Kyra Finner
Staff Writer
On Friday, October 4th, Idaho State University’s bands, the Civic Concert Band and the Symphonic Band, performed for the first time this year up at Steven’s Performing Arts Center. These bands are directed by Erin Armstrong and Patrick Brooks.
The Civic Concert Band played “Cajun Folk Songs,” written by Frank Ticheli and “Crystals” written by Thomas Duffy. “Cajun Folk Songs,” is an upbeat piece with some diverse twists and turns. “Crystals,” is described as “a one-movement tone poem which is divided into four sections.”
Within this song, there were many interesting artistic choices, including the lighting changing colors for every section of the song, the saxophonists using wine glasses as instruments, the wind’s section whistling in different notes and even a percussion instrument where the player, Kaitlin Sielaff, had to dip a gong into a bucket of water to create a mysterious sound.
The Symphonic Band performed six different pieces, and their theme of this concert was to bring John Philip Sousa’s music to life as if the audience was listening to a concert from the late 1800s. In their performance, Patrick Brooks chose to feature two soloists, Orla O’Connor, soprano and Mal Layne, trombonist.
“My favorite piece was ‘I’ve Made My Plans For The Summer’ because I loved the soloist, Orla O’Connor,” said Anna Curet, a clarinetist in the symphonic band. “The band worked really hard to have a unified sound and not often do we get the opportunity to accompany a vocalist.”
The other soloist, Mal Layne, presented a tune with extremely fast passages that seemed not humanly possible for long periods of time. She played alongside the band in many parts, but she also took some solos and was the star of the piece, “The Blue Bells of Scotland.”
When asked how she did in her performance, Layne gave herself a 7/10 on her solo, but the standing ovation of the audience would argue with that rating.
“I felt like it was a trainwreck in a couple of places, but the cadenza went well,” Layne said. “As a musician, there’s always something to get better at, but I had a lot of fun on stage which is what really matters.”
MacKenzie Ward, a flutist in the symphonic band, was the one to hand each of the soloists their bouquets of flowers once they finished, and she has a love for music herself.
“I love playing music because it affects you emotionally and physically, in a way that not many things can,” Ward said.
The attendance of this concert was rather good compared to some other performances in the spring, which was encouraging for the musicians on stage.
“Of course I wish more people attended our concerts,” Morgan Quayle, a percussionist, said.
“It shows support for the music and the art community in general. It’s more fun to perform when there are more people out there cheering for you,” she said.
When asked what she would say to people to convince them to come to ISU’s music department concerts, Quayle said, “I would tell them that it’s more fun than you think.”
To know more about Idaho State University’s Music Department events, you can go to https://www.isu.edu/music/concerts-and-events/ to see what is planned monthly.
