Overture for Winds was given its title by the publishers. This three-part overture has remained Carter’s most popular composition for band. The opening section has a theme which is robust and rhythmic in character. The second theme, slightly slower and expressive, is a free form based on the original idea. The last section is a repetition of the opening thematic ideas, building to a final climax.

-Note from Wind Band Repertory Project

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The Shenandoah Valley and the Shenandoah River are located in Virginia. The origin of the name for this river and valley is obscure. The origins of the folk song are equally obscure, but all date to the 19th century. Many variants on the melody and text have been handed down through the years with the most popular telling the story of an early settler’s love for a Native American woman. The composer writes:

In my setting of Shenandoah I was inspired by the freedom and beauty of the folk melody and by the natural images evoked by the words, especially the image of a river. I was less concerned with the sound of a rolling river than with its life-affirming energy -- its timelessness. Sometimes the accompaniment flows quietly under the melody; other times it breathes alongside it. The work's mood ranges from quiet reflection, through growing optimism, to profound exaltation.

- Program Note by Frank Ticheli

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Different Voices:  Within this work, the three movements each represent several of the ways by which the human voice communicates through the actual production of sound.  Sound production becomes a vehicle of communication and thus Rick Kirby's title "Different Voices." The first and third movements do not attempt to simulate the actual sound of the human voice, but rather demonstrates the spirit by which the sound is produced.  The second movement, however, does use whispering as an actual sound made by the human voice.

Variations on "America" was originally a composition for organ. Composed in 1891 when Ives was seventeen, it is an arrangement of a traditional tune, known as My Country, 'Tis of Thee, and was at the time the de facto anthem of the United States. The tune is also widely recognized in Thomas Arne's orchestration as the British National Anthem, God Save the Queen, and in the former anthems of Russia, Switzerland, and Germany, as well as being the current national anthem of Liechtenstein and royal anthem of Norway.

The variations are a witty, irreverent piece for organ, probably typical of a “silly” teenage phenom like Ives. According to his biographers, the piece was played by Ives in organ recitals in Danbury and Brewster, New York, during the same year. At the Brewster concert, his father would not let him play the pages which included canons in two or three keys at once, because they were “unsuitable for church performance – They upset the elderly ladies and made the little boys laugh and get noisy!”

This work was transcribed for orchestra in 1964 by William Schuman and for band in 1968 by William Rhodes.

- Program Note by William Rhodes

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BGSU Bands is a member of the consortium project for Jamie Leigh Sampson’s Ships Passing in celebration of the Centenary of BGSU Bands. 

When you stand next to the water on the St. Lawrence River, or on one of the five Great Lakes, you can feel an approaching ship long before you can see it. What begins as a low rumble grows to a mechanical, metallic, repetitive drone that interacts and dances with the natural sounds of the waterways. 

On rare occurrences two ships will pass each other in front of you, and when that happens at night it’s an incredibly memorable and musical experience. The container ships that make their way along the Northeast shipping routes of the United States have come from all over the world. They may interact with the natural surroundings on the waterways, but they are separate communities from those on the shore. 

These floating cities have passed me for my entire life. I frequently traveled to the St. Lawrence River as a child; I was married there while a ship passed, and I know that when I see one in Toledo, Detroit, or Chicago that it had to have passed a place I call home to get there.

- Program Note by composer

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Symphony in Blue & Gold by Erica Svanoe is a symphonic jazz suite, commissioned by a group of institutions led by the University of Wisconsin–Eau Claire in honor of the 100th anniversary of the band program at the university. BGSU Bands is a member of the consortium project for this work in celebration of the Centenary of BGSU Bands.