CONCERT BAND
Dr. Michael Stewart, conductor

Antipasto
Satoshi Yagisawa
(b. 1975)

Alex Boone, graduate assistant conductor

Jubilate
Robert Jager
(b. 1939)

Amor de mi alma
Z. Randall Stroope
(b. 1953)
trans. Frederick Umar

Haunted Objects (Tsukumogami)
John Mackey
(b. 1973)

SYMPHONIC BAND
Dr. Fuller Lyon, conductor

Southern Harmony
Donald Grantham
(b. 1947)

I. The Midnight Cry

Fantasia in G Major
Johann Sebastian Bach
(1685-1750)
trans. Goldman/Leist

Matthew Waymon, graduate conductor

Lauds
Ron Nelson
(1929-2023)

Tyler Hamilton, graduate conductor

The Black Horse Troop
John Philip Sousa
(1854-1932)

Sursum Corda
Edward Elgar
(1857-1934)
trans. Houseknecht

CONCERT BAND

Antipasto

Antipasto was composed in 2022 as a commission work for the 50th regular concert of the Takamatsu First Senior High School Symphonic Wind Ensemble in Kagawa Prefecture, Japan, and was performed for the first time in the world by the same group under the direction of Kji Ishikawa. The high school in question is a prestigious school that has produced many excellent musicians.

When Satoshi Yagisawa was asked to compose a piece that could be played at the opening of every concert, he named it Antipasto, which means “appetizer” in Italian cuisine. This humorous work, which likens a concert to a restaurant course meal, condenses the composer’s typically flamboyant and dramatic music into a digestible whole of about four minutes.

Jubilate

Robert Jager was born in Binghamton, New York on August 25, 1939. From 1962 to 1965 he was arranger/composer for the US-Navy Armed Forces School of Music. He completed his studies and graduated from the University of Michigan in 1968. He then went on to be the lecturer in composition and directing at Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Virginia. In 1971, he left Old Dominion University to become a professor at Tennessee Technological University in Cookeville, TN from which he retired in 2001. In his career, Jager has received numerous honors for his works, including being the only three-time winner of the American Bandmasters Association Ostwald Composition Award (1964, 1968, 1972). The program will include one of the composer’s most recognized and favorite band compositions; Esprit de Corps (written for the United States Marine Corps), Lord Guard and Guide, Colonial Dances, and the Third Suite. Written in 1978, Jubilate was commissioned by the All-Japan Band Association on the occasion of their 40th anniversary.

Amor de mi alma

In the fall of 2009, I had the honor to study conducting, orchestration, and arranging under Takayoshi ‘Tad’ Suzuki -- principal conductor of the TAD Wind Symphony (Japan) -- when he was a member of the faculty and staff at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. From the moment we met, I was deeply moved by the passion with which he listened, arranged, and conducted music. Regardless of the genre, he seemed to be able to find the core emotions of the work -- those moments that the composer or arranger set as ‘crucial to express’ for the success of the work at large. After many weeks of watching him convey these emotions with ease, I was compelled to ask him to teach me such an art. He obliged, and over the next two-plus years, our lessons would begin and end with a parable or two -- a story or life experience that seemed to convey a deeper meaning it was important I grasp. Some days, these parables were all we would discuss, as Takayoshi asked questions of me, seeking to see if I could convey those things profoundly between the words, the phrasing, the sentences, and the overall story line. Once he was satisfied with my response, Takayoshi would ask me to conduct what I had just uncovered from the parable within a work. It changed the way I saw every composition. He would later expand upon this approach as he taught me to develop a sense of tonal texture and harmonic awareness in arrangements I would set for the wind band.

