NEWS OF OUR MUSICIANS

Winter 2005
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News stories from the Spring Equinox on 21 March 2006 through the Summer Solstice on 21 June 2006 comprise this archive.

19 JUNE 2006:

AITDJB TO PLAY A JOINT THAT IS, LIKE, SO POSH

On Thursday evening the Almost In Time Dixieland Jazz Band will perform a benefit concert for the New Orleans chapter of the Women's Junior League, at the corporate training center of SubZero corporation in Fitchburg. We will provide two hours of music, or at least of entertainment, including some new between-sets material and some returning classics.

The venue is certainly the most upscale in which the AITDJB has ever performed, with the possible exception of that time we played on the sidewalk by the old library, with the piano in the back of Denny Blackmore's pickup truck. Thanks to Dave Heilman for kicking this gig our way.

I can now announce (with great delight) that Bria Mason (AITDJB 2002 - 2006; SB 2003) will be returning from Scotland to perform with us at this event. This is an AITDJB exclusive; Ms Mason will not be performing anywhere else in the States during her short summer visit.

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12 JUNE 2006:

SPONGEBOB SQUAREPANTS ZAMBONI

These just in:

At the time of the recent UW Varsity Band Concert, certain photo were taken that could not then be released due to restrictions of copyright and good taste. Now these never-before-published images - some shocking, some merely alarming - can at last be displayed to an unsuspecting public.

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5 JUNE 2006:

AITDJB TO PERFORM AT SESQUICENTENNIAL FEST!

On 2 July 2006 McFarland celebrates its 150th birthday, and the Almost In Time Dixieland Jazz Band will be part of the party. We'll be performing in our native habitat, the Larson Park gazebo (smack dab in middle of McFarland), from 12 noon until 1:30 PM.

Sesquicentennial events at the park run from 9:30 AM until 5:00 PM that day, and it's mostly free. There will be music, food, games, and merriment. The Wisconsin and Southern Railroad will offer free train rides from 10:00 AM until 4:00 PM; 40-minute excursions leave on the hours. Train arrivals and departures will mark natural set breaks for the AITDJB.

For more information on this and other events, check out the McFarland Sesquicentennial home page.

Becca Funk (WitR 2003 - 2005) designed one of the banners chosen to represent McFarland spirit.

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4 JUNE 2006:

MHS CABARET 2006: WICKED!

Guest review by Autumn Leonard coming soon.

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29 MAY 2006:

INSIDE SCOOPIE

Friendly, mild-mannered frozen dairy product? Or a chilling menace stalking our streets? You make the scoop!

Reliable witnesses saw 'Scoopie', Cluvers' cuddly custard character, accosting viewers at the Memorial Day parade in McFarland on Monday. A vast cloth smile covered Scoopie's creamy face as he worked the crowd, shaking hands with innocent bystanders and hugging those he singled out for special treatment.

Cluvers management was unavailable for contact when we tried to reach them by smoke signal during the recent wind storm, but it must be assumed that they stick by their position that Scoopie is "Just an icon to help people remember us, so they buy our custard. He's just a funny mascot for the kids to look at."

But is he??!?

Of course we all know that Scoopie is not a living being, but a person in a costume. By company policy, the Scoopie actor lives under very tight security, and his or her name is never revealed to the public for fear of reprisals from other forzen-custard agencies, or even from organizations dealing in quiescently frozen products. We are able to exclusively reveal, however, that the letters in the name of the person who played the role of Scoopie on Monday, can be rearranged to spell "AIEA CHSTWSZSKZ".

There are currently no leads on who this clandestine custard caperer may be. But when we know more, we'll dish it here first!

Also, the bands marched in the parade.

Participants included Becca Funk (WitR 2003 - 2005), Brian Vanderbloemen (AITDJB 2005), Eric Adams (AITDJB 2005 - 2006), Gena Roisum (WitR 2005), Melissa Wilcosz (WitR 2003 - 2004), Nora Hickey (WitR 2005, SS 2004 - 2006), and Scott Birrenkott (AITDJB 2005 - 2006). Andrea Bakunowicz (AITDJB 2005 - 2006) might've been in there somewhere, but I couldn't see her from where I was standing. I am pretty sure that Zach Staszewski (AITDJB 2005 - 2006) was mysteriously absent from the ranks of marching spartans.

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26 MAY 2006:

MONTY PYTHON LIVES AGAIN

The McFarland High School Pep Band concert blew the roof off the old gym Friday night, with three hours of high-quality musical variety. There is no better way to spend your You entertainment dollar (except maybe at the MHS Cabaret).

