Ravel in France, and Bartók in Hungary.” Halverson asks, “Have not certain features of Grieg’s harmonic style had some impact on twentieth-century popular music and on certain film music composers?” Certainly Grieg’s harmonic influence can be heard in the work of film composer Hans Zimmer, as well as in fellow film composer Howard Shore’s score to The Lord of the Rings trilogy (which includes as a significant solo instrument - the Norwegian Hardanger fiddle).
SOURCE: Wind Repertory Project (https://www.windrep.org/Edvard_Grieg)
PROGRAM NOTES - SLEIGH RIDE BY LEROY ANDERSON
Sleigh Ride is a light orchestra standard whose music was composed by Leroy Anderson. The composer had formed the original idea for the piece during a heat wave in July 1946, and he finished the work in February 1948. The original recordings were instrumental versions. The lyrics, about riding in a sleigh and other fun wintertime activities, were written by Mitchell Parish in 1950. The orchestral version was first recorded in 1949 by Arthur Fiedler and the Boston Pops Orchestra. A selection of the artists who have recorded it include Herb Alpert, The Andrews Sisters, The Carpenters, Bing Crosby, The Boston Pops Orchestra, Ella Fitzgerald, the amazing Debbie Gibson, The Muppets, and Andy Williams.
SOURCE: Wikipedia (https://www.wikipedia.org)
Leroy Anderson (29 June 1908, Cambridge, Mass. - 18 May 1975, Woodbury, Conn.) was an American composer.
Anderson was born to Swedish immigrants. He attended Harvard University where he received a B.A. in Music in 1929, and a M.A. in Music in 1930. He studied toward a Ph.D. in German and Scandinavian languages through 1935 although he never completed his thesis. His composition teachers included George Enescu and Walter Piston. While in school he taught music to undergraduate students at Radcliffe College and was director of the Harvard University Band.
After hearing Anderson's arrangements for the Harvard Band, Arthur Fiedler asked him to make an arrangement of Harvard songs for the Boston Pops Orchestra. This eventually led to Fiedler hiring Anderson as an arranger for the Boston Pops and to the BPO performing original works by Anderson.
Leroy Anderson served in the United States Army during World War II as an interpreter and translator for the Counter Intelligence Corps and rose to the position of chief of the Scandinavian Department of Military Intelligence at the Pentagon.
After the war, Anderson moved to Connecticut with his family where he composed some of his most successful works, including Sleigh Ride (1948). His The Syncopated Clock (1945) was used as the theme show for The Late Show for 25 years and his composition Blue Tango sold over a million copies in 1952. As his compositions grew in popularity, Anderson was engaged as guest conductor of many orchestras across the United States.
Anderson wrote primarily for full orchestra. Soon after completing each orchestral composition, he would score many of his pieces for concert band and, in some cases, for piano and small ensembles. From 1938 to 1950, Anderson's compositions received their first performance with either Arthur Fiedler or Leroy Anderson conducting the Boston Pops. From 1950 to late 1962 Anderson's compositions received their first performances during recording sessions for Decca Records, conducted by Anderson.
He was awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1960.
SOURCE: The Wind Repertory Project (https://www.windrep.org)
PROGRAM NOTES - EXHALE BY SEAN O'LOUGHLIN
To be commissioned by such an incredible consortium of schools and educators is one of the highest honors a composer can achieve. Exhale is a composition born out of the directors’ desire for innovative and creative writing for concert band to be included in the 2018 New York State Band Directors Association [NYSBDA] Honor Band Festival.
The music in Exhale explores the various forms of breathing we experience in our everyday lives. From resting to exercising, the music depicts these various states of breath. In addition, I wanted to explore the colors of the modern wind band both with the rich use of harmony and the textural use of composite rhythms to create an eclectic tapestry of sound. I still give the listener and the ensemble a melody to grab onto, but I complement that with waves of sound and colors. As a listener, I invite you to close your eyes and envision the feelings that come with each iteration of Exhale.
SOURCE: Program Note by composer
Sean O’Loughlin (b. 1972) is an American composer, arranger and conductor.
Growing up in Syracuse, N.Y., Mr. O'Loughlin displayed a passion for music at an early age. Sean benefited from loving parents who supported his musical aspirations and challenged him to explore music as a career. During his undergraduate years at Syracuse University, Sean’s musical career began to take shape with the guidance of Larry Clark. Mr. O'Loughlin holds composition degrees from New England Conservatory and Syracuse University.
Through his growing number of commissioned and published works, Sean is excited to continue contributing to the rich history of orchestral and wind band literature. He is a fresh voice and a rising name in the music world. His music is characterized by vibrant rhythms, passionate melodies, and colorful scoring. Commissions from the Boston Pops Orchestra, the Los Angeles Philharmonic and the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra highlight and showcase his diverse musical abilities.