It was during one such lesson that Takayoshi shared a story I will never forget -- this, involving his father. I was so moved by the passion, the respect, the sheer joy this man expressed toward his father. As I watched a single tear rolled down Takayoshi’s face, I was invited to see the heart of his father -- the kindness, the gentleness, and the beauty of this father’s love for his child. I am still moved, remembering that day, the stories of his father, the sayings he expressed to Takayoshi, the respect, the honor he sought to bestow upon him through his musical expressions. That moment taught me more about the ‘Father-child’ relationship with God, through Jesus Christ, than any life lesson I had ever learned. It also taught me the power, the magnitude of the role of a father on the lives of our children. They carry with them what we impress upon them -- however good or bad -- passing these things along to others, to their own. It therefore becomes an honor to teach them our ways, our deep love for them, in ways they can understand clearly. It is this ‘one thing’ that matters most. It is the single most important gift we can give our children.

This work is the result of those beautiful lessons together. The textures, the phrasing, the moments of anticipation and musical awe you will experience reflect a depth of love we should all seek to experience, to reflect. I do so hope you are able to express these syllables in your own personal performance(s). If you truly wish to express the composer's and arranger's intent, it is these that should become the most important aspects of your performance.

It would be an honor to hear your ensemble perform this work. It is something I never tire of experiencing.

Takayoshi ‘Tad’ Suzuki was the only non-American-born member of the American Bandmasters Association.

-Program Note written by Frederick Umar

Haunted Objects (Tsukumogami)

The thing about ghost stories — the good ones, anyway — is that they reflect the psychological inclinations of the reader. They may surprise, frighten, inspire or dazzle, but at the end of the tale an impression is made only if we see our own dreams, fears, and hopes in the characters. Sometimes we’re the protagonists, and sometimes we’re the ghosts, but the magic happens in the creeping realization that what lurks in the pages might also be right behind us. Haunted Objects (Tsukumogami) is a musical ghost story; one that aesthetically captures the spirit of a particular supernatural cultural phenomenon of Japan, as the composer writes:

I love Japanese culture, and wanted to write something that would honor its people’s traditions from my own perspective. I first visited in 2007 for the premiere of Kingfishers Catch Fire, and have been back several times since including with my wife Abby on our honeymoon. She’s the person who first introduced me to the concept of tsukumogami, which are everyday items or tools that, after being around for a century, acquire a spirit and take on a life of their own. The idea inspired me to write music that alternated—and danced—between harmless and mischievous. I don’t consider the tsukumogami to be hurtful; they’re pranksters! They’re always reminding us that they have a use, and you should discard them with caution, as they might end up haunting you...

Haunted Objects (Tsukumogami) was commissioned by the Siena Wind Orchestra and premiered by that ensemble on February 10, 2024, conducted by Daichi Deguchi.

Program notes written by Jake Wallace.

SYMPHONIC BAND

Southern Harmony

In 1835, William “Singin’ Billy” Walker’s songbook, Southern Harmony, was first published. This remarkable collection contains, according to its title page, “a choice collection of tunes, hymns, psalms, odes and anthems; selected from the most eminent authors in the United States.” In fact, few of the numbers in the book are identified as the work of a published composer. Many are folk songs (provided with religious texts), others are traditional sacred tunes, while some are revival songs that were widely known and sung throughout the South. The book was immensely popular, selling an amazing 600,000 copies before the Civil War, and was commonly stocked “along with groceries and tobacco” in general stores across the American frontier. From 1884 until World War II, an annual all-day mass performance of selections from Southern Harmony, called the “Benton Big Singing,” was held on the Benton, KY, courthouse lawn. The event drew participants from Kentucky, Tennessee, Missouri, and Illinois.

The music of Southern Harmony has a somewhat exotic sound to modern audiences. The tunes often use modal or pentatonic rather than major or minor scales. The harmony is even more out of the ordinary, employing chord position, voice leading and progressions that are far removed from the European music that dominated concert halls at the time. These harmonizations were dismissed as crude and primitive when they first appeared. Now they are regarded as inventive, unique, and powerfully representative of the American character.

In his use of several tunes from Southern Harmony, the composer has attempted to preserve the flavor of the original vocal works in a setting that fully realizes the potential of the wind ensemble and the individual character of each song.

