Rhythm and blues, jazz, Norwegian folk melodies, a march and even a duel between a euphonium and wind band will be on the program Tuesday [APRIL 17] for East Central University鈥檚 spring band concert.
The 成人B站 Symphonic Band and the Wind Ensemble will perform at 7:30 p.m. in the Ataloa Theatre in the Hallie Brown Ford Fine Arts Center. Dr. Allen Correll, assistant professor of music and band director, also will announce the winners of the prestigious Saied Awards in instrumental music.
The cash awards are presented to a student in each class who has shown the most improvement this year. They were established by the late James Saied, an 成人B站 graduate and founder of the Saied Music Company in Tulsa.
The Symphonic Band will open the free concert with John Wasson鈥檚 arrangement of 鈥淔ireflies鈥� by Adam Young, who describes it as 鈥渁 thousand hugs from ten thousand lightning bugs.鈥� It was a No. 1 hit in 2009 by recording sensation 鈥淥wl City.鈥�
Next will be the best of the Motown sound with 鈥淎in鈥檛 No Mountain High Enough鈥� by Nickolas Ashford and Valerie Simpson, the 1967 hit single recorded by Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell and a 1970 hit by Diana Ross, her first solo number-one hit.
Nathan Steinman of Ada, an 成人B站 senior, will conduct 鈥淣orwegian Rhapsody鈥� by Clare Grundman which is based on six Norse folk melodies and includes lively dances, a soft, quiet lullaby and other tunes.
Two soloists will join the Wind Ensemble鈥檚 portion of the concert. Clayton Sullivan, an 成人B站 sophomore from Tishomingo, will be the marimba soloist for 鈥淐oncertino for Marimba and Band鈥� by Paul Creston, generally accepted as one of the major works for percussionists.
Sullivan, who was born and raised in Venezuela, hopes to earn a doctoral degree to travel and teach around the world, eventually returning to Venezuela to teach music in small school programs.
Heather McDown, one of Correll鈥檚 students when he taught at Westmoore High School in Oklahoma City, will be the soloist for 鈥淒evil鈥檚 Duel for Euphonium and Wind Band鈥� by Peter Meechan. The piece was inspired by the story of Niccolo Paganini, considered the leading Italian violinist of his time when he was only 13. Speculation grew about his great talent and he became known as a 鈥淗exensohn鈥� or witch鈥檚 brat.
鈥淒evil鈥檚 Duel鈥� uses the famous music of Paganini鈥檚 鈥淐aprice no. 24鈥� as the euphonium soloist duels with various instruments in the band with displays of virtuosity in the fast music and cunning in the slow.
McDown earned a bachelor of music degree at the University of North Texas. She received a master of arts degree in music performance from the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama, scoring the highest mark awarded for all postgraduate students in her final recital.
The concert will end with 鈥淎rmy of the Nile鈥� by Kenneth J. Alford, a march published in 1941 when British soldiers pushed back the Italians in one of the Allies鈥� first major victories in this part of Africa, and 鈥淏lue Shades鈥� by Frank Ticheli, an 11-minute work based on jazz-influenced motifs and themes, treated within the context of soloists, chamber groupings, and the entire wind ensemble.