CARIBANA
Omar Thomas
Named after the largest Caribbean carnival in North America outside of the Caribbean (held annually in Toronto and now called “Toronto Caribbean Carnival”), Caribana is my attempt to bring the Calypso and Soca music of Trinidad and Tobago to the large ensemble symphonic music stage. Though this music originated on the islands of Trinidad and Tobago, they have become cultural staples of all Caribbean nations, with singers and songwriters from various countries adding to the rich tapestry of the tradition. Driven by layers of rhythmic percussion (known as “the engine room”), Caribana seeks to recreate the experience of immersion in the carnival experience – from the elaborate beaded, feathered, and shimmering costumes, to the flatbed 18-wheeler trucks blasting Soca and Calypso through their massive speaker systems, followed by people dancing shoulder-to-shoulder to the driving and infectious music, waving flags of their respective Caribbean nations in perfect rhythm to the driving and infectious music. This piece gives you a bird’s eye view of the festivities, swoops in and darts about, taking in individual scenes and sights, immersing you in the pulsing chaos of the moment, and finally making you one with the electrified crowd of revelers as you follow the music down the parade route.
As a proud son of parents, aunts, uncles, cousins, and ancestors born in the Caribbean nation of Guyana, South America, Calypso and Soca form many of my earliest and most endearing musical memories. There is not a family gathering I can recall that wasn’t (loudly) underscored by this music, be it a cookout, a holiday, a wedding, a repast, Saturday morning house cleaning, or car rides to and from Brooklyn. The creation of this work is the realization of a years-long dream to hear this music brought to the symphonic concert stage in a way that is authentic, and that integrates our musical cultural language with the idioms of the symphonic concert genre.
This piece is lovingly dedicated to my family and to the ancestors. Wave yuh flag!
Note by the composer
DECIDUOUS
For a long time after my father passed away, I felt like I had “lost my leaves.” In the way that leaves harness light to create energy for trees and plants, I felt like I had so little left to harness creatively. Many days I feared those leaves would never grow back. After struggling for months to write, I finally found some healing while creating Deciduous. This involved revisiting chord progressions that brought me solace as a child and activating them in textures that I have enjoyed exploring as an adult. The piece cycles through these chord progressions, building to a moment where it’s stripped of everything and must find a way to renew itself. While I continue to struggle with this loss, I have come to understand that healing is not as much of a linear process as it is a cyclical journey, where, without fail, every leafless winter is following by a spring.
Note by the composer
MYSTERIUM
Mysterium is Higdon’s own arrangement of her sacred choral work O Magnum Mysterium for wind ensemble. Mysterium is a tribute to the wonderful mystery of how music moves us. Perhaps it is the unexplainable that creates such magic, for both the performer and the listener, but there is no denying the incredible power of a shared musical experience.
This arrangement of this work was commissioned by Scott A. Stewart, Emory University Wind Ensemble, and Scott Weiss, University of South Carolina Bands.
CONCERTO FOR WIND ENSEMBLE
My Concerto for Wind Ensemble came into existence in two stages, separated by three years. The first movement came about in 2006, when Commander Donald Schofield (then director of the USAF Band of Mid-America) requested a new work that would showcase the band’s considerable skill and viscerally demonstrate their commitment to excellence as representatives of the United States Air Force. From the outset, I decided against an outright depiction of flight, instead opting to create a work that requires, and celebrates, virtuosity. Initial discussions with Cdr. Schofield centered on a concerto grosso concept, and from this, the idea evolved into one of surrounding the audience with three groups of players, as if the concertino group had expanded to encompass the audience. These three antiphonal groups, along with the onstage ensemble, form the shape of a diamond, which, not coincidentally, is a core formation for the USAF Thunderbirds Air Demonstration Squadron. As a further analog, I’ve placed Trumpet 5 and Clarinet 5 in the back of the hall, serving as an ‘inversion’ of the ensemble onstage, which mirrors the role of the No. 5 pilot who spends the majority of the show flying inverted. The musical material consists of a five-note ascending scale-wise motive and a repeated chord progression (first introduced in the Vibraphone about 2’30” into the work). The rhythm of this chord progression (inspired by a Radiohead song) informs the rhythmic makeup of the remainder of the movement.
As the piece took shape, I realized I wanted to write much more than the “five to seven minutes” specified in the original commission, so I intentionally left the end of the work “open,” knowing I would someday expand it when the opportunity presented itself. That chance came in 2009, thanks to Jerry Junkin: shortly after his fantastic 2009 performance of Ecstatic Waters at the College Band Directors National Association conference in Austin, we discussed my desire to write more movements, and he graciously agreed to lead a consortium to commission the project.
