2022
Swift Winter Concert

This piece tells the story of the spirit of the winter wind, a story that originates from native Canadian folklore. The winter wind is represented by the minor key of the song, high notes in the strings and bells, and the “whooshing” sounds created by the voice. This song also practices bow lifts in the strings and melodic lines in the mallet percussion.

This is the a famous excerpt from the final movement of Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9. In this song we practice slurred bowing in the strings, dotted rhythms in all instruments, and sixteenth note combination rhythms in the percussion. We also practice balance and tempo as a full ensemble, and following coda signs.

This traditional African spiritual song is upbeat and features many different string techniques including pizzicato, bow lifts, dynamic changes, and the use of the fourth finger. It also practices following 1st and 2nd ending repeats. In this song, percussion created their own arrangement using different percussion instruments available. The ending directions for percussion written by the original composer is “make as much noise as possible!”, and we assure you percussion is simply following the ending directions of this song! We hope you enjoy this fun arrangement.

This is a traditional spiritual arranged by Pasty Ford Simms. The song starts out with all singers in unison but moves to call-and-response sections and two-part harmony. The singers had to pay special attention to balancing the two parts so that both could be heard equally.

This song was written as part of a songwriting workshop in September, 2001 with young singers in Miami. Led by Jim Papoulis, the students were committed to creating a response to the recently changed world, and completed the song in two days. The words that the workshop participants write speak for themselves, and can be though of as a gift to all who struggle with trying to make sense of the world.

If Costa Rica were to have a national motto, it would probably be the expression, "Pura vida!" Although the literal translation of this phrase is "pure life," in today's world it is used to mean "fine," "great," "everything is okay," or "all is well." Today this expression has become so popular that it has been added to Costa Rican Spanish dictionaries and is defined as a phrase to greet or show appreciation. Natives of Costa use it as an informal expression to greet someone, say goodbye, or express the free spirit and love for life in this tropical country. This song by Cristi Cary Miller features three independent parts that weave together to create a fantastic texture.

In late 2019, mysterious billboards began popping up in major cities around the world. These signs read, “Do you know who you are?” and included the letters “TPWK” in very small print. Fans of Harry Styles recognized this as an abbreviation for “Treat people with kindness,” a phrase that Styles often says at his live concerts. It wasn’t long before Styles would drop the first song from his new album, Fine Line. The full album would be released shortly after, and it included a song called “Treat People With Kindness.”

Harry Styles launched a website to promote the album. Fans can visit DoYouKnowWhoYouAre.com to receive a personalized compliment from Styles, complete with the “TPWK” tagline.

“Ironclad” is a term used to describe sailing vessels. This song depicts the story of the clashing of sailors and pirates, with each one receiving their own theme in the song. Both themes volley throughout the song, with the sailor theme returning at measure 54 with a slower 4/4 version. This song helped the ensemble practice performing minor keys, time signature changes, sudden tempo changes, accents, rallentando, and tied rhythms.

“Monsterville” is a themed piece meant to embrace both the spooky and fun side of Halloween (however it is a fun piece to play any time of year!). The style of the piece is marked “ominously,” meaning the feeling that something unpleasant is about to happen. The main theme introduced at measure 15 is passed in various forms to each instrument and contains dotted rhythms and accidentals that the composer describes as “quirky.” This song helped us to practice staccato and legato articulation, contrasts between piano and forte, and identifying accidentals such as G-flat and D-flat.

“Snow Globe” is a winter-themed piece illustrating the falling of snow. It is meant to create a whimsical sound, created by the sound of sleigh bells, bell kits, and wind chimes. The main melody begins in the flute and is passed through the other instruments of the ensemble. The song is lyrical and filled with swells in the dynamics and subtle tempo changes. This piece helped us to practice phrasing, staccato articulation, and technique on mallet percussion.

This concert-march piece written in a Spanish style. The opening melody is written at the tempo “broadly”, and returns throughout the song at a faster tempo. Two main melodies layer in the song, the second appearing in measure 20. Key parts of the song include the use of percussion instruments, especially the rolls and cymbal crashes in the beginning, and the shaker and clave in the faster sections, to convey the style of the piece. This song helped us to practice accelerandos, sudden tempo changes, forte-piano crescendos, accented and staccato articulation, and the use of accidentals.