Hello, and welcome to our Guyer Orchestra Spring Concert.
This semester threw us a major curveball with Covid-19 and school closures/Distance Learning, but we still wanted to present a Spring Concert! The students got this music after the closure, therefore they had to learn it completely via Distance Learning. Learning to practice on their own using the tools we provided via assignments and our feedback and through SmartMusic, students were asked to record themselves while listening to a "click track". This is how all professional recordings are done (to a click track...not on iPhones at home! LOL) , so it provided students with some insight into this often-not-taught part of the music world! Having to get everything in "one take" while staying with the click track and trying to avoid making mistakes is not an easy task!
A small, very simplified glimpse into what went in to making this: Students got their music, and Mr. Atkins and I entered many of the pieces into a notation software called Finale in order to be able to upload it into Smartmusic for students to practice the pieces. Over the weeks, they would submit portions for us to listen and provide feedback. Mr. Atkins created "click tracks" for each piece that students would listen to in their headphones while recording their playing. They then uploaded their tracks into an online folder for us. Mr. Atkins, and Mrs. Hanlon with help from her husband, then took each file that a student turned in, made sure it was in a format that was compatible (or converted it), put it into audio software, lined up all of the parts (easier said than done), edited individual parts for any obvious mistakes (very time consuming), recorded parts ourselves when needed, balanced each section, then adjusted the balance of each orchestra as a whole, then fixed the EQ and added a touch of reverb to make it sound like a performance in a real hall. Thank you to all of the students who sent in recordings, and thank you to those students who sent in multiple "takes" to give us a little more to work with! I know that Mr. Atkins and I, along with my husband, put in easily upwards of 100 hours of work and I haven't even finished the Windmills video yet. (think happy thoughts for me!)
We miss making music together, so this was a labor of love for all of you.
Enjoy the "concert"!
-Michelle Hanlon
*Due to copyright restrictions, you must be logged in to your school g.dentonisd.org account in order to access these recordings. When the Windmills video is uploaded, we will post it here and will also email seniors a link so that if their g.dentonisd.org account no longer works, they will still be able to see it. Thank you!
We will start the show with Philharmonic playing music from DC Comics! This one goes out to all of the superheroes in our lives!!!!
themes from The Flash, DC Legends of Tomorrow, Arrow, and Supergirl
Blake Neely/arr. Douglas E. Wagner
Next up, Scherzo will perform music from the creepy favorite, Edward Scissorhands! Composer Danny Elfman is known for the music in many "darker" blockbusters, often working with Tim Burton to great success.
Themes from Edward Scissorhands
Danny Elfman/arr. Larry Moore
Now we have Cadenza playing music by the famous Argentinian tango composer Astor Piazzola. Enjoy Milonga del Angel.
Astor Piazzolla/ arr. Jim Palmer
In the Guyer Orchestra program, we try to give students a well-rounded musical education. This includes instruction in performance, basic music theory, music appreciation (in non-pandemic years), and the opportunity to explore composition. The following students were selected as our 1st and 2nd place winners for this year's competition and since we usually play the winner's composition at our Spring Concert, we are sharing the music files from the notation software they used to write the music. Sorry for not having "real" performances of these pieces, but I think you'll enjoy hearing the music they wrote! Congratulations, Peyton and Taylor!
Serenade for Strings and Harp in e minor, Finale
1st place winner of the 2020 Nigel Deane Composition Competition
Peyton Johnson (Intermezzo Junior)
2nd place winner of the 2020 Nigel Deane Composition Competition
Taylor Dickerson (Intermezzo Freshman)
Get your light sabres ready, because Intermezzo will be performing music from Star Wars:The Last Jedi!
John Williams/ arr. Larry Moore
Rhapsody tackled the beautiful and tricky piece "America" from the famous musical West Side Story! Enjoy!
America from "West Side Story"
Leonard Bernstein/Stephen Sondheim/arr. Stephen Bulla
Every year, we end our concert with two "all orchestras on stage" pieces. The first one on our program was arranged by our very own Jeremy Atkins. Selections from "Swan Lake", the beautiful ballet by Tchaikowsky.
Final Scene of Act 2
P Tchaikovsky/ Arr. Jeremy Atkins
The last piece on every Spring Orchestra Concert at Guyer High School has been The Windmills of Your Mind. Seniors move up to the front of the orchestra, and as we play, they can reflect on the many years they've spent in orchestra and what it has meant to them. I also enjoy looking out at all of the faces of students I have enjoyed teaching for four (or more!) years, and I get to conduct them all one more time. Obviously, I couldn't let this year end without doing something to create a meaningful musical moment for these students and their families, so I will be uploading the final video version of this year's performance, with videos from most seniors, as soon as I can finish it. These projects are a LOT to tackle and I am working hard to get the final product ready for you to see/hear.
from “The Thomas Crown Affair”
Dedicated to the 2020 Senior Class
Michel Legrand/Marilyn + Alan Bergman/Arr. Jaroslav Holesvsky
Thank you for coming to our virtual concert. We hope you enjoyed hearing the music and students, we hope you learned something from the experience and got something from the product! Miss you all!