NEWS OF OUR MUSICIANS

Fall 2005
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News stories from the Fall Equinox of 2005 (21 September 2005) through the Winter Solstice 2005 (21 December 2005) comprise this archive.

19 DECEMBER 2005:

LIFTING UP OUR VOICES

The McFarland High School Choirs, under the direction of the gifted Anne Nichols, gave their winter concert Thursday night, and the Solstice Brass Quartet was honored to be included again this year. We were crowdwarmers before curtain time, and had also the pleasure of performing several pieces during the concert.

The concert opened with the combined choirs performing Brad Printz's Holiday Processional. Next, the Concert and Band/Choir students performed Always Something Sings, with text drawn from Ralph Waldo Emerson's "Music", Journey in Peace, and Riu Riu Chie. Journey carried the text of a Hebrew traveling-prayer to a melody by Andy Beck and Ben Cohn. Anne provided a violin countermelody. Riu Riu Chiu, meant by its anonymous Spanish composer to be onomatopoeic for the sounds of a nightingale, featured a lovely solo by Melanie Williams.

The Brass performed two traditional four-part carol arrangements while the Blue Notes Vocal Jazz Ensemble prepared to take the stage; the audience sang along, led by the AITDJB's own lovely and talented Miss Amanda DeBoer. Blue Notes sang a Kirby Shaw arrangement of The Holly and the Ivy, and Vince Guaraldi's timeless Linus and Lucy theme, here arranged by Steve Zegree. The latter seemed a bit desynchronized at times, although Holly went well. For me the highlight was Blue Notes' middle piece, a sophisticated arrangement of I'm Beginning to See the Light (originally by Duke Ellington and 4 or 5 friends). The group sparkled on this one, and looked confident - a prime ingredient of good performance even, or especially, when things start to go wrong. Zach Staszewski and Andrea Bakunowicz looked and sounded great.

After two more carols with brass, audience, and Amanda, the A Cappella choir gave renditions of To Drive the Winter Cold Away (in which we were privileged again to hear Ms. Nichol's violin), If I Can Stop One Heart From Breaking (text by Emily Dickinson), Kyrie, and the Carol of the Bells. Bells was a classic, clean arrangement to which the choir brought the right amount of urgency. Kyrie is a semi-programmatic "symphonic poem" meant to comment on the events of 9/11. Social relevance is no guarantee of quality in art, and in fact is its enemy more often than not, so I braced for this piece with some trepidation. But it turned out to be very listenable, and I could enjoy it because I enjoyed it, not because I was supposed to "get" it. Or, put another way, it passed the acid test of art: you could get something out of it even if you hadn't read the program notes.

The concert closed with the massed choirs plus brass performing the now-traditional Fanfare for Christmas, and with the audience-on-the-stage singing of the Hallelujah Chorus. Mr. Kuehl took on the conductor's duties this year, and seemed quite jovial about it.

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12 DECEMBER 2005:

BRASS UNDER THE ROTUNDA, CHAMBER IN THE MALL, FRIENDS AT THE LIBRARY

On Thursday night the McFarland High School bands gave their winter concert, playing a lively and richly varied program of mostly seasonal works. The Symphonic Band performed Ed Huckeby's Annandale Chronicles, a strongly programmatic piece evoking the history of a small town in Minnesota. Next, a medley of Canadian Brass Christmas arrangements provided some bright new insights on familiar tunes. Permutations, by the UW's own bespangled Mike Leckrone, was an exciting exercise in accidentals and precessing rhythms. Eric Adams was among the percussionists, and Quinn Leonard was happy to be invited to play euphonium.

Zach Staszewski, Andrea Bakunowicz, and Scott Birrenkott were on hand for the Wind Ensemble, on clarinet, alto sax, and trombone, respectively. The Ensemble did a fine job with an arrangement of themes from the Nutcracker, including some lovely oboe passages by Ali Kane. Samuel Hazo's Ride, an homage to Jack Stamp, was less successful - or maybe it's just too new, and I need to hear it again. The almost-traditional closing performance of Leroy Anderson's iconic Sleigh Ride was particularly excellent this year, with the percussion well to the fore of the sound, and a stronger than usual presence of the lyric trombone lines. Also, whichever trumpet did the shake (Andrew Gilbertson?) gets credit for a very presentable horse.

Saturday afternoon found the 32nd annual TubaChristmas (yes, it's all one word) celebration thundering under the rotunda dome in the Capitol at Madison. This is - I swear I am not making this up - an international event that brings thousands of tubas and euphoniums togther at locations all over the planet, to play Chrstmas music. The the four-part arrangements are by Norlan Bewley and Alec Wilder, and the event is held as a tribute to legendary low brassman Bill Bell - you can read all about it at the TUBACHRISTMAS Web site.

