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For all my very special readers, this will be a teaching moment, as well as a review and commentary. I hope you will join me, and even share your thoughts with me at cooltune7@gmail.com.  I am as pleased with ‘band music’ as I am with ‘orchestral music.’ Frequently, I am even more pleased with ‘band music,’ for some musical reasons.

A well-rounded ‘orchestra’ might have twenty-four violins, eight violas, eight cellos, and six double basses. That totals forty-six instruments, each containing four strings, which are tuned differently, but in similar patterns. This same orchestra might have nineteen wind players - piccolo, flute, oboe, English horn, clarinet, bassoon, trumpet, trombone, baritone, tuba, French horn. Curiously enough, two or three players per wind instrument is usually enough to balance the forty-six strings. Tossing in three or four percussion players will normally round out the necessities.

A ‘band,’ on the other hand, has NO strings - - not even one!  At the end of the 19th century this was a new ensemble, but in our era, there are concertizing bands all across the world. Instead of strings, a ‘concert band’ has more clarinets, more French horns, as well as oboes, bassoons, saxophones (soprano, alto, tenor, baritone), and more trombones, euphoniums, tubas, and more percussion players as well.

The result is that an orchestra has a very profound string presence, which dominates the entire performance. A band has a greater variety of instruments taking the place of the forty-six strings in the orchestra. In a certain sense, there is a greater variety of ‘tone color’ in a band, since that greater variety of instruments is present.

I have to choose my words carefully, because I am quite fond of both orchestral and band music. I enjoy the serious presence of stringed instruments. I also enjoy the rich diversity of tone colors coming from the sounds of the concert band.

Saturday night, the Twin Ports Wind Orchestra(TPWO) offered a performance celebrating twenty-five years of music making in this community. Founding conductor, Timothy Mahr - now directing at St. Olaf College - joined current conductor - Mark Whitlock - in presenting a rich and beautiful concert at First Lutheran Church, Duluth.

This was concert music at its finest. Mahr, a respected composer, led ‘De Amicitia,’ a new composition dedicated to the Twin Ports Wind Orchestra on its 25th anniversary. The Jaeckel organ, Op. 52, was featured, with organist Jason Branham on the bench. Another highlight of this piece was the soprano saxophone solo by Emily Tremblay, a luscious melody arching over the rich harmonic texture of the band.

Other music featured on this concert included the ‘Downey Overture’ by Spanish composer Oscar Navarro. Rhythms were flying all over the place, with melodies bouncing off the walls. The Symphony No. 1 by Johan de Meij, ‘The Lord of the Rings,’ was highlighted with the first and fifth movements. This exciting work will be performed in its entirety next season by the TPWO.

For me, the supreme moment of the evening was ‘Heartland,’ a new piece by Minnesotan John Paulson. The absolutely heart-melting melody explodes into a rhythmic variation that continues right to the very end, which happens much too soon.

A spin-off of the Star-Spangled Banner, called “Early Light”  by Carolyn Bremer, was another exciting piece of music for all the colors of the concert band. A couple of marches were tossed in, although that’s not ever my favorite part of band music. I conclude by inviting you to attend a concert band performance at UMD, UWS, or the TPWO. The great variety of music will please you more than you realize.
 
I want to close by celebrating the Duluth Suzuki program for strings, harp, guitar, flute, piano. More than 400 people came to Duluth Congregational Church to listen to 120 young musicians share their progress in recital as part of this amazing program. I feel very good about the next generation of musicians in Duluth, MN. I hope you are doing as much as you can to support the continuity. Thank you.