This past Sunday, the University of Michigan’s School of Music, Theater, and Dance, presented a collaboration between the Michigan Youth Band and the Michigan Concert Band. Both groups, under the direction of Rodney Dorsey, assistant director of bands at the University, each presented a 45 minute set of music.
As a musician myself, I must say I was quite impressed by the level of musicianship present in these young musicians. It was very rewarding to hear such young artists excelling so beautifully at their craft.
When the concert band took the stage, however, there was a completely different aura about the concert. The level of professionalism seemed to rise as the Michigan Concert Band opened their portion of the concert with a piece by George called “Firefly”. Virtuosic runs and effortless elegance filled the sound.
The concert took a very interesting turn as the Michigan Concert Band performed a piece by Schwantner entitled “From a Dark Millennium”. I guess it is safe to say that the title should have been warning enough. Between eerie singing, high pitched whistling, and non-chordal harmonines, the piece indeed felt like it was, well, from a dark millennium.
The fun began when the band performed a very lively rendition of Frank Ticheli’s “Blue Shades”. The highlight of the piece came in with the bluesy clarinet solo halfway through the piece. Okay, sue me, I might have a slight clarinet-player bias. Really, though, it was amazing! The ease with which the soloist ripped through runs was absolutely beautiful.
A band concert would not be a band concert without a good ol’ Sousa march. The Concert Band closed the concert with a crowd pleasing rendition of “Pride of the Wolverines”. It was nice to move away from the atonal and arhythmical structure of the Schwantner to the toe-tapping ease of Sousa.
I definitely recommend these concerts to everyone. They’re fun, and free! And most of them have a pre-concert lecture which helps in understanding the pieces to be performed.