Southern Harmony was commissioned by the band directors of the Southeastern Conference.

Fantasia in G Major

The great G Major Fantasia for organ was composed between 1703 and 1707 during Bach’s residence in Arnstadt. It was here, at the beginning of his career, that his music was found to be too full of “wonderful variations and foreign tones”; and certainly, the Fantasia is strikingly dissonant in its constant texture of suspensions. But the breadth of the five-part polyphonic writing and the richness of the harmonic sonority make it one of the grandest of all Bach’s compositions for organ. It is also one that lends itself most perfectly to the sound and sonorities of the modern wind band.

The transcription by Richard Franko Goldman and Robert L. Leist was undertaken as a memorial to Edwin Franko Goldman, who was the first bandmaster to include the works of Bach regularly in the band’s concert repertoire, and who did so much to introduce the music of this great master to wide audiences. In this transcription, an attempt is made to recapture the sound of the Baroque organ through the medium of the modern band. The first performance of this transcription was given on July 1, 1957, by The Goldman Band, with Richard Franko Goldman conducting.

Lauds

Lauds (Praise High Day) is an exuberant, colorful work intended to express feelings of praise and glorification. Lauds is one of the seven canonical hours that were selected by St. Benedict as the times the monks would observe the daily offices. Three (terce, sext, and none) were the times of the changing of the Roman guards and four (matins, lauds, vespers, and compline) were tied to nature. Lauds, subtitled “Praise High Day,” honors the sunrise; it is filled with the glory and excitement of a new day.

The Black Horse Troop

Sousa’s love for horses is reflected in this march dedicated to the mounted troops of a Cleveland National Guard unit. Their exclusive use of black horses was the inspiration for the title. Troop A, once known as the First City Troop of Cleveland, was originally an independent militia group and has had a long, distinguished history since its formation in 1877. Sousa’s most noteworthy association with the troop came in 1878. The Sousa Band, having arrived in Cleveland just as the troop was preparing to leave for the Spanish-American War, marched in a parade escorting them from the Armory to the train depot. His first association was much earlier, however. As leader of the U.S. Marine Band in 1881, he marched with the organization in the funeral cortege of President James A. Garfield.

At a dinner held in Sousa’s honor in November 1924, the march was requested by Captain Walker Nye of Troop A. The request was fulfilled promptly, and the march was presented in Cleveland on October 17, 1925, at a Sousa Band concert, which also marked the forty-eighth anniversary of Troop A. For the occasion, the mounted troopers were dressed in the blue uniforms of 1877, complete with black fur busbies. They rode right up onto the stage with the band. Sousa presented a manuscript of the march to Captain Nye. After the concert, a reception was held at the Armory, and Sousa was presented with a bronze plaque.

Many of the former Sousa Band members expressed their fondness for the composition and commented on the descriptive character it assumed when performed by Sousa himself. Part of the effect was due to the 6/8 rhythm, which suggests the canter of horses. Also contributing to the effect was Sousa’s use of simulated hoofbeats.

Sursum Corda

As a devout Roman Catholic, Edward Elgar endured an uneasy celebrity under the British spotlight. Lionized as Britain’s greatest living composer, Elgar was also shunned by British noblesse for not being Anglican. In many personal letters, we can now read of Elgar’s lifelong depression brought forth by the bigotry he experienced. Sursum Corda (Latin for “Lift Up Your Hearts”) is his musical testament to Church, Country, and Self. The composition serves as powerful evidence as the purpose of music-the expression of the human existence: our past and present, our failings and our achievements, our sentiments and our aspirations, our joys, and sorrows.

