185th Semi-Annual Band Concert

PROGRAM

Lane Tech Auditorium

6:00pm

December 15th, 2021

Lane Tech Flag Team

"Underneath the Tree" by Kelly Clarkson

Lane Tech Champerettes

"Christmas Mix"

Varsity Band

"Varsity Band 2021 Greatest Hits" -Various Artists

"It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas" by Meredith Wilson

Concert Band 2

"Appalachian Morning" by Robert Sheldon

"Der Erlkonig" by Scott Watson

Beginning Band

"Second Line (Joe Avery's Blues)" Traditional New Orleans

"Dragon Slayer" by Rob Grice

Concert Band 1

"Gershwin Classics" arranged by Michael Sweeney

"All I Want for Christmas is You" by Mariah Carey arr. Kerchner

Symphonic Band

"Festivo" by Vaclav Nelhybel

"Fifth Suite for Band (International Dances)" by Alfred Reed

I. Hoe Down (American)

II. Sarabande (French)

Finale (featuring members of Symphonic Band and Varsity Band)

"This Christmas" by Donnie Hathaway arr. Berry

Program Notes:

Flag Team - We have 9 incredible students this year and we could not be more thankful! Under the strong leadership of Captain Angeli Acevedo and Senior Qiqi "Kaylee" Fang we have been able to get back into the swing of things. Typically our Flags Team is twice as large and last year we decided to not hold tryouts. Although our team is a little smaller it has allowed us to regroup and focus on making this year that much better.

Click here for a video message from our captains Angeli and Kaylee

Majorette Team aka "The Champerettes" - This year we have 10 members and like the flag team it is typically 18-20 students. Last year we also decided to forgo holding virtual tryouts. Leah Jordan has really enjoyed being a captain for in-person instruction and has brought a new energy to the team. This specific routine is from the same mix of Christmas Songs that they performed to last year but with different choreography. The mix actually contains short versions of "This Christmas," "Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree," and "Sleigh Ride, Re-Mix." This routine also features 3 new members: Kaiyah Rodkey, Abieyuwa Osunde, and Mikayla Phillips.

Click here for a video message from our Champerettes

Varsity Band 2021 Greatest Hits: The Varsity Band has had a very successful year so far with our Homecoming routine, football games, basketball games, and the Arts in the Dark Parade downtown. We decided to kick off our portion of the concert with a medley of some of our repertoire from earlier in the year. This mash-up includes: "Go Lane Go," "Do Whatcha Wanna" by Rebirth Brass Band, "Earfquake" by Tyler, the Creator, "Swag Surfin" by Lil Wayne, "Wop" by J. Dash, "Industry Baby" by Lil Nas X, "You Do It" (featuring the drumline), and finally our "Varsity Anthem."

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas: Originally written in 1951 by Meredith Wilson, this song has been remade and remixed by hundreds of artists over the years. Wilson wrote the song while staying at the Yarmouth Grand Hotel in Nova Scotia. The Grand Hotel overlooks the beautiful Frost Park, which would explain the line "there's a tree in the Grand Hotel, one in the park as well." This arrangement opens with the four note motif that recalls the sound of a clock tower striking the hour mark. The melody gets passed around the whole ensemble before it is interrupted by a drum break which leads the band into a slow and grand finish!

Appalachian Morning: Much of Kentucky's musical heritage is steeped in the traditions of Appalachia, an area largely influenced by the settlers from Scotland and Ireland. Appalachian Morning acknowledges these pioneers with a musical walk through the woods and mountains of the Cumberland Gap. In addition to providing solo opportunities for several players, this lovely composition allows for a moment of reflection and lyrical expression on any concert program.

Der Erlkonig: "The Elf King," is based on Johann Goethe's late 18th-century poem of the same name, in which a father and his young son ride home on horseback one dark and eerie night. During the swift ride, the concerned boy sees and hears supernatural beings - the Elf King and his daughters - that the father does not. The Elf King is enticing the boy to join him willingly or BY FORCE! The father tries to calm the increasingly fearful son by explaining everything the boy reports as simply leaves rustling in the wind or willows moving in the fog. Nonetheless, the father rides faster and faster home only to find the boy is dead in his arms when they arrive. Goethe's dark and gothic tale is brought to spine-tingling life in this harrowing, fast-paces tone poem for band.