As a conductor, Mr. O'Loughlin is the principal pops conductor of Symphoria, from Syracuse, N.Y., and has been appointed principal pops conductor of the Victoria Symphony in Victoria, B.C. Canada. He is a frequent guest conductor with professional orchestras and honor bands around the country. He has led performances with the Boston Pops Orchestra, the San Francisco Symphony, the Chicago Symphony, the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra, the Minnesota Orchestra, the Vancouver Symphony, the Atlanta Symphony, the Baltimore Symphony, the Houston Symphony, the Victoria Symphony and the Seattle Symphony among others. He was the assistant conductor and arranger for a production of Sgt. Pepper Live in Las Vegas featuring the band Cheap Trick. He has served as conductor for summer tours with Josh Groban, Sarah McLachlan and the Jerry Garcia Symphonic Celebration.
An annual ASCAP Special Awards winner, Sean was a composition fellow at the Henry Mancini Institute in Los Angeles.
SOURCE: The Wind Repertory Project (https://www.windrep.org)
PROGRAM NOTES - VANISHING POINT BY RANDALL D. STANDRIDGE
Vanishing Point is a minimalistic work for wind ensemble that is inspired by the coasts of the Great Lakes. One can easily step up to the water’s edge, gazing off to the horizon, and let one’s imagination and creativity go where it will. It is a truly magical place, and I hope this work captures some of that feeling.
This work was commissioned by the Sturgeon Bay [Wisc.] High School Band and their director, Heidi Hintz, in honor of the 50th anniversary of their school. I wish to thank her for allowing my imagination to wander and for not dictating what the piece should be or what it should become. She was an absolute delight to work with. Peace, Love, and Music.
SOURCE: Program Note by composer
Randall D. Standridge (b. 1976, Little Rock, Ark.) is an American composer and arranger. Randall Standridge received his Bachelor of Music Education degree from Arkansas State University. During this time, he studied composition with Tom O'Connor, before returning to Arkansas State University to earn his master's in music composition, studying with Tom O'Connor and Tim Crist. In 2001, he began his tenure as director of bands at Harrisburg High School in Harrisburg, Arkansas. He left this post in 2013 to pursue a career as a full-time composer and marching arts designer.
Mr. Standridge's music is performed internationally. He has had numerous works selected to the J.W. Pepper's editor's choice. His compositions Snake Charmer, Gently Blows the Summer Wind, and Angelic Celebrations have been included in the Teaching Music Through Performance in Band series. He has had numerous works performed at the prestigious Midwest Clinic in Chicago, Illinois. His work Art(isms) was premiered by the Arkansas State University Wind Ensemble at the 2010 CBDNA conference in Las Cruces, New Mexico, and his work Stonewall: 1969 was premiered at the National LGBA conference in 2019. Mr. Standridge is also a contributing composer for Alfred Music's Sound Innovations: Ensemble Development series.
In addition to his career as a composer, Mr. Standridge is the owner and editor of Randall Standridge Music, LLC and Grand Mesa Marching. He is in demand as a drill designer, music arranger, and color guard designer for the marching arts, as well as a freelance artist/photographer and writer.
SOURCE: The Wind Repertory Project (https://www.windrep.org)
IT IS THAT TIME OF THE YEAR WHERE STUDENTS REGISTER FOR THE 2024-2025 SCHOOL YEAR. IN AN EFFORT TO HELP STUDENTS NAVIGATE REGISTRATION, TRI-M HONOR MUSIC SOCIETY CREATED A 4-YEAR GUIDING DOCUMENT. WE HOPE IT MAKES YOUR LIFE EASIER!
Four Richland County High School students were selected to participate in the 2024 Millikin High School Honor Band on Monday, Oct. 21st at the Kirkland Fine Arts Center at Millikin. The four RCHS students were Alex Schneider (tuba), Maddison Syers (tenor saxophone), Hadley Heath (clarinet), and Tyler Longbons (trumpet). This Honor Band is a long standing tradition in central Illinois that has hosted thousands of talented high school students over the years.
The 2024 High School Honor Band was directed by Dr. Neal Smith. Dr. Smith was appointed Associate Director of Bands at Millikin in 1999 and became the Director of Bands in 2022. He is also the Music Director of the Decatur Youth Symphony and Coordinator of Instrumental Music Education. Dr. Smith is well known as a guest conductor and clinician with bands and orchestras of all ages.
As part of the Millikin HS Honor Band students will have a chance to rehearse and perform with other talented young musicians from across the region, as well as take part in masterclasses with Millikin faculty and learn more about future opportunities in music.
Also featured as part of this year's Honor Band program will be Dr. Apollo Lee, adjunct professor of trumpet at Millikin. Dr. Lee earned his Masters and Doctorate from the Eastman School of Music and is a member of the Illinois Symphony Orchestra and principal trumpet in the Millikin Decatur Symphony Orchestra.
Congratulations to all four RCHS students for their selection into the honor band!
Five student-musicians from the Richland County High School band program have been selected to partake in the 2024 Illinois Music Education Association (ILMEA) District 5 Music Festival on November 4th (Jazz) & November 23rd (band, orchestra & choir) at Eastern Illinois University. These students were selected from a rigorous audition process as the top student-musicians representing 15 schools from twenty counties across the southeast Illinois area.