Quinn and Autumn Leonard signed up to play at TubaChristmas this year, and the thing was, to put it mildly, a gas. Just shy of a hundred players showed up, with ages ranging from 11 to 72; it was heartwarming to see so many young players. There were exotic Russian tubas, hyfallutin' Wilson euphonia, Wagner tubas, 'natural' horns, and of course a sea of Japanese instruments and Olds-style three-valve baritones. The many familiar faces included band instructors, UW faculty, WSMA judges, and Janice Stone (who was told to play her tuba while "imagining that she played bassoon"). The arrangements are mostly nifty. We got one hour of rehearsal, during which we read about a quarter of the pieces we would play in performance.

We gave the show to a packed crowd under the Capitol rotunda, and such a sound I have never heard. The space is live enough when the music is vocal, but a hundred low brass left echoes that have not all faded as of this writing. As noted, most of the concert was sight reading, but the level of musicianship was pretty high - and besides, the acoustics probably smeared out many of the bad notes. In all honesty most of the pieces would probably sound better with four instruments than with a hundred, and fifty tubas warming up on a scale in B flat sound more like B-57 bombers. But it was an event of brass comeraderie not to be missed. Autumn and Quinn bought TubaChristmas winterwear.

Diana Popowycz knows how to get results. She is the coach for several of the Wisconsin Youth Orchestra's chamber ensembles, many of which gave a holiday performance in the space outside Marshall Field's at Hilldale mall Saturday night. Isis Leonard plays violin in a group that performed the Sarabande and the Crusaders' March from Handel's "Rinaldo", and Ms. Popowycz had her musicians polished to a high gloss. Their intonation was accurate, and they gave the impression that the time spent learning the notes was far enough behind them that they had had time to think about interpretation, too. Heck, they even looked good, giving crisp bows and coming onstage already tuned. Of the whole program of ensembles, at least two thirds was of very high calibre, and it was a pleasant evening all around.

Gail Shoemaker joined the Wind in the Reeds woodwind quartet in a performance at the new McFarland Public Library Sunday, at a reception for donors who helped build make the Library possible. (Nora Hickey, who Gail replaced on violin, was at Harvard for a Model UN convention and missed this performance as well as the WYSO chamber ensemble recitals; we note that the most talented musicians always excel at other extracurricular activities.) It is always a pleasure and an honor when professional musicians and teachers take the time to perform with one of our groups, and so it was with Gail. She jumped effortlessly into the woodwinds' program, handling the material so well that she has been awarded a Wind in the Reeds pencil, and made an honorary member. Thanks, Gail.

Half of the Second String Violin Duo - specifically, Isis - performed as part of a violin trio at the same Library event, taking it in turns with the Wind in the Reeds. In fact they shouldered the lion's share of the performance time, having much more material ready to play. Elizabeth Froden, Gail, and Isis made up the trio, which meant that while Gena Roisum and Becca Funk got a chance to breathe between woodwind sets, Gail and Isis were on stage for two solid hours. The star of the show was the new Library, and the music was just a background, but evryone performed excellently and comments were all glowing.

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5 DECEMBER 2005:

AN OUTPOURING OF CHRISTMAS MUSIC

This week we've all made a lot of joyful noises.

On Thursday night the Wind in the Reeds woodwind quartet performed at IMMS, as crowdwarmers for the Unit VI band and choir concert. They trotted out some favorite old chestnuts, and tried out a few new pieces on the captive audience. As they played, AV people were testing the lighting controls; when at one point the lights went out entirely, the woodwinds had the professionalism to finish the piece they were playing (Jingle Bells), but took it as a Sign that it was Time to Stop.

Saturday was McFarland's Christmas in the Village, and we were well represented. That morning the Solstice Brass Quartet performed at the McFarland State Bank while young 'uns bagged goodies from Santa. Anne Nichols brought a selection of Blue Notes personalities, and was gracious enough to allow the Brass to join them on some carols; singers included Zach Staszewski. After the singers left, the Brass played 'till their faces melted. The effort was well recieved - there was some dancing, even though Bria's mother wasn't there.

Satruday afternoon the Second String Violin Duo provided two hours of music at the Parsonage bed and breakfast. Isis Leonard and Nora Hickey were fortified by their teacher Gail Shoemaker and by fellow WYSO musician Elizabeth Froden. By this time it had begun to snow, and the event was all so very civilized: flurries beyond the windowpane, cider scent in the air and mugs of cider warm in hand, classic Christmas decorations in the pleasant old Parsonage house, and excellent vioin music. Gail chose a varied program of fine arrangements, and she and her students brought them off with precision and style.

By the time the Village lit the Bonfire, it was snowing spats and clogs. Anne's carolers were there. The Brass figured that if the vocalists could perform, so could they, and out came the horns. The valves on the euphonia and tuba promptly froze. Sherry's husband Dean is both attentive and clever; her French horn was provided with chemical handwarmers strapped to the valve casings, and did not freeze. Standing closer to the fire, and getting chemical help from Dean, soon got the rest of the brass moving and we played happily in the snow until Autumn's stand light caught fire. Still we finished out a fair set in the blizzard, and the horns seem none the worse for wear.