Usually the MHS Pep Band Concert comes later in the year than the Cabaret show, which gives Bill an opportunity to cherry-pick the best of Anne's acts. This year the tables were turned, but from the looks (and sounds) of it, we got to hear some of the choice vocal acts at Friday night's show, as well as the instrumental thunder we've all come to expect.



The Senior Band Video is a tradition with uneven results, but this year's was clever. There was a discernable story arc, centering around the heinous theft of Bill Garvey's personal euphonium, without which his powers began to wane. As he lay curled on his couch, his vital spark fading, the Forces of Band Good set out on a quest to retrieve the horn. They fought an epic battle with the Forces of Band Evil, demonstrating that slide trombones make excellent prop weapons for impalements, but in the end it was a compromise on playlists that settled the field. Bill's beloved eupho was returned to him (do all band videos include a sequence of Andrew opening the Garveys' front door?), Bill's powers returned, and he leapt up to direct the concert while the seniors thundered into the gym and up the bleachers.

The massed band sounded very solid this year as they tore into their opening medleys, including Victors, On Wisconsin, There'll Be A Hot Time in the Old Town Tonight, Macho Nacho Man, Dynamite Strut, and Final Countdown.

Friends on the bleachers included Eric Adams (AITDJB 2005 - 2006), Andrea Bakunowicz (AITDJB 2005 - 2006), Scott Birrenkott (AITDJB 2005 - 2006), Nora Hickey (WitR 2005, SS 2004 - 2006), Zach Staszewski (AITDJB 2005 - 2006), and Brian Vanderbloemen (AITDJB 2005). Zach's hat was particularly bold. Autumn Leonard (AITDJB 2001 - 2006, SB 2001 - 2005) also turned up as a repeat offender, sitting in with the massed band and wearing startling yellow pants; it was good to see him crossing slides with Scott again.

This is really a huge number of horns for such a confined space: the wall of sound they produced was mighty, and more musical this year than some others, I think. Certainly there were a lot of right notes being played. The full band performed six more sets after the opening medleys, covering Eye of the Tiger, Ewok Celebration, Disney Magic, Your Mama Don't Dance, themes from the Pirates of the Caribbean sound track, In the Stone, the theme from The Magnificent Seven, Rock and Roll #2, Hey Babe, and the Beer Barrel Polka. These last three were crowd participation numbers, and most people got it - actually, the clapping was pretty coordinated for an audience - and some folks even polka'd. The full band also closed the show, with Land of a Thousand Dances, I Got You, Light My Fire, In the Midnight Hour, Finally Victors, and You've Said It All



In between band sets we were treated to a feast of sound. The excellent MHS percussion ensembles always have a powerful presence at this event, and this year they were superb. The Wind Ensemble Percussion Ensemble (a clunky name for a slick group) performed New South Africa and a really fine arrangement of the overture to William Tell; the Concert Band Percussion Ensemble gave us Bound for Marrakech, which was particularly cool; and the Symphonic Band Percussion Ensemble played Strawberry Blonde. Every student with any kind of instrument that you play by banging on it ganged up for this year's entry in the beat-on-plastic-drums category; the program listed the piece as Lids, but I think it was something else, and would be glad of a correction. Some parts of it were performed in the dark, with glowing sticks.



For the small acts, there was a very funny cover of the Jack Black / Tenacious D performance piece Tribute, a soulful rendition of Johnny Cash's Folsom Prison Blues, some Pommettes jumping about to a canned cut of Gimme Some Lovin', Lindsey Kuehl's take on Jesus Take the Wheel, and a performance of It's the Heart that Matters Most, based on the Don Black piece as recorded by Charlotte Church, I think. The perennially wonderful Tuba/Euphonium Octet (actually a quartet with doubled parts, but listed somewhat ignominiously in the program as a 'Tuba Ensemble') played The Entertainer with their usual flair and muscle. Scott was in this group playing euphonium, which he should not think of as slumming.

But by far the strangest and most wonderful of the 'small' numbers was a little thing listed as a 'Humorous Duet'. Chris DuCharme and Scott Barbian did a spot from Monty Python's immortal 'Dead Parrot' sketch, with a twist at the end that made it even more skewed than the original, and that's saying something. This one won't be back at Cabaret, which is a shame, but those of us who were there Friday night, and laughed, should all buy matching T-shirts to advertise our coolness. Even the accents were spot-on, and the parrot was startlingly authentic.



