Concert Report: North Idaho University Wind Symphony In Concert

Concert Report The concert I attended was North Idaho College Wind Symphony In Concert, featuring the Whitworth University Wind Symphony. It took place in the Schuler Preforming Arts Center at the North Idaho College in Coeur d’Alene on March 21st. The main pieces which I will be focusing on are Aspen Jubilee, Walking Tune, and The Invincible Eagle. All of these pieces were performed by the Whitworth University Wind Symphony, whose conductor was Richard Strauch. Strauch conducted a symphony of 55 college students, and all of them played very well together. There were a few small mistakes where a note would get exceedingly high for no reason, but outside of that, it was perfection. The students played a wide variety of wind instruments including
This music was through composed, taking the same few repeating lines and building off of them. The beat was regular, though it was a little difficult for me to tell what the meter was specifically. It also had a homophonic texture, which was very smart to use given that Grainger used the same few lines throughout the piece. The piece was also entirely made up of consonance and was entirely conjunct. The flutes and clarinets were the most vocal instruments in this piece and the bass was noticeably helpful to the song as well. Overall, this piece was a not particularly memorable. The piece felt like it was trying to capture the calming beauty of nature, with the entire piece being calm and gently flowing, but I don’t think it really worked. Without any dissonance, I never felt captured by the work. It also could have done much better had it been longer. I can become enthralled by a music piece that is very calm and gentle, but it takes time for that to happen. This piece lasted only around 5 minutes, and that is not enough length to hold me in and make me want more. When working with such short time, there needs to be a dramatic wow factor to make it memorable and this music simply didn’t have
The piece was written in what felt like ABABA form, with the B sections being a very short and incredibly fast burst of notes from the flutes and percussion followed with very strongly emphasized notes from the trombones and trumpets. The A sections of this piece had some of the strongest and most regular beats of all the music that evening. Additionally, the duple meter was really something that you could ride along and have fun with. The piccolo was much more noticeable in these sections than in any other music, and the brass and percussion added a lot to the patriotic feeling that this song inspires. The music reminded me of a marching army, courageous and bravely marching on. The dramatic B sections were almost reminiscent of a battle containing a lot of drama, and the return back to A without much change made it feel like our army had won. Overall, this piece was very memorable. Like Walking Tune, this piece was very short, but unlike Walking Tune, it fit in a lot of elements that helped you latch on. Its use of a regular beat helps to grab your attention, and the patriotic feelings that a marching song gives you cannot be