Symphonic Band

Celebrating America

America has never been defined through singularity, and American music has never been a single sound. It is a conversation shaped by countless communities, cultures, identities, and experiences. Across generations, music has given Americans a way to celebrate who we are, where we come from, and the communities we build together. Tonight’s program explores that idea through music that crosses boundaries of genre, generation, and cultural identity. Tonight, our goal is to celebrate. 

Omar Thomas’s A Mother of a Revolution! begins with celebration as an act of resistance. Inspired by the life and legacy of Marsha “Pay It No Mind” Johnson and the 1969 Stonewall uprising, the work draws heavily on the sounds of disco and the culture of LGBTQ+ dance clubs. These spaces were more than places to dance: they offered community, affirmation, and freedom to people whose identities were often marginalized elsewhere. In Thomas’s music, celebration becomes an assertion of existence—the joyous declaration that we are here.

Holly Harrison’s Big Things carries that energy into a contemporary musical landscape. With its enormous contrasts, grooves, beats, and larger-than-life character, the piece embraces the physicality of popular music. Funk, disco, rock, and other vernacular influences become the raw material for something exuberant and distinctly personal. Celebration here is not passive; it is something we inhabit with our whole bodies. 

Of this new work, performed as a consortium premier by graduate conducting assistant Derek East, the composer writes:

Written in three movements, Big Things is all about…well, big things. From the urban feel of Big Smoke to the swagger of Big Boots, to the courageous spirit of Big Heart. Think big city buzz, big attitude, and big endings. When first writing the work, my ear was drawn to masses of big bold sounds: a mix of big contrasts, big grooves, and big beats.  

In Australia, we often refer to large cities as the ‘big smoke’. With more than a trace of disco, the opening movement captures the bustling, bursting energy of big cities, imagining a streetscape dancefloor flooded with commuters. Big Boots embraces a sleazy funk groove with a smattering of honky-tonk. With big boots to fill, who better to call on than the bass section? This movement offers plenty of swagger, stomp, and bass breakdowns. The final movement, Big Heart, is a big ending in disguise. Featuring numerous soloists in the lyrical first half, melodic strains and lines become increasingly entangled throughout. This lyrical web ultimately gives way to triumph, showcasing two contrasting sides of what I like to think of as the heart of band.    

Scott McAllister’s For You, a TikTok Fantasy takes us yet another step into the evolving relationship between popular culture and concert music. TikTok represents a contemporary form of musical community in which ideas travel rapidly, are transformed by countless individuals, and acquire new meanings through participation. The piece reflects a world in which the boundaries between “serious” and “popular” music are increasingly fluid—and in which music belongs not only to its creator, but also to the communities that embrace and reinvent it. A savvy listener may notice McAllister’s numerous tributes to traditional repertoire – and in a TikTok mashup, presents the listener with the First and Second Suites by Gustav Holst, Paul Hindemith’s Symphony in B-flat, Percy Grainger’s Irish Tune and even Mahler’s Symphony No. 1. These are set alongside pop music and pop culture influences such as Charli XCX, Justin Bieber’s Baby, Baby, video game music, and TikTok themes such as “Oh No.”

Finally, F. W. Meacham’s American Patrol brings us back to the musical world of the late nineteenth century. Like much American music of its era, it draws upon melodies that would have been immediately recognizable to its audience. Yet our understanding of those melodies has changed over time, as has our understanding of what it means for music to represent America. 

For this performance, American Patrol is presented without the melody of “Dixie.” That choice is intentional. “Dixie” carries a history inseparable from minstrelsy, the Confederacy, and the romanticization of the antebellum South. Removing it does not erase that history; rather, it asks us to consider how we choose to represent ourselves through the music we perform. An American musical tradition can be acknowledged without every element of its history needing to be celebrated.

That question connects all four works. 

The music on this program comes from different eras and different cultural worlds, yet each piece understands celebration as something larger than simple entertainment. Celebration can be resistance. It can be community. It can be exuberance, self-expression, nostalgia, reinvention, or the simple joy of making music together.

Jazz and the many musical traditions that grew alongside it are particularly important to this story. Their influence can be heard not only in particular rhythms, harmonies, and grooves, but in a broader spirit of individuality within community—of taking what has come before, transforming it, and creating something new. 

Perhaps that is the most American idea represented on this program: we inherit a musical tradition, but we are not bound to leave it unchanged. We can question it, reshape it, add our own voices to it, and make space for voices that were once excluded.

American music is not defined by a single cultural identity. It is defined by the ongoing act of people bringing their identities into conversation with one another. 

And so we celebrate—not because we all share the same story, but because there is room for all of our stories in the music we make together.

We hope you enjoy our program. 

This program note was developed with assistance though conversations with ChatGPT.

Flute
Macy Pohorence
Johnathan Robinson, piccolo
Holly Smith
Evelyn Purdin
Makayla MuB
Cassie Fisher
Tiffany Mam
Jenna Schumaker

Oboe
Ramon Kulwicki
Ian SJner
CJ Brown

Bassoon
Audrey Benson
Corbin Johns
Sean Hayes
Riley Burchard

Clarinet
Keller Shea
Morgan Thompson
Madison InkroM
Rachel Dhaseleer
Chris Boyes
Jerod Reid
Cee Costello
Philip Kapp
Reagan Fairbanks
Amaya Newton

Saxophone
Helen Kangas
Kaynen Mims
Yangzihao Wu
BriMney Volnat
Mitchel Daniel
Izaiah Ramos
Aaron Hallman

Trumpet
Evan Picchioni, Co-Principal
Alex Preston, Co-Principal
Jonathan Perez-Blanco
Courtney Woerlein
Elliot Shenberger
Connor Yorke
Addison Edwards
Tyler Heuerman
Blaine Mitchell

Horn
Ash Behn, Co-Principal
Emma Clement, Co-Principal
John Hennessy
Rowen Raynes
Jacob Phillips
Evan Gerard
Mason Gano

Trombone
Daniel Herman
Mason Armitage
Sofia Viers
Benji Chang
Michael Carlozzi
Zach Haas
Michael Ferraro, bass

Euphonium
Alex Stetson
Hannah Crowe

Tuba
Benton Harris
Noah White
Trey Reed
Tyler HunJngton

Percussion
Aiden Barrows
Andrew Fulk
Emily Brand
Sarah Hertenstein
Noah Lindsey
El Wisniewski
Noah Lancianesse

Bass
Leon Bautista