The real meat of the evening is always the jazz bands. Frank Ransley (AITDJB 2004 - 2006, SB 2003 - 2005) has served his time with the Concert Band / Symphonic Band Jazz Ensemble (familiarly known as the CBSBJE), and earned the right to perform with them. Nora performed with this group, and so did Autumn - his idea is to set a precedent for alumni participation in the concert. They played Bob Lowden's Big Band/Latin arrangement of Ernesto Lecuona's Malaguena, a piece that always draws the audience in, and followed with a full-throttle rendition of Larry Barton's Power Trip. This is intense jazz, folks, and if you missed it you missed a lot. The Early Bird Jazz Ensemble is a team that really smokes. Autumn played with them, too, joining natives Scott, Andrea, and V in performances of Chameleon, How High the Moon (which included a singing Amanda B. draped over the piano), and the Sambastic Fiesta Bahia. These kids are proof that MHS does something right.

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25 MAY 2006:

SECOND STRING AT THE LIBRARY

Isis Leonard (WitR 2003 - 2005, SS 2004 - 2006) and Nora Hickey (WitR 2005, SS 2004 - 2006) provided incidental music for the premiere of Driftwood, MHS's new arts and literary magazine, Thursday evening at the Library. The pair is affectionately known as the Second String Violin Duo, at least in my mind, if nowhere else.

Nora is a contributor to Driftwood. She wrote a Just So story about witches and rainbows which is not half bad.

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20 and 21 MAY 2006:

WYSO SPRING CONCERTS WARM THE HEART

Bassoons on the horizon

The Wisconsin Youth Symphony Orchestras' (WYSO's) Spring Concert series is always cause for celebration. This weekend we heard performances from five wonderful groups, one of which was graced by the presence of Isis Leonard (WitR 2003 - 2005, SS 2004 - 2006), and one by the personality of Nora Hickey (WitR 2005, SS 2004 - 2006).

WYSO's Sinfonietta string ensemble, under the caring direction of Mark Leiser, performed a richly varied program on Saturday afternoon. The concert included a truly lovely rendition of Clare Grundman's Hebrides Suite. This piece seems to work well in any instrumentation for which it is arranged; Robert Longfield's version for unaccompanied strings is excellent.

The Concert Orchestra, conducted with precision by Christine Mata Eckel and including Isis among the bassoons, tackled four substantial works and came out on top. Haydn's London Symphony, arranged for youth orchestra by Merle Isaac, is a marvelous construction that repays study; Concert Orchestra had given it plenty of thought (or Ms. Eckel had, and transmitted her thoughts to her musicians). Air for Orchestra, by Frank Erickson, is new to me. It sounded rather uninvolved, but maybe I just need to hear it again. Everything Camille Saint-Saens touched is golden, and his Algerian Suite is a fine example. Concert Orchestra sank its teeth deeply into the Marche Militaire Francaise from this suite and had evident pleasure in doing it: the piece has plenty of protein. (Autumn Leonard (AITDJB 2001 - 2006, SB 2001 - 2005) performed a wind arrangement of this piece in a U-Band concert last year).

Some of the best fun of the afternoon was found in Concert Orchestra's performance of Robert W. Smith's The Great Steamboat Race. The piece is available for band, too, but the orchestral arrangement is its original form, I think. It is carefully spiced by a wonderful mixture of hisses, clangs and sighs; flutists roll their instruments around, bending pitches to the breaking point; the percussion parts call for shaken water jugs. It sounds like a stunt piece, but it's not, though it is strongly programmatic: the music is not just about a steamboat race, but a specific race that included the Robert E. Lee. The audience was engulfed in sounds of stern wheels and steam whistles so evocative we could feel the clinkers in our eyes as the smokestacks chuffed. In case we had any doubts, there was a short, slightly drunken quote from Lewis Muir's Waiting for the Robert E. Lee, and even a few bars of Dixieland beat. A good time was had by all.

The WYSO Percussion Ensemble performed Street Beat I by Sherrie Maricle as their entry in the seemingly obligatory 'whack on some junk' category, before moving to a much more convincing take on Londonderry Aire in an arrangement by Thomas Davis. As the keyboards held the last chord, seniors aging out of the ensemble silently left the stage in a traditional ceremony that is moving no matter how many times one sees it.

The Philharmonia Orchestra, explosively conducted by Thomas Buchhauser, opened with a rich, clean performance of Franz Schubert's Rosamunde Overture. They did not fare quite so well in the 'Nocturne' and 'Wedding March' from Felix Mendelssohn's incidental music to A Midsummer Night's Dream. The trouble was caused mostly by French horn players who had difficulty centering their tone when choosing among harmonics that are too close together on that archaically-designed instrument; the rest of the brass was excellent, especially the first trombone. The fourth movement of Dvorak's 8th symphony is one of my favorite sequences in the standard repertoire, and Phil played it very well. Here the brass shone again, especially the trombones.

