Those moments in band when everything
is perfect and beautiful and together and epic... those are hard to
come by. When you're young, but after you've improved a lot, maybe in
B band (certainly A band) at CMS, they're slightly more common,
because you're young and excited about music, but not well-trained
enough to hear the difference between in-tune and
not-quite-really-in-tune. Then they get less common, as you improve
and learn to constantly notice the way you and others are playing, to
evaluate cold-mindedly. Symphonic band was the worst, in that respect
– the entire year I never once had an epic moment. Even in freshman
year concert band I had one or two. Marching band is the same way –
by the end of my freshman year, every show felt golden, and this year
(my junior year) I was never completely satisfied (several golden
moments, to be sure, but never a golden show). But sometimes you can
find a balance between your own ability level and that of your
ensemble, and you get a few more epic moments. That probably would've
happened in county honor band for me, but with only four rehearsals,
even the best students in the county can't sound perfect. (Besides,
our music selection was interesting, but we didn't have any really
epic pieces, per say.)
This morning in Wind Ensemble, we
rehearsed Give Us This Day, by David Maslanka.
(Mvmt 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zX9dvpQfp4I
Mvmt 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NW6uG-Z4cOk )
It's a very difficult piece, but we've been playing it for long enough by now to have it down, except for occasional intonation problems. My favorite part is the last fast section to the end (measure 186 to the end, if you happen to have a score in front of you...), which has lots of noodly notes, then epic fast notes with a repeat of the theme, and finally a slow, brooding, medieval chorale, ending with a series of crashing, dissonant chords and settling into a sort of overwhelming rumble of sound that melts into your bones and becomes your whole self, until the magic is released and the conductor lowers his baton. Right as we got to the chorale this morning, the sun had risen just far enough to burst into sight through the window of the band director's office, and the whole left side of my vision was just glorious morning light as Maslanka's final chords pounded through the walls, the floor, filling the whole room and all the world beyond with light and glory and crescendos.
(Mvmt 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zX9dvpQfp4I
Mvmt 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NW6uG-Z4cOk )
It's a very difficult piece, but we've been playing it for long enough by now to have it down, except for occasional intonation problems. My favorite part is the last fast section to the end (measure 186 to the end, if you happen to have a score in front of you...), which has lots of noodly notes, then epic fast notes with a repeat of the theme, and finally a slow, brooding, medieval chorale, ending with a series of crashing, dissonant chords and settling into a sort of overwhelming rumble of sound that melts into your bones and becomes your whole self, until the magic is released and the conductor lowers his baton. Right as we got to the chorale this morning, the sun had risen just far enough to burst into sight through the window of the band director's office, and the whole left side of my vision was just glorious morning light as Maslanka's final chords pounded through the walls, the floor, filling the whole room and all the world beyond with light and glory and crescendos.
There are fewer epic moments, now that we've
all trained our ears to hear every mistake. And I'm sure my moment
this morning would not have felt so glorious if James Galway sat in
my place. But I'll take them when I can get them.