Second Line: Sometimes called "Joe Avery's Blues," this song can be traced back to the New Orleans stylings of the early 1900's, and is still played regularly in New Orleans parades today. The earliest recording was made by Preservation Hall Jazz Band in 1964 under the leadership of "Sweet" Emma Barrett on the piano. The song was written as a musical offering to the late Joe Avery, a New Orleans trombone great. The song starts out with call and response; a soloist plays the "call" and the band responds with an enthusiastic "HEY!" The song then unfolds in a 12 bar blues form with collective improvisation throughout.

Dragon Slayer: From the composer: "The dragon is a legendary beast in the folklore of many European and Asian cultures. These creatures are traditionally portrayed as ferocious fire-breathing beasts that represent the evils fought by human beings. According to medieval legends, dragons lived in wild and remote regions of the world and guarded great treasures from their dens. The person who slayed the dragon would gain all its wealth. Beowulf, Apollo, and Saint George all became legendary folklore heroes after slaying dragons."

This piece is a great example of how much can be accomplished with just five notes!

Gershwin Classics: This melody arranged by Michael Sweeney features three of American composer George Gershwin's most famous pieces of music: Rhapsody in Blue (1924), Strike Up the Band (1927), and Summertime (1934). These three pieces highlight Gershwin's ability to use jazz, military marches, operatic arias, and orchestral works to inform his own unique compositional voice. A snippet of Rhapsody in Blue (famously used by United Airlines) opens up the piece before it quickly transitions into Strike Up The Band. Summertime, written for the 1934 opera Porgy and Bess, features the trumpet section playing the haunting melody. The piece then moves to the slower, lyrical section of Rhapsody in Blue before recalling the opening measures of the piece in a climactic and exciting ending.

All I Want for Christmas is You: This song has become a Christmas Standard since it first came out in 1994 and seemingly continues to grow in popularity with every year. It is most interesting that Mariah Carey released this song with her song-writing partner Walter Afanasieff at a time when she was still at the peak of her career. Many people felt Christmas Songs typically were released near the end of a musicians career. Afanasieff was even quoted as saying, "Back then, you didn't have a lot of artists with Christmas albums. It wasn't a known science at all back then, and theres was nobody who did new, big, Christmas songs." This specific arrangement for Concert Band really allowed us to focus our energy on getting the entire band to swing.

Festivo: From Vaclav Nelyhebl himself, "Festivo is an overture-type composition in which the woodwinds and the brass are constantly confronting each other like two antagonists in a dramatic scene." Born in Czechoslavakia in 1919 he immigrated to the United States in 1957.

Fifth Suite for Band (International Dances): Commissioned by, and dedicated to, the Shimonoseki Wind Ensemble, Japan, Mr. Masafumi Izumi, President. The four movements were each conceived in terms of national dances associated with one or more countries. The first movement is an American "Hoe Down," the second a French "Sarabande," the third a Japanese "Yamabushi Kagura" and the fourth a Romanian/Israeli "Hora." Together, this group represents a kind of cross section of international dances from all over the world, in tribute to the cross cultural currents sweeping across the face of the globe today, as the world becomes an ever-smaller habitat, and peoples of all societies come to know and interact with one another as never before. And in this vast sea of communication, what better tribute than the two most ancient of all such forms: music and the dance? this was written in 1995.

We will be performing 2 of the 4 dances.

i. Hoedown

ii. Sarabande

This Christmas: Written by soul legend Donny Hathaway and Nadine McKinnor, this is the 30th most performed holiday song of all-time! Originally released in December 9th, 1970, it regained popularity when it was included in the 1991 compilation album, Soul Christmas. The recording session took place at Audio Finishers Studio in downtown Chicago, and has since been re-recorded hundreds of times. This arrangement features each section playing the melody with a tenor saxophone solo performed by senior Anthony Potter. This performance is certain to get you in the holiday spirit!

Special thanks to the Lane Tech Administration; our very own Principal Thompson and our Assistant Principal Dr. Hanly; Department Chair Devon Morales; the rest of our Music Department; and Mr. Smith and the security staff.

Thanks for coming! Please check out our calendar for all upcoming dates!