WYSO's Spring concerts are the 'concerto' events, in which we are treated to performances by winners of WYSO's concerto contests: the best of the best. Hong-En Chen, a violinist in Phil, gave an alacritous performance of the Allegro movement from Dmitri Shostakovitch's second piano concerto, which has recently been brought to a larger audience by the 'Steadfast Tin Soldier' segment in Fantasia 2000.

Sunday belonged to the Youth Orchestra and its talented concerto soloists. We heard Saint-Saens' 'Cello Concerto No. 1 in A minor, Jaque Ibert;s Concerto for Flute and Orchestra, and the third movement of Mendelssohn's Piano Concerto No. 1 in G minor. The 'cello work was stunning.

The orchestra performed two works as bookends: Night on Bald Mountain, by Modest Mussorgsky, and the largo and allegro movements from Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov's 'Antar' symphony. The Mussorgsky was bravely and powerfully done, with the extremely cool bassoon part brought well forward by Nora. The performers grokked the transition from the profane to the sacred in a way that the Disney executives for the first Fantasia film did not. In fact the group's orgiastic climax of evil was rather startling. Youth clearly has the pick of the WYSO brass; they were above praise in this demanding piece. 'Antar' was spicy and exotic and very Rimsky-Korskovy, but I kept wanting it to be Scheherezade; this is another I'll need to hear again before I can well evaluate it.

I hope Nora bought the CD.

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16 MAY 2006:

EIGHTH GRADE BAND TACKLES LAPLANTE

A young Scott Brown practices
his contraophecleide

The Eighth Grade band performed a set of pieces that expressed widely different moods Thursday night. They opened with Brian Balmages' Chant and Savage Dance, a work with wild mood swings all its own: Dave's program notes tell that it is meant to reflect tribal ceremonies involving harvests, war, healing, and change.

The band also performed an arrangement of The Legend of Danny Boy, arranged by James Swearington and with copious program notes, and Len Orcino's vigorous Grand Galop Comique. The evening's centerpiece was Pierre LaPlante's dense, lovely Prairie Songs. The work is built around the tunes of "The Turkey Song" and "The Piney Boy", which is a Dead Lovers Song that would be right at home in any collection that included Teen Angel or Running Bear Loved Little White Dove.

On stage were Becca Funk (WitR 2003 - 2005), Gena Roisum (WitR 2005), Isis Leonard (WitR 2003 - 2005, SS 2004 - 2005), Melissa Wilcosz (WitR 2003 - 2004), and, oddly, Quinn Leonard (AITDJB 2001 - 2006, SB 2001 - 2006).

Scott Brown's scheduled performance of "Flight of the Bumblemee" upon the rarely-heard double contraophecleide, was canceled due to aging valve-pads. Scott denies that any restraining orders have been filed "by either camp." He thinks that groups attempting to bar him from performing the piece have "no reason that would stand up in court", and he hopes to be ready for that performance in time for next week's MHS Pep Band concert.

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15 MAY 2006:

SUZUKI AT CHURCH

Students of Gail Shoemaker's Suzuki program gave a recital yesterday afternoon at the United Church of Christ in McFarland.

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11 MAY 2006:

MHS BANDS HOLD AUDIENCE SPELLBOUND

When Bill Garvey ordered the doors at the back of the auditorium closed and all the lights turned off, the audience knew they were in for a scare - or a delight. We were right on both counts.

Daniel Bukvich's evokative Voodoo for concert band is packed full of tricks and surprises, as well as good music, and the MHS Wind Ensemble made the most of it at Thursday night's concert. The piece was performed on a nearly-dark stage, with only a dim orange glow for the musicians to read by. With the doors closed the auditorioum was nearly black, serving as a properly spooky setting for the piece, although the lamp on the conductor's stand should perhaps have been pointed down a little more to keep it from the audience's eyes. The score included howls, yips, claps, and screams, all of which the mostly-upperclassmen ensemble performed with evident glee. Many of the performers raked the audience with flashlight beams at odd intervals, and some left the stage to do frenzied dances in the aisles, while Aaron Siegmann's light crew made will 'o the wisps flit on the backdrop and legs. But the star was certainly the music itself, a haunting work with plenty of interesting percussion. The whole was very effective, and the audience loved it.

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8 MAY 2006:

BRAD TO WAM EUROPE

Brad Anderson (AITDJB 2001 - 2005) will be touring in Europe this summer with the Wisconsin Ambassadors of Music (WAM), a group of high school students from around the state of Wisconsin that form a concert band and a choral group. They will embark on a two-week tour in June and July, perfroming in France, Germany, Switzerland, Italy, and England, among other places. As part of their preparation, WAM members will attend a three-day performance camp.