Sunday afternoon was a University of Wisconsin "Band 41" concert, with Autumn Leonard as principal euphonist. He had lots of nifty solos, and of course the baritone parts are always good in band music. The group did an especially nice job with Jaime Texidor's Amparito Roca and with the Overture for Winds by Charles Carter. Sunday also saw the annual Capitol Pageant Christmas show in the capitol rotunda.

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28 NOVEMBER 2005:

UNIT 8 BAND CONCERT:

Coming soon - a guest review by Becca Funk

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21 NOVEMBER 2005:

GUYS AND DOLLS NICELY NICELY DONE

The film version isn't always better. Or even as good.

The MHS Drama Department's Friday night performance of Guys and Dolls was lively, lovely, and likeable. People who know the show only from the Brando / Sinatra film may think it's rather a clunky affair, with its stilted no-contractions gangster dialogue and a plot that's a bit contrived even for a musical. But on stage the show can come brilliantly alive, as the MHS thespians so deftly demonstrated, and I enjoyed the MHS production far more than I did the "professional" film. It's not merely that I'm a sucker for live performance. Friday's show was just better, that's all.

High honors go to Lindsay Kuehl's Adelaide, a startling, spot-on rendition that was freshly delightful every time she parted her rosebud-lipsticked lips. She drew her character so cleanly and clearly that she seldom had to resort to the stock business of pronouncing "er" as "oi". Not only did she have the Betty Boop squeak-and-wiggle down cold (hot?), she was able to do it accurately, every time, while singing. She could do a well-modulated squeak, make a moue, and still hit the next pitch correctly, and not just in slow numbers, either. It was a remarkable display of vocal control and confidence.

The AITDJB's own wonderful, loveable Zach Staszewski grows in range and precision with every role. He lifted Nicely Nicely Johnson out of slapstick vacuousness and made him into a character, no small feat considering what the book gives him to work with. His Nicely Nicely was nicely warm and real, a likeable crook who could have been a schmuck if it weren't for Zach's big heart inhabiting the role. At each entrance Zach had with him a new hunk of food, which he crammed into his mouth while still delivering comprehensible lines. This is the sort of gimmick-business that directors sometimes assign to kids who can't act, just so they have something to do on stage other than look like a rabbit in the headlights. In the hands of a less capable actor than Zach the device would very quickly have degenerated into an annoying crutch, but Zach was acting Friday night, and he never even came close to letting the snacks steal the show. Still, one particularly Blue Man Group moment had me wondering whether we might see MHS's first onstage Heimlich, if Zach's running gag had turned into a real gag.

Let it be duly noted that I heartily approve of Zach's bow tie (although it's absent in this photo).

Sophie Nelson played the ingenue with a fine bewildered charm. She makes intelligent use of past experience, an admirable trait in an actress if she can avoid autoplagiarism - and Sophie avoids it. To my eye her Sarah Brown was informed by her Little Red Riding Hood, in that they both had steel under the velvet. But she's certainly not stuck in a rut, as she brings fresh fire and a good, accurate singing voice to every role. Her Senior Bio was the most entertaining I've read in years.

Andrea Bakunowicz sparkled as a Hot Box dancer. JT Stocks - well, he's either a brassy, dedicated actor who prepared carefully for the role, or else he actually is Nathan Detroit lurking in the Witness Protection Program. Lauren Meyer has a firm, natural way with matriarchal roles that surely foreshadows an in-command woman to come; it will be interesting to see what she's in charge of ten years from now. Chris DuCharme as usual found the core of his role, and disappeared into it. It's a pleasure to see Bobby Rothwell's expanding capabilities; his Big Jule (pronounced "Julie" on Friday night) was his largest role to date, and he was ready for it. He got a hearty well-deserved cheer during bows. Tim Meisel was expectedly crisp, clean, and actively engaged every second he was on stage. He gave me the feeling that his character continued off in the wings, and the audience saw only part of his life.

Kristofer Buhalog's Harry the Horse had a neighing, snuffling vocal tic that was, to put it no more strongly, perfect. He used it only twice, I think, but as with Tabasco sauce a dash is all it takes. Maybe this is a sound he naturally makes around the house all the time, but the dedication he showed in perfecting a device that he got to use for a grand total of about three seconds of running time approaches professionalism. Those few seconds are what it's all about: this is the very spirit of theater.

The spare, flexible set gave the actors just enough to work with, without nailing them too firmly to reality. (The sewer scenery was the most realistic in appearance, as it should be). Most settings were more suggested than created - a lit scrim, a plam tree, two sides of a skeletal phone booth. The total effect had a whiff of unreality quite in keeping with the show's subtitle of "A Musical Fable of Broadway", and was one more reason why this production beats the film. Costumes were slick, well chosen, and well executed. The oft-underappreciated tech crew ran a clean show, at least from the audience's point of view. Maybe things were teetering constantly on the brink of disaster backstage, but we certainly couldn't see it.

