PERFORMANCE SAMPLES
Joseph Wright
Tuba Concerto
Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872-1958)
2 - Romanza
Joseph Wright, Tuba
(Organ and string quartet and accompaniment arranged and conducted by Dr. Michael Monroe.)St. Paul's Episcopal Church, Bedford, MA
May 21, 2017
St. Paul's "Ascension Concert" was a celebration of that feast in a special afternoon with the music of Ralph Vaughn Williams, including this movement from his Tuba Concerto, "Lark Ascending" and his "Mystical Songs", with organ, strings, choir, and solists.
Having studied the concerto over the years, this was my first opportunity to perform part of it.
Chichester Overture
John O'Reilly (1940)
The Wood Hill/West Middle School Bands
Combined Sixth, Seventh, and Eighth Graders for the final number of the Spring concert.Wood Hill Middle School, Andover, MA
June 13, 2013
This concert was significant, because it would be the last in a ten year period of struggle for the Andover Bands in which there was no beginning band program until the middle schools. In order to have viable performances at that time, we were compelled to bring the bands from the two smaller middle schools (of three in Andover) together. One ray of hope was a slightly overcrowded stage (particularly in the percussion section) for the last combined number, and by this time looking forward to increased staffing and a resumption of elementary bands to begin in the new coming school year.
Can't Stop The Feeling
Timberlake, Martin, Schuster
Arranged for recorders and electronic accompaniment by Joseph WrightBancroft Third Grade Students
Bancroft Elementary School, Andover, MA
June 14, 2018
New staffing in 2013 required some new and creative scheduling, which ultimately resulted in my teaching recorders to third graders in one of Andover's five traditional elementary schools. From that first year, we established a now six-year tradition of "Recorder Flash Mobs", were approximately 100 students "sneak" their recorders into an (mostly) unsuspecting assembly and break into a piece of music for the school. This was from the Flag Day assembly in 2018, when we happened to be privileged to be joined by "Blades", the mascot for the NHL Boston Bruins. The song is always chosen by a special process mostly driven by the counsel of the students, and we work together on the arrangement. In this particular case, it worked out logistically best if the accompaniment was created via digital sequencing. The "Recorder Flash Mob" has become a much anticipated event at Bancroft School, and one of it worst kept secrets.
Concert Program Examples
These are two examples of concert programming. The first is from this past January at West Middle School, and the second is from "All Bands Night" in March of 2019, which is an annual vertical concert involving the bands from grades 4-12, including jazz and marching band.
A recent experiment has resulted in almost all concerts in our music department using an ecologically minded practice of projected program slides rather than paper. PDF copies of the slides are available to parents who wish to keep a record at home.
Please feel free to have a look at my school website, which would give you an updated look at what we are currenly doing, particularly amid the challenges of remote learning.