Brad describes his role as that of a "semi-staff member". As one the few college students asked to accompany the group, he'll be performing "the more challenging percussion parts", but also coaching and schlepping. He will also sing bass/baritione with the choral group. MHS's Dave Heilmann will travel with the group as an instructor.

The groups will perform different selections at different concerts in Europe. The 199-piece band will draw from the following pool of pieces:

"2001" segue into "Fanfare and Flourishes" by James Curnow
"Summon the Heroes" by John Williams
"Marche des Parachutistes Belges" or "March of the Belgian Paratroopers" by Pierre Leemans
"Star Spangled Spectacular" George M. Cohan
"Ride" by Samuel R. Hazo
"Stars and Stripes" by you know who
"Latina" (Brad's part is arranged by Mr. H, so he's not sure who wrote this)
"On Wisconsin" (a very purdy piece)
"Songs of Sailor and Sea" by Robert W. Smith
"Armed Forces Salute" arr. by Bob Lowden
"America, the Beautiful" (performed as the British national anthem) by Samuel Augustus Ward
"Selections from the Phantom of the Opera" arr. A. L. Webber (the arrangement played at the MHS Pep Band concert last year)
"American Riversongs" by Pierre La Plante (as played recently by the McFarland Community Band)

The choral repertoire will include:

"Elijah Rock"
"Ubi Caritas" (some McFarland choir members should recognize it; Autumn might refer to it as "Uber Carrots" or something like that)
"For the Beauty of the Earth" by John Rutter
"Every Time I feel the Spirit" traditional spiritual
"Domine Filie Unigenite" by Vivaldi

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7 MAY 2006:

TWO AT TRINITY

Isis Leoanrd (WitR 2003 - 2005, SS 2004 - 2005) and Kolin Walker performed two movements from Czerny's Sonatina Op. 156 No. 2 for piano four hands at Trinity Lutheran Church in Madison, as part of a recital given by students of Kolin's piano teacher. Isis and Kolin had performed the piece in WSMA festivals this spring, earning a *1 at District and a 1 at State.

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1 MAY 2006:

MCFARLAND HAULS HOME HARDWARE FROM STATE

McFarland music students had an outstanding day at the WSMA State Solo and Ensemble Festival, held Saturday on the UW-Whitewater campus. McFarland soloists and ensembles performed capably and musically in a wide range of events, earning pounds and pounds of medals. Many of these are "1" ratings, the highest awarded at the Festival. Eric Adams (AITDJB 2005) earned the additional honor of receiving a WSMA Exemplary SOlo Recognition Project award for his snare drum solo.

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1 MAY 2006:

UPCOMING EVENTS - MAY 2006

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24 APRIL 2006:

MCFARLAND JAZZ AGES WELL

The McFarland instrumental jazz program gave its final regular concert of the year Monday night, and it was an evening of delights. All four bands have grown in stature, power, and poise since February, proving once again that music - jazz particularly - is one of the things our schools do well.

At Indian Mound Middle School, the seventh and eighth grade classes each comprise a separate jazz band. The High School also fields two jazz bands, but members are drawn from all four grades, which is part of the reason why the MHS ensembles are larger. It is therefore wrongheaded to say that the IMMS jazz bands "look thin" or "don't have enough members", or that it's "a shame they need to be filled out by teachers and by students from other grades" - comments I have heard in the hallway. In fact the two younger bands are the training grounds for the great musicians we hear in the MHS ensembles, and we should be happy that they can take advantage of the learning opportunities that come with being reinforced by older musicians.

Brian Vanderbloemen (AITDJB 2005) always picks charts that are substantial but are also fun to hear and, by Monday night's evidence, fun to play. Michael Sweeney's arrangement of Kiss the Girl from Disney's The Little Mermaid was a wonderful piece, played well by the Seventh Grade Jazz Ensemble. (Mr. V. claims he only watches Disney films because of his offspring). The New Orleans Rhythm Kings' immortal Tin Roof Blues also came off soundly in this set, arranged by Andy clark and played at a rather brisk tempo that made a a good showcase for a solo by guest trumpeter Kolin Walker. He could have sung the lyric; that would have been cool, too. The Seventh Grade set closed with In the Midnight Hour, by Wilson Pickett, neatly arranged for beginning jazz ensemble by Jerry Nowack.