Directors Anne Nichols and Susan Nanning-Sorenson have a winning streak going at MHS, with signs that it won't end soon. Ms. Nanning-Sorenson's involvement now spans more than one academic generation of students, and the shows are still good - which means that the credit goes to her and not to the lucky chance of a single talented class. MHS should keep her forever. Anne is of course a consummate (not to say imperious) conductor, and smoothly exploited a strong, smart pit orchestra that included Glenn Nielsenn, Jamie Sercombe, and Brian Vanderbloemen. Her musical influence is felt in the world outside MHS: for example, she helped shape Bria Mason, who was a Hot Box Dancer in a Guys and Dolls production at Beloit College last year. In the MHS production Anne got good solid ensemble work out of a cast and chorus that was refreshingly rich in Guys. That's one sign of a healthy drama program: being in the musical is cool enough that it's not just for Gals and a clique of overly-artsy Guys. MHS shows are increasingly well populated and well attended by an interested student body. We can all hope the magic will continue for a long time.

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Photos courtesy of Mike Buhalog --- Guys and Dolls slide show coming soon

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14 NOVEMBER 2005:

WYSO CONCERTS A RESOUNDING SUCCESS

The Wisconsin Youth Symphony Orchestras opened their new season with a series of truly wonderful performances last weekend in Mills Hall on the UW campus. Isis Leonard and Nora Hickey are both bassoonists in the nationally-recognized program, Isis in the Concert Orchestra and Nora in the Youth Orchestra. The Sinfonietta string ensemble and the Philharmonic Orchestra also performed. Here I'll stick to comments on Isis' and Nora's groups, except to note that Sinfonietta's 'cellos sound great this year, and that Curse of the Rosin-Eating Zombies from Outer Space is another welcome entry in the roster of works that might have been stunt pieces, but aren't.

The technical abilities of the WYSO groups range from very good to excellent - and though we shouldn't take it for granted, of course we all expect that. But these young musicians have also a spirit of joy and professionalism that lifts them far above the ordinary. They're a bunch of kids, right? Yet it's clear that most of them can really feel the sense and passion in the music they're playing. More, they want very much to transmit those emotions to their audience: a desire that's essential to any masterful performance. These kids get it. If anybody on that stage is just reading notes, they're far in the minority.

That sounds like conventional wisdom, and in fact the word "mature" often comes up in descriptions of the WYSO sound. But it has long been time for audiences to get past thinking of the WYSO groups as "youth" ensembles, and instead simply to appreciate them for their considerable musical merit. Tickets to WYSO performances are underpriced. If the general public had to pay twice as much for tickets, they'd buy more tickets, because they'd think the concerts must be intrinsically worthwhile - which they are; every customer would be satisfied.

It is a pleasure to listen in on Concert Orchestra rehearsals and to watch conductor Christine Mata Eckel drawing her charges towards enlightenment. Her rehearsals struggle with typical things: tuning among the flutes, distracted percussionists. Her musicians work hard on their troubles, usually surmounting them and sometimes transcending them, making good music in the rehearsal chamber. My favorite bits are the times when Ms. Eckel is working on details: describing an effect she wants, and teaching the very specific technique to produce it. Her knowledge of how to make every instrument sit up and do tricks is intimate, and her vocabulary in describing what she wants to hear and how the musicians can achieve it is colorful, flexible, and precise. She must be fun to play under.

Rehearsals are entertaining, but what a difference an audience makes! Saturday afternoon's Concert performance sounded much better than Saturday morning's rehearsal. The changes must come partly from sitting before an audience, which adds adrenaline and endorphins to the cocktail already brewing in the performers' adolescent veins. On stage, the horns sounded much more powerful and assured. The piccolo's intonation was better. The percussionists had their heads mostly in the game, especially the young lady who played timpani on Bratislava. I note with pleasure that the bassoon section was strong all day, at rehearsal and on stage, though someone's a little breathy. The tuba player's embouchure is excellent. There may have been some disagreement between the tuba and the basses, regarding their exact relationship to the beat during the Prelude to Carmen, but that may have been an effect of Mills Hall's dispersive acoustics.

I haven't heard a Youth Orchestra rehearsal recently, so for all I know Sunday's superb performance just appeared full-wrought: Athena springing from the forehead of Zeus. But I don't believe it; it was too nearly perfect.

Hidegard von Bingen might be hard pressed to recognize some of the things that have been done to her music since she was rediscovered after a lapse of many centuries, but the Christofer Theofanidis arrangement we heard on Sunday kept the sonority and - to borrow a word from conductor James Smith - austerity of plainsong while exploiting the tools of modern polyphony. At that the orchestration was spare, which is a good thing in this performance space. Both the scoring and Youth's performance evoked a sense of larger, better places.

