On November 3rd, I had the pleasure of seeing the Fall Band Concert. There were two separate halves of the concert. I stayed for the first half, and I was able to see the Varsity Band, Percussion II, and Symphonic Band II. They performed many songs, but my favorite were “As Summer Was Just Beginning”, “Majestia”, and “Toboggan”. The song “As Summer Was Just Beginning” was slow and classical. It was composed by Larry Daehn. The Varsity Band performed it and they were staged in a “U” shaped formation. The Varsity Band was a mixture of mostly freshman and a few sophomores. It began with the brass playing the loudest. The clarinets, flutes, and saxophones played softly underneath them. The balance was uneven, the brass overpowered the woodwinds …show more content…
There were also some incorrect notes being played during this portion of the song. As only the woodwinds played for a few measures, the flutes had the melody while the clarinets and saxophones played the harmony. After a couple of measures, the trumpets joined in to play the melody with the flutes. The rest of the brass crescendoed as they came in. The composer put the crescendo there to help blend the musicians together as the different parts of the brass joined the woodwinds. Then the brass had the melody and the clarinets played with them while the clarinets had the harmony again. The brass and clarinets were playing some notes inaccurately during this part of the song. When the whole band joined together, they played at forte and they blended well. The song changed the focus to the woodwinds again, where the flutes held the melody, while some of the brass instruments played the harmony quietly along …show more content…
The song was called “Majestia” and it was also a classical song. It was written by James Swearingen. The tempo was adagio in the beginning and the dynamics were mezzo forte. The song began with a flute soloist and the rest of the band joined in after a couple of measures. The trumpets were playing some notes out of tune, but the flute was still the main focus of attention. The woodwinds had the melody and the brass had the harmony. The flute held out a note as the rest of the band decrescendoed. After the flute finished the note, the band played at forte and the tempo was allegro. The band played together blended well together, but the focus was on the mallets and the trumpets. The clarinets and saxophones played the harmony alone. The drums joined in and the trumpets came in a measure after with the melody. The drums held the beat. The woodwinds crescendoed which lead to the whole band joining in. The composer put the crescendo there as a smooth transition for the band to join in. At this point the brass was playing some of the notes incorrectly. The brass section had the melody while the percussion played the harmony. After the brass played the melody the song switched back to mezzo forte and andante. There was a brief pause in the song and then everyone joined in strong. It started getting louder and faster for a couple of measures because it was the climax of the song. As the song came to a close it slowed down, but