Kolin showed up again with Dave Heilman's Eighth Grade Jazz Ensemle, this time at the piano, taking solo turns in Dean Sorenson's Vertical Version and in Are You Ready to Rock by Larry Neeck. Becca Funk (WitR 2003 - 2005) picked up the soprano saxophone for solos in both of these charts and also in On the Flip Side by Greg Yasinitsky. Judging by the way her eyes were glinting, she enjoys the instrument, and in fact it was a pleasure to hear her play. I'm also happy to report that contrary to initial forecasts Gena Roisum (WitR 2005) gave us a clarinet solo in Vertical, which is an edgy, lively piece that gave the young soloists good meaty stuff to work with. Of course Gena did a fine job, as she always does.

The McFarland High School Concert/Symphonic Band Jazz Ensemble (hereafter I'll call them the McFHSC/SBJE, or better yet just the CSBJE - does anyone else think it's high time this slick group got a less clunky name?) took the stage next, under the often-genial direction of Bill Garvey. The CSBJE opened with a full-throttle rendition of Larry Barton's Power Trip, projecting an intensity they sustained throughout a set that exlored some of the rich variety of jazz styles. Dean Sorenson's excellent swing chart River City Blues got a fine treatment that would have been right at home in Memphis, or at least on Milwaukee's Riverwalk. Eric Adams (AITDJB 2005) took an outstanding percussion break in Bob Lowden's Big Band/Latin arrangement of Ernesto Lecuona's Malaguena. The jazz bands have played this before, but it's so perfect and obsessive that it's always a crowd-pleaser, and no one is tired of it. Eric will play with the AITDJB again this summer. Nora Hickey (SS 2004 - 2006, WitR 2005) was one half of a perfectly respectable trombone duet in this piece.

Bruce Pearson's Where You Want to Be is a rock/funk chart that sounds like it demands good coordination among parts of the rhythm section, and on Monday night it got that from the CSBJE. Nora played a bassoon solo in this number, but it was improperly miked: a directional mike was placed not at the instrument's thorax but near the bell. A mike here would get a harsher tone, but on Monday Nora's mike was pointed too far away from the instrument anyway, and may not even have been turned on: her solo was unfortunately completely inaudible. Last but certainly not least let me note that Frank Ransley (SB 2003 - 2005, AITDJB 2004 - 2005) was sitting in with the CSBJE trumpet section; he selflessly comes to MHS at unhealthy early hours to rehearse with them. I'm very happy to say that Frank, too, will be back in the gazebo with the AITDJB for the 2006 summer season.

When I saw that Andrea Bakunowicz (AITDJB 2005) was wearing her L.B.D. Monday night, I hoped that might mean that she'd be singing a number or two; she has a lovely voice. Instead she twice played her alto sax in duets out in front of the Early Bird Jazz Ensemble. She sounded great, and is certainly keeping up her chops - she'll lend her cheerful presence to the AITDJB again this summer. Scott Birrenkott (AITDJB 2005) will also be back for a turn with the Dixie band. He had fire-breating solos in two of Early Bird's numbers Monday night, and was an anchor of the Trombone Wave. (But his cornet-sized plunger mute wasn't much use to him; Scott, you can borrow mine if you are desperate).

Early Bird is one of McFarland School District's finest products. Stack 'em up against any team or group from any MHS student organization, sports included: MHS's premier jazz ensemble shines bright and stands tall. (Of course Anne Nichols's (AITDJB 2005) Blue Notes vocal jazz ensemble is having a helluva year, too, aren't they?) Monday night's Early Bird perfomance under the direction of Dave Heilman was first class all the way. They opened with a familiar-sounding Mike Tomaro arrangement of Duke Ellington's Caravan, capturing the haunting joy I feel from the tune when it's in the hands of a good vocalists. Scott's solo was grand; I could have listened to another sixteen bars.

Next up was Come In From the Rain, a newish arrangement (I think) by Paul Jennings from the Melissa Manchester original. This featured Dr. Greg Balfany, who has been working with the jazz ensembles and performed with each of them. Alan Blaylock has made an arrangement of Louis Armstrong's Struttin' With Some Barbecue that must have been a real monster to work up for performance, but sounded just spectacular - and it was good to see the brass get up and move around, too. Andrea was a featured duetist in this one. The final number of the night was Festia Bahia, by Victor Lopez, which I thought sounded familiar but could not quite place - I supposed getting to enjoy it for the first time again is a fringe benefit of addled memory. Andrea was smooth as silk in her duet, and Scott's solo was cleanly understated.