In even the most melodic of Sergei Prokofieff's works, there is a certain strangeness and wildness frothing just below the surface, ready to surprise and delight us when it breaks free, no matter how familiar we are with the music. Hong-Hsin Chen's performance of the Allegro brioso from the 3rd piano concerto was startling, robust, playful, and enigmatic - in short, everything you'd want in a recording to listen to at home, over and over. She earned her standing ovation and armload of flowers many times over.

The concert closed with selections from Tchaikovsky's 4th symphony. Nora had several lovely solo bassoon passages, and made the most of them as always. The whole shebang was riotous and rich, with some especially nice high brass and no fear of crisp tempos. (The Youth Orchestra is not "mature" for not dumbing the work down by compressing the range of tempos; they just played it right.) The performance deserved, and got, the afternoon's second standing ovation. I'd have paid more for my ticket.

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7 NOVEMBER 2005:

THE SECOND STRING VIOLIN DUO HAS BEEN BOUGHT

Well, they've been auctioned, anyway.

Nora Hickey, Isis Leonard, and their teacher Gail Shoemaker donated two hours of violin music to the Friends of the McFarland Library auction. The Friends group supports Library programs and the construction of the new Library building. Bidding took place during the McFarland Family Festival, and owners of the Parsonage Bed and Breakfast placed the highest value on violin music. Many thanks to Craig and Cathy of the Parsonage for supporting the arts in McFarland.

They have chosen to use the music during McFarland's Christmas in the Village celebration on Saturday 3 December 2005. The violins will perform from about 3:00 PM until 5:00 at the B&B on Broadhead Street.

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31 OCTOBER 2005:

N.O.R.A. & W.M.E.A.

Nora Hickey performed E. Bourdeau's Premier Solo for bassoon at the Wisconsin Music Educators Association's State Conference this weekend. She received some kind comments on topics ranging from flicking to the future of bassoonery.

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27 OCTOBER 2005:

NIGHT OF THE LIVING CONTRAS

Nora Hickey and Bryan Rasmussen performed Thursday evening on the lowest-pitched woodwind instruments in the Western hemisphere, in a concert given at the Overture Center by the 2005 WSMA Honors Band. Nora auditioned for the group on bassoon, earning the first chair and therefore the right to play the contrabassoon, a wooden monster that would be fourteen feet long if uncoiled. Bryan auditioned on saxophone but was assigned to contrabass clarinet.

Honors band conductors often include their own compositions in the program, with results that have been mixed, to say no more. This year's conductor, Robert Spradling, did not succumb to that vanity, giving us instead a richly varied program of works ranging from the familiar to the surprising. The band was one of the strongest in recent memory, and the conductor seemed to have a good rapport with it. The low brass in particular were muscular but supple. This year's crop of Honors Band French horn players seemed superior to those chosen for the Honors Orchestra.

Raiph Vaughn Williams' Tocatta Martiale opened the program. The band vividly produced all the lush tonal colors of the work. It's always nice to hear soprano clarinets in a piece by a composer who knows how to write for them, and they were ably manifested by Molly Seidl among others. Rolf Ruden's lovely tone poem The Dream of Oenghus (a spelling possibly more familiar to Americans is "Aengus") brought the low brass to the fore, then let the melody drift romantically up the ensemble to evaporate off the top.

There is currently afoot a pernicious movement to perform old music with "period authenticity", which in practice generally means turgid arrangements played upon inferior antique-y instruments by performers who have been psychologically hamstrung into using underdeveloped technique. The Honors Band's performance of five movements from the Suite from Danserye suffered from none of these faults. It was wonderfully engaging, partly because the students kept their good horns (and string bass) and didn't forget everything they knew, and partly because the modern arrangement by Patrick Dunnigan, based on a 1551 arrangement by Tielman Susato, kept a Renaissance spirit of freshness and hopefulness without sounding embalmed. For this piece Molly took up her soprano clarinet again. Nora had been playing bassoon but shouldered the mighty contrabassoon for this piece, and man, when there's a contrabassoon being played on stage, the audience knows it.

Early Light by Carolyn Bremer constructed a tapestry with its own melody as warp and disembodied fragments of The Star Spangled Banner as woof; it sounds like a stunt piece but wasn't. The concert ended with the Finale from Vittorio Gianni's 3rd Symphony, the wonderful acoustics of the Overture Center transmitting flawlessly every note in the woodwinds' cadenzalike runs and flourishes.

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25 OCTOBER 2005:

MHS CHOIRS STAND UP AND TESTIFY

The MHS choirs' Tell It, Sing It, & Shout It program of American spirituals and Gospel music gave a rousing hallelujah Monday night to an audience too shy to participate much, but deeply appreciative nevertheless. Anne Nichols' flawless, inspired direction and Joe Dever's sly-but-glowing piano accompaniment brought out the best in most of the singers, and the result really had my blood jumpin'.