From left-to-right, the one middle school student, and the two high school band students that participate in the jazz festival on November 4th are Brooklyn Ferguson (eighth grade/junior jazz band), Lila Balding (junior/senior jazz band), and Ethan Zuber (senior/senior jazz band).
From left-to-right, the five RCHS band students that participate in the concert festival on November 23rd are Hadley Heath (sophomore/senior band), Lila Balding (junior/senior band), Jereme Higginbotham (sophomore/senior orchestra), Ethan Zuber (senior/senior band), and Alex Schneider (junior/senior band).
Three students from Richland County High School shall participate in the 2025 Illinois Music Education Association (ILMEA) All-State All-State Ensembles. ILMEA will host the event on January 29-February 1, 2025 in Peoria.
These students were selected from a rigorous audition process as the top student-musicians representing over 12,000 schools throughout Illinois. Of roughly 2,400 students that auditioned, only a fraction of students were selected to participate in the event. The RCHS students selected to participate are Ethan Zuber (senior trombonist/jazz band), Alex Schneider (junior tuba player/band), Jereme Higginbotham (freshman percussionist/band).
Ethan Zuber has been a member of the Richland County High School band program since 2021. He has a member of Marching Tigers since his freshman year and has been a member of low brass up until his junior year. His senior year he served as Drum Major. He has attended the Lincoln Trail Festival since his freshman year and he has played both trombone and euphonium. He has been a member of the Honor Wind Ensemble since his freshman year where he has served as 2nd trombone his Freshman through Junior years, and 1st chair his Senior year. He is also a member of the RCHS Jazz Ensemble where he has served as a trombonist. In 2022, 2023, and 2024, he was selected as a jazz trombonist for the district 5 Illinois Music Education (ILMEA) Jazz Festival on the campus of Eastern Illinois University (EIU). In 2024, he was selected as the principal trombonist for the ILMEA Orchestra festival also on the campus of EIU. His Junior year he was elected as Historian for the Tri-M National Honors Society (chapter 8170), and his senior year he is serving as the president of the honors society. Ethan has served as a trombonist for the Richland County High School musical production of Elf, 9 to 5, SpongeBob, and Annie. He has also received numerous Superior ratings from IHSA Solo and Ensembles competitions. After graduating, he plans to attend either the University of Illinois or to Eastern Illinois University to major in either Music Education or Trombone Performance.
Alex Schneider was selected for the 2025 Illinois Music Education (ILMEA) All-State Band. He also participated in the District 5 ILMEA Band in 2024. Alex is currently a member of the Honors Wind Ensemble, Marching Tigers, and Symphonic Band as a Tubist. He also is enrolled in the Jazz Band as a Trumpet player. He is a member of the Tri-M Music Honor Society (chapter 8170).
Along with music Alex is a 2-sport varsity athlete in baseball and soccer. Alex also serves as the Executive board Vice President for the Richland County High School Student Council, which he has been in for 3 years.
Jereme Higginbotham was selected to participate in the 2025 Illinois Music Education (ILMEA) All-State Band. He is currently a sophomore at Richland County High School. He has participated in ILMEA District 5 Bands for 4 years. Jereme accomplished ILMEA Junior Band his 7th and 8th grade year, and ILMEA Junior Jazz Band his 7th grade year. He was also selected for the All Illinois Junior Band State Ensemble in his 8th grade year. In his current high school career, he accomplished ILMEA Senior Orchestra his freshman and sophomore year. Jereme is a participant of the RCHS Marching Tigers, where he played 3rd bass drum in the ‘23 season and snare drum in the ‘24 season. He has been a member of the Honors Wind Ensemble since 2023. He is also a member of the school’s jazz band, where he has played jazz drumset his freshman and sophomore year. Jereme is currently a member of the Tri-M Honor Music Society Chapter 8170, which he has been a part of for 2 years. He participated in the IHSA Solo and Ensemble contest of 2024 and obtained a Superior in his percussion quartet. He has also participated in the orchestral pit for the high school’s musicals the past 2 years.
After graduating in 2027, Jereme plans to attend the University of Illinois at Champaign/Urbana to pursue a degree in the field of Science.
Congratulations to those that were inducted into the Richland County High School Tri-M Honor Music Society, Chapter 8170
Tri-M Music Honor Society, formerly known as Modern Music Masters, is an American high school and middle school music honor society. A program of the National Association for Music Education (NAfME), it is designed to recognize students for their academic and musical achievements and to provide leadership and service opportunities to young musicians.
The 2024-2025 Richland County High School Chapter 8170 Tri-M Music Honor Society members are:
First row (left-to-right): Maddison Syers, Sophie Combs, Alaina Parker, Hadley Heath, Evey Mason, Jackson Williams, & Alex Schneider
Second row (left-to-right): Mr. Weitkamp, Jereme Higginbotham, Callista Ridgely, Molly Fehrenbacher, Addison Ridgely, River Logan, Lila Balding, Ethan Zuber, and Mr. Jones
Not in picture: Conner Akers
For more information pertaining to Tri-M Music Honor Society, visit https://www.rchsbands.net/tri-m-chapter-8170.html.