About Dr. Balfany: In the past I've made grumbling noises in this space about guest artists who come to coach the jazz bands, and have such fragile egos that they need to take solos in every piece with every band at the resulting concert. Dr. Balfany is an extraordinary jazz musician and master of saxophones who is both an active performer and a highly engaged music professor at UW-La Crosse. On Monday night all the pieces had plenty of room for students to take solos, so his presence on stage does not seem to have squeezed anyone out (although he did play solos in eight of the evening's fourteen numbers). He was simply luminous in Come In From the Rain

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24 APRIL 2006:

STATE SOLO AND ENSEMBLE SCHEDULES

Schedules for most of the State Solo and Ensemble Festivals have been posted on the WSMA Web site. McFarland students will go to the festival in Whitewater on 29 April 2006. Performance times and sites for all McFarland students are available here, in lists sorted by performance time, by performer, by site, and by event.

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20 APRIL 2006:

AUTUMN SPONGES HIS WAY ONTO THE KOHL CENTER STAGE

2005 UW Varsity Band in the Kohl Center>

ON AND ON AND ON WISCONSIN: The University of Wisconsin Varsity Band gave the first of three Spring Concert performances Thursday night, and it was as usual not so much a concert as an exhibition of music as extravaganza. Before describing Autumn's part in the extravagance, I must mention that Tonya Neumann (AITDJB 2003 - 2005) and Nick Schleicher (SB 2002) performed with the band itself: Tonya on saxophone and Nick on trumpet.

The Varsity Band concert is always a frenetic mixture of over-the-top spectacle, and this year is no exception. There are guest artists of all musical sorts, pyrotechnics, gymnasts, flying cows, confetti, cheerleaders, high school marching bands, more pyrotechnics, drum majors (this year including a miniature one), costumes, light shows, stilt-walkers, dancers, yet more pyrotechnics, singalongs . . . you get the picture; or if you don't, go see the show. Oh, and the Varsity Band plays, too.

An early segment featured a medley of cartoon theme songs, which director and manic ringmaster Mike Leckrone claiming he wanted to contain only "the classics": Scooby Do, Mickey Mouse (a singalong moment), the Flintstones, and their ilk. But the Simpsons crept in, as did SpongeBob SquarePants, who offered Autumn his first moment in the follow spot. Mostly hidden inside a SpongeBob costume, Autumn pranced through the aisles shaking hands with excitable alumni. On Friday night, SpongeBob was promoted to a stage crossing. During a rather well-done medley of On Wisconsin variations in the styles of other cultures (or their pastiches), Autumn manipulated a Thai bird tethered to a long pole, dancing it above a roaring crowd. (Coincidentally, he is not the only AIDJB member to perform with birds on strings this month; see 8 April, below). Finally, during the "Masquerade" sequence in a Phantom of the Opera medley, Autumn and a partner danced a sort of tight gavotte on the catwalk at the top of the band's bleachers.

Broadway star Tom Wopat was among this year's guest artists. Several of the instrumental guests displayed better musical quality, with top honors in my book going to classical guitarist Javier Calderón of the UW music faculty, and to Sergei Belkin, an accordionist whose rendition of the Carnival of Venice and its variations was beyond belief. UW alumnus Grant Manhart brought his student jazz band The Dominant 7, and they are a powerhouse: percussion, bass, and seven trumpets who all seem to be young Clifford Browns.

Any show with indoor rockets, fountains, and flashpots has to be good, and the FX crew certainly piled on the powder Thursday night. Leckrone's annual video was as funny as ever, and he made his second-act entrance riding the flying cow mentioned above. The Thursday crowd mumbled a bit on the "Varsity" singalong - I think the real fanatics come on Saturday - but there were people polkaing in the aisles during Beer Barrel, and everyone knows the words to Hey, Baby. It was a grand three hours.

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16 APRIL 2006:

EASTER BRASS

Frank Ransley and Quinn Leonard were part of a brass quartet that performed at McFarland Lutheran Church on Easter Sunday, under the patient direction of Glenn Nielsen. The group played arrangements of Christ the Lord is Risen Today, Christ is Risen, and 'Tis a Blessing to be Simple at two morning services, joined at times by organist Peter Johnson, by the church's voice choir and its excellent Handbell Choir (both of which Glenn also directs), and by the congregation. A rousing time was had by all.

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15 APRIL 2006:

SEEN "SIGHT UNSEEN"? SEE IT!

Donald Margulles' four-role play Sight Unseen is hilarious and wrenching, complex and direct, ambiguous and true: in short, everything theatre should be. It is a masterwork; don't miss it. The Wisconsin University Theatre) will present eight performances: April 14, 15, 20 - 22, and 27 - 29. All shows are at 7:30 PM in the UW's Mitchell Theater. Autumn Leonard is Assistant Master Electrician for the production.