Every year I look forward to the latest incarnation of the Blue Notes Vocal Jazz Ensemble. There's a culture of excellence being handed down in each new generation of the group, and it sometimes seems I can hear a bit of Jessica-Bartz brass or Katie-Hepler smoke haunting the voices of the current members. But this season's group definitely has its own voice, too, and sounded pretty nice on Monday's rendition of the Kirby Shaw arrangement of Operator.

It's early in the season, but the Blue Notes performance already showed signs that the group will meld into the solid weave an ensemble needs, and that the strong soloists will get better at making the difficult, instantaneous change from lone voice to blended ensemble voice. Most of the members were clearly enjoying themselves - Zach Staszewski and Andrea Bakunowicz, among others, projected a real sense of joy - but some of the performers could show their involvement with the music a little more: just because Monday night's audience acted like a bunch of white Norwegians, doesn't mean the performers needed to. But cosmetics aside, gosh, I love hearing these people sing! I look forward to following them to State S&E again this year.

After the Blue Notes, the school's several choirs performed singly and in combinations. Emily Raasch took an extended solo in Josephine Poelinitz's arrangement of City Called Heaven, and she really nailed it to the barn. She had very nice consonants (except for the ones she consciously omitted), and even at the top of her arc appeared to have so much power in reserve that the only thing holding her back was the size of the auditorium; I want to hear more of her. The combined choir handled the layered meters of I'm Gonna Sing! with unobtrusive grace. In Moses Hogan's I'm Gonna Sing 'Til the Spirit Moves My Heart, Zach was part of a cool five-tenor core that also included Up A Fifth's Kristofer Buhalog. Anne's arrangement combining Wayfarin' Stranger with Jesus Walked This Lonesome Valley was spare and moving; Andrea took up the vocal solo in this piece, displaying a lovely, sweet alto that makes me wonder why the AITDJB only uses her for tenor sax.

Scott Birrenkott brought out his trombone, and Chris DuCarme his bass, as part of an instrumental combo accompanying the A Cappella choir on Shine On Me, and this is the kind of smart programming that helps make Anne's concerts such a joy to attend. A school choir concert can easily degenerate into a bunch of interchangeable pieces pounded out in sequence by a clot of open-mouthed head-blobs on top of unmoving blue robes, but on Monday night we were treated to a pageant of small and large ensembles, solo work, and solid choral work, in various permutations of accompaniment. Add to that the very creditable survey of Gospel and spiritual music, and you get a show that would have kept a less repressed audience on its feet all night. Yea, sisters. Amen, brothers.

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24 OCTOBER 2005:

BRIA IN BEDRICH'S "BARTERED BRIDE"

Bria does opera: Bria Mason is a peasant in the chorus for a production of Bedrich Smetana's The Bartered Bride, preparing now for performances next spring at the University of Edinburgh. Performance dates are not available yet, but notices should be posted at http://opera.eusa.ed.ac.uk/whatson.htm. There's a link there to a synopsis, and I've provided another short one below, but you'll get better material if you go to the library and look in "Kobbe's Opera". Or better yet, go to Scotland and hear Bria! She's sure to be a charming peasant lass, and her bright, clean soprano must be a welcome addition to the Edinburgh chorus.

Smetana referred to the Bartered Bride as "a toy", and claimed to have tossed it off only to avoid accusations that he couldn't do anything that that didn't sound Wagnerian. Naturally, many today consider it his masterpiece (I'm a Moldau man, myself). It is scored for piccolo, two flutes, two oboes, two clarinets, two bassoons, four horns, two trumpets, three trombones, timpani and strings. The Smitten Boy(s) / Clever Girl story arc goes like this:

Act I: A village fair in fair Bohemia. Lovely Marenka loves good Jenik, but her father wants her to marry Micha’s son, Vasek, to pay off a debt. Marenka is puzzled by Jenik’s indifference (after all, she's hot stuff and the star) and by his mysterious past. She asks him why he left home. Jenik tells her that, after the death of his mother, his father remarried and his traditionally wicked stepmother sent him packing. It now being time for a ballad, Jenik suddenly overcomes his indifference, and the two swear eternal love. As they are busy with this, Kecal the Matchmaker visits Marenka's parents. Kecal is also keen for Marenka to marry Vasek. When Marenka comes home and declares her love for Jenik, Kecal seeks him out to see what makes him the cat's pajamas.

Act II: Immature, stuttering Vasek finally makes it onto the stage. Marenka, knowing she's in an opera, decides she can easily conceal her identity, meet Vasek, and trash-talk herself. She paints such a terrible picture of his intended bride that he agrees never to marry her - but secretly falls hard for Marenka-in-disguise. Kecal finds Jenik, who agrees that he will renounce Marenka for 300 gulden (about 25 nuflorins more than a solidus of obols, or 19 1/2 giftedandtalents), on condition that she marry no one but Micha’s son to clear her father’s debt. Jenik, figuring to play Kecal false, wonders how she could possibly believe he would sell his Marenka - but he goes along with the scheme for reasons best known to himself and the librettist. The villagers are angry to hear about the ‘sale’ of Jenik’s bride. Scene with pitchforks, etc.