Dr. Michael Stewart, conductor

* = principal

+ = co-principal

Guest Musicians

Matthew Barrett
Anna Davis
Eli Garcia

Flute

Madalynn Adkerson +
Aphrael Carrillo +
Isabel Favre
Faith Flanders
Joanna Gardner (picc)
Elizabeth Hamilton
Kaz Manville
JJ Nauman
Maddie Stewart
Shelby Wilkerson

Oboe

Aubrey Grace Holland

Clarinet

Jackson Banks
Brooklyn Griffith
Chloe Levering
Hannah McGill
Courtney McHan
Evan Norris
Dylan Smith
Rachel Stewart
Maria Vite *
Elle Wlas

Bass Clarinet

Ploomie Messer
Jessie Williams

Bassoon

Emily Phillips *
Macy Porter
Patrick Sealy
Andrew van Dalen
Christopher Williamson

Alto Sax

Jordan Cannon
Andrew Cook
Luke Robertson *

Tenor Sax

Sarah Vernetti

Bari Sax

Madigan Ashe

Trumpet

Brody Carter
Amanda Lindsey Coulson
Shandi Dice
Thomas Hooper
Chance Jones
Kamden Lindsay
Koehl Lindsay
Evan Mainous
Terence Osorio *
Dylan Sacksteder
Ethan Samuelson
Kara Ussery

French Horn

Emily Baker
Duncan Clever
Jacob Dozier
Sydney Flenniken
Xander Harms
Alex Medearis
Lara O’Neil
Randall Robinson
Sam Shoemaker*
Irene Staebler

Trombone

Noah Allard
David Hernandez
Thomas Kenner
Ian Myers
Jacob Ross
Ian Searcy *
Peyton Weir
Claire Werner

Euphonium

Eli Atkin
Harrison Barnes
Connor Bedillion *
Zack Donovan
Yazeiry Perez De La Torre

Tuba

Ethan Mizzell
Olivia Thomasson
Isaiah Towns *

Percussion

Olivia Baker
Carson Hutson
Kayla King
Aiden Starcher

Piano

Routong Wang

Dr. Fuller Lyon, conductor

* = principal
+= co-principal

Names listed alphabetically

Piccolo

Maddi Smith+

Flute

Sarah Cox
Kaylei Malone*
Julianne Moss
Ella Pinchok
Chloe Watson

Oboe

Katherine Means*
Caroline Storch

Clarinet

Absa Dia
Patrick Flaherty
Lauren Goldston
Carter Holtmann
Evan Laws
Jack Myers
Bryce Neely+
Joshua Zhou+

Bass Clarinet

Joshua Adedokun
Natalie Rundblade

Bassoon

Austin Hill*
Daniel Sippel

Soprano Saxophone

Julia Avery

Alto Saxophone

Julia Avery*
Anna Caten

Tenor Saxophone          

Matt Sexton

Baritone Saxophone

Preston Turner

Trumpet

Matthew Dunevant
Isaac Hair+
Micah Ireland
Ian Krueger+
Dylan Mccurry
Eli Oliver
Ben Petro
Jack Watt

Horn

Carson Duckworth
Grace Estes
Chase Hart
Cole McFarland+
Olivia Rhines
Zac Stanislawski+

Trombone

Wyatt Detrick*
Tyler Guthrie
Terrance Jones
Samuel Thomas

Bass Trombone

Austin Kerr

Euphonium

Sammie Beverley
Scotty Hunnicutt*

Tuba

Tommy Bond
Paul Muirhead+
Hudson Scott+

Percussion

Nathan Caldwell
Tyler Delaney
Brooke Duez
Colston Oldham+
David Scott
Zac Swafford+

Piano

Tianran Gao

Organ

Josef Govednik

December 5, 2023
Wind Ensemble Concert

February 22, 2024
Wind Ensemble Concert

February 27, 2024
Concert Band/Symphonic Band Concert

April 10, 2024
Wind Ensemble Concert

April 25, 2024
Concert Band/Symphonic Band Concert

We hope you enjoyed this performance. Private support from music enthusiasts enables us to improve educational opportunities and develop our student artists’ skills to their full potential. To learn more about how you can support the College of Music, contact Chris Cox, Director of Advancement, 865-974-3331 or ccox@utfi.org.

Want to know more about the bands at the University of Tennessee? Please visit utbands.utk.edu.