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Ensemble 13

10 APRIL 2006:

WYSO CHAMBER ENSEMBLES PROVIDE AN AFTERNOON OF DELIGHTS

The Wisconsin Youth Orchestra (WYSO) chamber ensembles gave their final performances of the season Saturday in Morphy Hall, presenting a varied and delightful program. Works representing a wide range of styles were handled gracefully and insightfully by the talented WYSO musicians. Isis Leonard and Nora Hickey were among the performers.

Isis' group, Ensemble 13, performed the Sarabande and March from Rinaldo, by Georg Friederich Handel, with the rich lyricism it deserves. They also played the Allegro Molto from Mozart's String Quartet K. 155. The group performed first among five ensembles, yet, as is often the case, it was the Mozart that people walked out of the hall whistling.

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8 APRIL 2006:

THE BIRD WHISPERER

The lovely and talented Miss Amanda DeBoer recently took the stage in a Carleton College Student Musical Theatre (SMuT) production of Stephen Sondheim's demanding musical Into the Woods. Amanda operated Cinderella's birds on stage. She writes that the production "turned out fabulously" and was very well received.

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3 APRIL 2006:

MIDORI CONCERTS AND WORKSHOPS CANCELLED

Noted violinist and teacher Midori has cancelled all upcoming workshops and performances, due to serious illness in her family. She had been scheduled to work with a WYSO chamber ensemble group that includes Isis Leonard, to prepare for a joint performance. Neither the workshop nor Midori's own performance at the Wisconsin Union Theater has been rescheduled. We all offer her our hopes for the best.

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31 MARCH 2006:

PERFORMANCE EVENTS FOR APRIL 2006

APRIL 2006

UW Varsity Band "Run Out" Concert

2 April 2006
Oshkosh
Tonya Neumann, Katie Hepler, Nick Schleicher

Into the Woods

7 and 8 April 2006
Carleton College
Amanda DeBoer, Bird Operator

WSMA Middle Level Honors Auditions

7 April 2006: La Crosse, Wausau, Kettle Moraine
8 April 2006: Eau Claire, Fort Atkinson, Kaukauna

WYSO Chamber Ensembles Recital

8 April 2006 1:30 & 3:30 PM
Morphy Hall
UW Madison
Isis and Nora

Lawrence University Symphonic Band and
New Horizons Band concert

Saturday 8 April 2006 8:00 PM
Appleton, Wisconsin
Brad Anderson

UW Varsity Band Spring Concert

7:30 PM 20, 21, and 22 April 2006
Kohl Center
Tickets: $18; maybe a little less through Tonya
Tonya Neumann, Katie Hepler, Nick Schleicher; maybe Autumn Leonard

7-12 Jazz concert

24 April 2006 7:30 PM
MHS Auditorium

WSMA State Solo and Ensemble Festival

29 April 2006
UW-Whitewater

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27 MARCH 2006:

SOLSTICE BRASS GOES EQUINOCTIAL

For thousands of years, cultures advanced enough to keep astromical records have noted that, starting at the Summer Solstice in late June, the nights grow longer and the days shorter. It's no huge leap to imagine that if the nights keep getting longer, eventually there will be no day at all. Crops will die; animals will die; everything will die. Most cultures have therefore a tradition of performing rituals on the night of the Winter's Solstice, the longest night of the year, to ensure that the cycle will turn and that the nights will grow shorter again. Many of these customs involve bonfires kept alight all night: by association, the Sun's fire will not die either, but will grow again, and the days will lenghthen; Spring will come, and all life will not be snuffed out. These rites are older by far than any modern religion; they have been performed for millennia, and so far, every year, the sun keeps coming back. It's hard to argue with success.

By the time of the Spring Equinox in late March, the days have grown as long as the nights; on the following days, there will be more hours of sunlight than of shadow. It's a time of celebration, for it means that last year's Solstice rites were effective. Traditionally, it's a time when people have exchanged gifts of eggs - always a symbol of life - and have begun preparations for the new agricultural year. The Spring Equinox was associated with the rebirths of solar deities such as Mithras and Eastre throughout Europe and the Near and Middle East. The Council of Nicea decreed the formula which is still used to calculate the date of the Easter holy day: it is celebrated on the first Sunday after the first full moon after the Spring Equinox.

The Solstice Brass Quartet, always mindful of the public good, has done its part for years at McFarland's Christmas bonfire, ensuring that life on Earth will survive. This year, three members of the Brass will take part in an Easter celebration, too. Autumn, Quinn, and Frank will be among the musicians performing during services at McFarland Lutheran Church on Easter Sunday, 16 April 2006.

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