Act III: The circus arrives, because Smetana has some wonderful dance themes he wants to work into the score. But the star attraction, a ‘bear’, is too drunk to perform, so Vasek is persuaded to take its place. Vasek’s parents are astonished to hear he does not want to marry Marenka, but when he discovers that the girl who charmed him is actually the feared Marenka, he gladly consents. Marenka agrees to think things over and will not listen when Jenik tries to explain why he sold her. Jenik outwits Kecal and humiliates her by revealing himself to be Micha’s eldest son. Marenka forgives him and decides against Vasek after seeing his ‘bear’ performance. Her union with Jenik is blessed by all. Curtain.

The photo shows Bria after an altercation during the MHS production of that thing with "Figurines" in its title. Clicking on her bruise will get you the whole snapshot with (l to r) Bria, Amanda, and Sara.

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17 OCTOBER 2005:

UNIVERSITY BANDS GIVE CHEERFUL CONCERT

On Sunday afternoon, several University of Wisconsin bands performed in Mills Concert Hall on the UW campus. Three of them were band classes - called "University" bands, as distinct from the several dozen other bands at the UW, such as the Concert Band, the Wind Ensemble, etc., etc. University Band classes are open to all, and not everyone in them is a music major. That means you get an eclectic collection of young people who, even though a music career is not what they have their sights set on, really want to make music because it's an important part of their lives.

Sunday's performances reflected that, lacking some of the polish that a group of professional-musician hopefuls might have mustered. But they were capable, cheerful, fun, and earnest; it was clear that the musicians were enjoying what they were doing; and at their best they sounded darn good, too.

The first University group, conducted by Ronald Golner, gave a pretty-crisp performance of an arrangement of Saint-Saens' French Military March. A certain mushiness in the trumpets was not entirely their fault: there were too many of them, and of course the acoustics in Mills are hideous.

Better was the band's rendering of Ralph Von Williams' Rhosymedre, a lovely sonorous construction that the brass, especially, handled well. Because of the way it's scored, apparently, Autumn Leonard had what amounted to a continuous euphonium solo throughout. He brought it off with his usual clarity and authority. It's nice to hear that college life has not entirely rotted his embouchure.

Golner's group closed with a My Fair Lady medley, different I think from the arrangement played by the McFarland Community Band. Autumn rightly points out that such medleys force the conductor to make an unpleasant choice: to smooth out tempos and so discard one element that strengthens the songs' individual identities when they are sung in the musical, or to give them their right tempos and risk audience whiplash at the transitions. Golner maybe erred on the side of the former, a little, but the band's hearts were in it. An audience of some 250 people enjoyed themselves quite, and I for one had a fine old time.

The photo shows part of the band scurrying about ahead of the concert, as well as some of the honeycombs, ridges, and gulfs that make Mills sound the way it does. If you click and get the larger version, Autumn can be discerned as a blob holding a euphonium, almost directly under the huge speaker on the central pier.

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10 OCTOBER 2005:

WHERE ARE THEY NOW?

The most talented and amazing students from MHS play in our band, which is a blessing. On the other hand, the average high school AITDJB member is also involved in 9,957 other extracurricular activities, so scheduling them is sometimes too exciting. But they're worth it. Usually.

When they move on to college, these young 'uns don't just sit in their dorm rooms instant-messaging each other all day. They are all up to something interesting, from rocket science to voluntary expatriation, but here I'll just mention some of their current musical and dramatic shenanigans:

Jonathan Alden (AITDJB '01-'02; SB '01) reports that his "lips are not completely gone".

Brad Anderson (AITDJB '01-'05) is in the Lawrence University Symphonic Band (by audition), a jazz workshop (on drumset), and the Sambistas samba drumming group (he says this is "the loud Brazilian stuff").

Amanda DeBoer (AITDJB '01-'05) is in the Carleton Choir, the Carleton Singers, and the Carleton Knighingales all-female a cappella group. (Did I mention she's at Carleton College?) The latter two of these groups are by-audition-only ensembles. She's also taking voice and acting lessons.

Katie Hepler (AITDJB Band Camp concert '02) is a trombone section leader in the UW Varsity Marching Band.

Autumn Leonard (AITDJB '01-'05; SB '01-'05) is principal euphonium in the UW University Band ("Band 41"). As part of a technical theater class, he's hanging lights for several UW drama productions. He's studying acting, and recently sang at a fundraiser for Katrina victims.

Bria Mason (AITDJB '02-'05; SB '03) is off on an adventure: she transferred to the University of Edinburgh (yes, in Scotland) because she likes the music. She's been to a couple of ceilidh sessions, and sounds like she's thoroughly hooked. Auditions for various projects are in the works.

Tonya Neumann (AITDJB '03-'05) recently sang at a benefit for Katrina victims. She's in a stagecraft class which will be handling set construction for two productions at the University Theater in Madison, and is studying acting.