In expanding the work, I planned to reuse the same few musical elements across all five movements. "Economy of materials" is a guiding principle of my approach to composing, and I set out to tie this work together as tightly as possible. The original ascending five-note motive from Movement I returns often (in fact, the number 5 insinuates itself into both the melodic and rhythmic fabric of the entire work).
In Movement II, this scalar passage is stretched vertically, so that its total interval now covers a minor seventh instead of a perfect fifth. The F# Phrygian harmony eventually resolves upward to G major, acting as five-minute expansion of the F#-G trills introduced in the Clarinets at the beginning of Movement I. The second movement exploits the antiphonal instruments for formal purposes, as the music gradually moves from the stage to the surrounding instruments. Extended flute solos permeate the movement.
Movement III is bright, rhythmically incessant, and veers toward jazz in a manner that surprised me as it unfolded. The accompaniment patterns revisit the Vibraphone rhythm from movement I, which various scalar threads swirl around the ensemble. The melodic material for this movement comes from a trumpet solo my father played years ago, and which I transcribed in 2006, while composing the first movement. I knew from the beginning that this would end up in the work, though my original plan was to set it in toto in the fourth movement. Instead, it wound up in the much brighter third movement, and led the music into a completely unexpected direction.
Movement IV’s weighty character, then, comes from that initial plan to set my father’s solo, however, I realized it wasn’t going to sound as I had anticipated – I had envisioned something similar to Ives’ The Unanswered Question, but it simply wasn’t working. Once I let go of the solo and focused on the surrounding sonic landscape, the music formed quickly, recalling various fragments from earlier in the piece. The movement also pays homage to Webern’s Six Pieces for Orchestra (elements of which appear in other movements), and Corigliano’s score to the film Altered States. Both of these have been early, powerful, lasting influences on my compositional choices.
Movement V returns to the opening motive of the entire work, this time with a simmering vitality that burns inexorably to a no-holds-barred climax. Where the first four movements of the work only occasionally coalesce into tutti ensemble passages, here, the entire band is finally unleashed.
I owe a debt of gratitude to Jerry Junkin and the consortium members for allowing me the opportunity to create this work – all 54,210 notes of it.
Note by the composer
JONATHAN CALDWELL
Dr. Jonathan Caldwell is director of bands and assistant professor of conducting at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro where he conducts the Wind Ensemble and Symphonic Band and teaches undergraduate and graduate conducting. Prior to his appointment at UNCG, Caldwell held positions at Virginia Tech, the University of Wisconsin–Stevens Point, and Garner Magnet High School (Garner, NC).
Ensembles under Caldwell’s guidance have performed for the College Band Directors National Association Southern Division, the North Carolina Music Educators Association, the National Band Association–Wisconsin Chapter, and in Carnegie Hall. His writings have been published in the Journal of Band Research and the Teaching Music Through Performance in Band series. His book, Original Études for the Developing Conductor, was published in 2023 and awarded “Highly Commended” in the inaugural Impact Award category by the Association of Learned and Professional Society Publishers (UK). Caldwell has given presentations for the Midwest Band and Orchestra Clinic, the College Band Directors National Association, the Internationale Gesellschaft zur Erforschung und Förderung der Blasmusik (IGEB), and music educator conferences in North Carolina and Virginia.
Caldwell received a Doctor of Musical Arts in conducting from the University of Michigan and a Master of Music in instrumental conducting from the University of Maryland, College Park. He holds a Master of Arts in Teaching and a Bachelor of Music in performance from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Caldwell’s conducting teachers include Michael Haithcock, Michael Votta, Jerry Schwiebert, James Ross, and Tonu Kalam. He is a member of the College Band Directors National Association, the National Band Association, the National Association for Music Education (NAfME), Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia (Alpha Rho), Tau Beta Sigma (Beta Eta), Phi Beta Kappa, and Phi Kappa Phi.
KRISTIN ARP
Kristin Arp is currently pursuing a Doctor of Musical Arts degree at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro with Dr. Kevin Geraldi and Dr. Jonathan Caldwell. Before coming to UNCG, Kristin taught high school and middle school band in the Knox County, Tennessee public schools.
Kristin holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees in Music Education and Instrumental Conducting from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville where she studied with Dr. Donald Ryder and Dr. David Royse. At UT, she frequently conducted the University of Tennessee Concert Band, Symphonic Band, Wind Ensemble, Percussion Ensemble, and Trumpet Ensemble. As a graduate assistant for the Pride of the Southland Marching Band, Kristin’s responsibilities included teaching drill, music, and the supervision of Volleyball and Basketball Pep Bands. She also has extensive experience with Drum Corp International and performed with 2009 DCI World Championship Finalists, the Troopers Drum & Bugle Corps from Casper, Wyoming.