Thursday, March 8, 2007

BBHHS Auditorium

7:00 PM

 

 

Program

 

Jazz Ensemble

Manteca………………………………….............Dizzy Gillespie/arr. Tomaro

God Bless the Child…………………..............Arthur Herzog, Jr./arr. Nestico

Jun-Gyu Park, Trombone

Swing, Swing, Swing………………………………John Williams/arr. Taylor

 

 

Concert Band

Americans We……………………………………Henry Fillmore, arr. Balent

Three Ayres from Gloucester…………………………….............Hugh Stuart

            1.  The Jolly Earl of Cholmondeley

            2.  Ayre for Eventide

            3.  The Fiefs of Wembley

Sea Trilogy…………………………………………………Elliot Del Borgo

 

 

~ Intermission ~

 

Symphonic Band

The Thunderer………………………………...John Philip Sousa/arr. Bocook

The Light Eternal…………………………………..............James Swearingen

Regenesis (Song of the Planet)………………………………….John Higgins

 

 

Clarinet Choir

Caprice for Clarinets…………………………………………Clare Grundman

 

 

Wind Ensemble

March of the Belgian Parachutists…………….Pieter Leemans/arr. Bourgeois

I Am………………………………………………………Andrew Boysen, Jr.

Metroplex: Three Postcards from Manhattan..………………..Robert Sheldon

BBHHS Alma Mater…………………….............Harold Chidsey/arr. Nowlin
Dedicated to Harold J. “Hal” Chidsey (1917-2006)

 

 

 

 

PROGRAM NOTES

 

 

CONCERT BAND

 

Americans We

Henry Fillmore (1881-1956) was the most colorful band man of his time, and that era stretched across fifty vibrant years during which he probably wrote more band music – much of it under assumed names – than any other composer in bandmaster history.  This arrangement by Andrew Balent captures the spirit of the original.

 

Three Ayres from Gloucester

This piece came about as a result of the composer’s fascination with an old 10th Century couplet:

“There’s no one quite so comely

As the Jolly Earl of Cholmondely.” (pronounced “Chumley”)

 

The resulting movements are in early English folk song style and are designed to capture the mood of the peasants and their life on the fiefs of Wembley castle.

 

 

SYMPHONIC BAND

 

The Light Eternal

On February 3, 1943, the S.S. Dorchester, an American troop transport vessel, sank in the icy waters off the coast of Greenland, the victim of a German U-Boat.  Of the 904 men aboard, 605 were lost.  Among those who perished were four Army chaplains, each of a different faith, each called to the same duty.

 

The testimony of the survivors tells the story best; “As overcrowded lifeboats capsized, as rafts drifted away empty and men milled around on deck on the ragged edge of panic, the only fragment of hope came from these four men… and when the life jackets were gone, they gave away their own.”

 

As the survivors swam away, they remember the chaplains standing – their arms linked – braced against the slanting deck.  They were praying words of prayer in Latin, Hebrew and English, addressed to the same God.

 

This piece, based on the well-known hymn “God of our Fathers,” is a reflective work that musically recounts this magnificent story.

 

Regenesis (Song of the Planet)

Regenesis is a descriptive overture, written to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the cataclysmic eruption of Mount St. Helens in May, 1980.  With the force of 500 Hiroshimas, its towering wall of destruction enveloped over 230 square miles of forest and wildlife.  Sixty people were drawn into its deadly embrace.

 

The piece reflects the ever-changing life cycles of our ecological system, in which a suffocating swath of devastation can become a crucible of creation.

 

 

 

WIND ENSEMBLE

 

March of the Belgian Parachutists

Pieter Leemans served in the Belgian army during World War I, and was asked by his regimental commander to write a march.  He began the march, but it was never finished.  Later, near the end of World War II, he was asked by a group of Belgian paratroopers to compose a march, and remembering his earlier theme, he did, the result being this very popular march.  Since that time, the march has enjoyed great success, being played by bands throughout the world.

 

I Am

The piece was commissioned by Craig Aune and the Cedar Rapids Prairie High School Band of Cedar Rapids, Iowa in February 1990.  It was written in memory of Lynn Jones, a baritone saxophone player in the band who was killed in an auto accident during that winter.  The work is basically tonal in nature, but includes extended techniques such as an aleatoric section and singing from members of the ensemble.  The aleatoric section is intended to represent the foggy morning of the crash in which Jones died.  The words “I Am” are taken from a poem that he wrote just days before his death.  The piece is not intended in any way to be an elegy.  Instead, it is a celebration, and reaffirmation, of life.

 

I Am

Life, Music, Competition.

I like exciting things, and doing good for others.

Beauty, Successfulness and Smartness are important to me.

I like to achieve recognition.

I can succeed if I really put my mind to it.

I am very set in my ways,

But I can change when I realize my ignorance.

I like a simple nonchalant lifestyle.

I hate ignorance.

I hate structuredness.

This is me.  I am!

 

-- Lynn Jones

    January 1990

 

Metroplex: Three Postcards from Manhattan

A musical portrait of Manhattan’s cityscape, Metroplex opens with a vision of the New York City skyline, evoking looming buildings and concrete canyons.  From there, the melody travels to the heart of an urban jazz scene, characteristic of the city’s famous night clubs.  Finally, the piece takes us on a wild taxi ride through the heavy traffic of a bustling metropolis.  The skyline is seen once more as we leave Manhattan, hopefully to return again soon.

 

Tonight the Wind Ensemble is joined by advanced art students who will be creating live, improvised performance art in the spirit of Metroplex: Three Postcards from Manhattan.  Special thanks to Mrs. Anne Jones, Mrs. Julie Sterman, Ally Sterman, Dan Duncan, Margot Marincic, and Mrs. Sarah Greggory for their significant contribution.

 

 

Brecksville-Broadview Heights High School Alma Mater

Dedicated to Hal Chidsey

(1917-2006)

 

Wally Guenther

Plain Dealer Reporter

 

(Hal) Chidsey, 89, died on Christmas Day at the Royalton Woods Retirement Living facility in North Royalton. 

      In addition to writing (North Royalton High School’s) alma mater, he started the first marching band.  He then left his teaching position to open a heating and cooling business in North Royalton.

      Chidsey returned to teaching music in 1960 at the Brecksville-Broadview Heights High School, and at the middle school.  He also wrote that high school’s alma mater.

      He retired in 1982.

      An accomplished clarinetist, Chidsey played with several Dixieland jazz bands.  He was the bandleader for two big bands in the 1970s, Hal & the Starlighters and Hal & the Lamplighters. 

      Chidsey was born in Brunswick and graduated from Brunswick High School.  He received a music degree from Baldwin-Wallace College in 1940. 

      “After graduating, my father packed his car with sandwiches and went looking for a job,” said a son, Robert of North Royalton.  His first music teaching job was with the Palmyra Township school district in southeasters Portage County.

         While serving in the Army during World War II, he played with an Army band that entertained troops in Europe.  After the war, he received a master’s degree in music education from Western Reserve University.

         Chidsey was the last surviving member charter member of the North Royalton Kiwanis Club. 

         He was a choir member at North Royalton United Methodist Church, as well as a member of the church’s Board of Trustees.

         Chidsey also played the keyboard and piano.  He often entertained the residents on Royalton Woods, where he organized residents into a choir to sing Christmas carols.

         He and he wife of 64 years, Leonore, who died last year, had lived in North Royalton since 1947.

 

 

 

This article appeared fully in The Plain Dealer, January 2007.