Becky Schultz (AITDJB '01-'05) placed by audition as principal oboe in the UW-Stevens Point Concert Band.

Nick Schleicher (SB '02) auditioned into the UW Varsity Marching Band, which already has him stepping higher.

Sara Siegmann (AITDJB '02-'05) is in a fiction writing workshop at Williams.

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3 OCTOBER 2005:

MARIO VS. KATRINA!

Autumn Leonard, Tonya, and Chris DuCharme performed at the Slipper Club in Madison Saturday night, in a variety show organized to raise money for victims of Hurricane Katrina and for the UW-Madison Undergraduate Thaeater Association.

The trio sang Autumn's a capella arrangement based on music from the Mario video games, in a version slightly revised from the performance they gave at the 2005 MHS Cabaret show. They got on well with the mostly-tweenage audience, finishing to raucous applause, hoots and hollers. Strangely, though, the trio's "pause" impersonation went over the audience's heads more than it had at MHS - or maybe it's not so strange: the MHS audience was probably soberer.

The rest of the show was uneven but mostly very entertaining. Highlights included belly dancers, a rather broad Janis Joplin pastiche, a kama-Kali dance complete with yoni/linga hand signs, and several fine cabaret vocal numbers. One young lady recreated the classic Lucille Ball Vitameatavegimen sketch, which made me think of Becky.

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29 SEPTEMBER 2005:

UPCOMING PERFORMANCE DATES

The big list of upcoming events that used to be here, is now available through the EVENTS link, here and also above right. I update that copy of the list sometimes. Corrections and additions are very welcome.

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28 SEPTEMBER 2005:

FRANK EARNS A JAMES BROWN NUMBER OF "2"

Frank sat in with Clyde Stubblefield in a blues/funk band at the King Club in Madison last Monday night, taking the stage during the second set and sinking his teeth into cool stuff like Mustang Sally. He took at least one solo turn, and says that partway through his lick "people had stopped yakking and drinking and were looking at me, so either it was good or they were looking to see who stepped on the pig". I'm betting on the former, but I wasn't there, because he didn't tell anyone he was playing, so of course we couldn't go to hear him!

Stubblefield was the original drummer for James Brown, and has performance credits ranging from Garbage to Otis Redding, including his own Clyde Stubblefield Band. He's described as the "most sampled funk drummer in the world".

Here's how the number thing works: Stubblefield has a James Brown Number of "1", since he played with Brown; Frank has a James Brown Number of "2", since he played with someone who played with Brown. That means that, thanks to Frank, the rest of us now have James Brown numbers of "3". Or of course you can claim Otis Redding or Garbage numbers of the same rank. For some of us, Frank raises our status just by association.

Thanks, guy.

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26 SEPTEMBER 2005:

MCFARLAND MARCHING BAND ALUMNI MAKE BIG "M" ON FIELD

Percussion is a force of nature in the McFarland schools, and our first views of the 2005 Marching Spartans show that there's plenty of new talent on board to keep it that way. The bands sounded great in the Homecoming parade last week, and at Friday night's Homecoming game, the MHS marching band put on a heck of a show. Under the direction of Bill Garvey, Dave Heilmann, and Brian Vanderbloemen, they presented both pregame and halftime programs. Michelle Garvey and Glenn Nielsen provided assistance as conductors; Michelle also marched with the alumni band, and the commentator did not miss the opportunity to mention Glenn's age and supposed retirement. Our music groups were well represented: Eric, Andrea Bakunowicz, Scott Birrenkott, Nora Hickey, and Zach Staszewski were all marching as part of the regular band.

Plenty of MHS alumni came back to march, too, including Katie Hepler (AITDJB Band Camp concert 2002), Autumn Leonard, Danielle (SB 2003 - 2004), Tonya, Frank, Nick Schleicher (SB 2002), and Becky. When you count Anne Nichols (AITDJB Gazebo 2005), Glenn, and Brian (AITDJB Gazebo 2005), almost everyone from the Dixie band was on the field. It's pretty cool that there are enough returning MHS alumni that they can form their own big "M". Apparently, there were more alumni on the field in 2005 than there were regular band members in 1905, when Bill began teaching.

The pregame program included Hail to the Victors and opposing team Sauk Prairie's school song, Across the Field. The MHS alumni played our school song, formed the "M" shown in this photo, and then joined the regular band to play I've Got the Music In Me as the High School Dance Team performed. Anne marched with the alumni, and must have sprinted from the field while her trumpet was still hot, to hit the booth and deliver a muscular rendering of The Star-Spangled Banner with the bands for backup. At halftime the regular band marched a very clean show, considering how early in the season it is, built around music from the Robin Williams film Good Morning, Vietnam. Selections included Land of a Thousand Dances, the evening's drill number, followed by James Brown's I Got You and the Doors' Light My Fire, which featured the percussion section.

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