The Winter concert that occured on December 11th featured four Wind Ensemble pieces that ranged from exciting and rhythmic melodies to southern jazz styles and famous Christmas tunes. These contrasting selections gave the audience an interesting and entertaining variety of music and effectively brought the spirit of the Christmas season to the auditorium of Sartell High School.
The Wind Ensemble began with Robert Buckley’s piece, Arctic Fire. This piece was especially impactful because dynamics were used effectively. This piece attempts to depict a colorful sunrise over the frozen northern tundra. It opens with giant suspension cords to illustrate the shooting rays of light over the mountains, and then moves into a quieter and more complex section in m. 18 to illustrate the snow covered ground. The dynamic difference between the first 17 measures and the middle section from measure 42 to 62 was important because is was the primary musical element that was used to paint the clear picture of the North for the audience. The Wind Ensemble was able to execute the written dynamics …show more content…
Balance was an issue in a couple of places. For example, in Jack Bullock’s Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!, the trumpets overpowered the rest of the band in measures 98 through 102. The trumpets also overplayed the band in Jared Barnes’ Adventum during measures 29 through 35. The lack of balance lead to individuals sticking out, which diminished the impact of the performance. Although the Wind Ensemble had good intonation throughout the majority of the concert, there were a few areas that were not as solid as they could have been. For example, the cord in Jared Barnes’ Adventum in measure 15 contained wrong notes in the woodwinds, making the cord less interesting to listen to. However, looking at the concert overall, the band only needed small improvements in few