On Saturday evening, May 19 at the McKinley High School Auditorium, the four Concert Bands presented their year-end program.
Band 1, comprised basically of first year players, played four short works written specifically for players at this level. Percussionists were featured in a couple of the works. The students performed very well and seemed to enjoy their presentation as much as the audience did. This young group can be very proud of their accomplishments this year. Lynn Muramaru has done a very good job with this group of young musicians.
Band 2 presented a more musically varied and challenging program. They opened with a march that I had played as an 8th grade trombonist many, many years ago, Harold Bennett’s Military Escort March. The brass did very well and the band demonstrated their good control of dynamics. This was followed by a very musical rendition of Elgar’s Nimrod variation from his large orchestral piece, Variations on an Original Theme, adapted for band by Chris Sharp. The next selection on the program was a world premiere of a piece, Adventures in Discovery, written for this group by ‘Iolani graduate Brianna Christianson ’01. She used contrasting sections of tempo and made good use of the instrumentation of the band and their capabilities. The audience enjoyed it very much and Brianna was in the audience and was properly recognized for her composition. A medley of tunes from The Little Mermaid concluded Band 2’s section of the concert.
Richard Hotoke took the podium for the next group, Band 3.This section of the program continued with Samuel Hazo’s composition Ascend, written for a middle school band in Georgia. Listening to this piece was an enjoyable experience and the students seemed to enjoy playing it. This was followed by Robert Smith’s Incantations, a piece which evoked a wild, spirited atmosphere as it built to a powerful finale. Jared Spears’ Fire Dancer followed, another selection written for a middle school band in Virginia. The percussion section had a busy time in this piece. This portion of the program concluded with Paul Jennings’ arrangement of music from Aladdin, featuring many soloists, all of whom played very well.
Band 4 continued the program with a very dramatic composition, Malcolm Arnold’s Tam O’Shanter Overture. This piece of program music was inspired by a Robert Burns’ poem. It musically chronicles the adventures of Tam as he leaves a pub one evening and describes the adventures he encounters. Flutist Ayako Tokuyama and trombonist Alex Gao both had very delightful solos. The technical demands on the band were immense but they met the challenge successfully. Eric Whitacre’s October was a complete change of pace for the band and the audience, setting a more contemplative romantic feeling. Young Kim, our outstanding French Horn player, demonstrated his skill, playing the first movement of Mozart’s 1st Horn Concerto. He performed very musically and skillfully in this reading of Mozart’s work. Saint-Saens Danse Bacchanale from his opera, Samson and Delilah, followed with beautiful Oboe and English Horn solos by Ho Joon Cha and Pamela Toshi. The band demonstrated its technical and musical virtuosity in this colorful and dramatic musical selection. This is one of Eic Leidzen’s many excellent transcriptions for band or orchestral music. Robert Smith’s arrangement of John Williams familiar music from Star Wars concluded the program. Awards were presented, seniors were recognized, parents were thanked and Mr. Hotoke and Mrs. Muramaru were given special recognition by the seniors.
