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OU Music
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Well, yes, all the concerts for this academic year are over. But wouldn't you like one more chance to hear your fine OU Wind Symphony perform? Perhaps at a convenient time, like at noon on Wednesday, so you don't have to cancel evening plans? With both eclectic and familiar tunes, and maybe some chamber music because, well, why not chamber music?
As you may have guessed, you're in luck!
The Wind Symphony appears once again at 12:00 PM on April 30 in Catlett Music Center's Paul F. Sharp Concert Hall, in a Sutton series concert to help fulfill the Doctor of Musical Arts requirements for Russell T. Pettit and Debra L. Traficante, conducting students of Dr. Wakefield.
Russell will be conducting Peter Mennin's Canzona, Eric Leidzen's transcription of Wagner's Trauersinfonie, and Norman Dello Joio's 1963 classic Variants on a Mediæval Tune.
My personal favorite of the three is Dello Joio's Variants on a Mediæval Tune, which I had not heard performed in about ten years until the Symphony Band picked it up last year, and Russell brought it to the Wind Symphony this year as a challenge for his recital. Based on the medieval tune In Dulci Jubilo, better known tody as the hymn/Christmas carol Good Christian Men, Rejoice, the piece is a statement of the tune and a set of wildly divergent variations scored for maximum use of the full tonal range of the modern wind ensemble. At times it's lush and indulging its Christian overtones, and at other times private and almost exposed (if memory serves, the score calls for three "cornet" parts and two "trumpet" parts, so with five different high-brass lines, there's little room for error). Dello Joio reused some of the ideas a year later in his score for NBC's The Louvre, a color TV tour of that museum's treasures, the likes of which had never before been broadcast in the United States. Some of that, in turn, made it into his later classic band work Scenes From The Louvre, but the ideas started right here. It's both a personal and communal expression of the spirituality of a jubilant and reflective life. It's one of my all-time favorites.
Debra is conducting movements I, II, and IV of Vincent Persichetti's archetypal 1921 work Symphony No. 6 for Band, Op. 69, and ten movements of William Walton's…unique Façade, an Entertainment, also from 1921, with poems by Edith Sitwell, recited by Zachary Kropp.
It's hard to describe Façade without using the program notes, and that would be cheating, but it's definitely an interesting mid-week musical experience! (Hint: look at the page for Façade on the William Walton site and note that the title of the first setting that hasn't survived in its entirety is "Ass Face." They're not performing that one.) With classic English chamber music overtones for often-nonsensical poems commissioned by—let's face it—rich people who didn't have anything better to do until World War II reset Britain's priorities, Façade is both an energetic romp and quiet personal meditation, with expert recitation by young Mr. Kropp. It's definitely not your standard "band" fare, and it'll stay with you for a while (in a good way).
Admission is free, and both Debra and Russell (who were both also Pride of Oklahoma graduate assistants in 2007) would love to conduct for you, so take some extra time on Wednesday and get some classic band love before the semester ends!
Posted by Webmaster on 4/25/08; 4:37:10 AM
from the OU Music dept.
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 The Symphony Band and Concert Band present a memorial concert for hornist, Mady Byrne, who passed away suddenly in February on the scheduled date of ensembles’ first concert.
This final concert for the semester is presented on Monday, April 21, at 8:00 p.m, in the Paul F. Sharp Hall at Catlett Music Center on the University of Oklahoma Campus.
Concert Band selections include:
- West Highland Sojourn by Robert Sheldon
- Shenandoah by Frank Ticheli
- Journey into Diablo Canyon by David Shaffer
- Psalm 46 by John Zdechlik
- and Cheerio March by Edwin F. Goldman.
The Symphony Band, of which Mady was a member, performs:
- Boys of the Old Brigade March by W. Paris Chambers
- Laboring Songs by Dan Welcher
- Sanctuary by Frank Ticheli
- Flag of Stars by Gordon Jacob
- Blithe Bells by Percy Grainger
- and Niagara Falls by Michael Daugherty.
Concert admission is free. Click on the image of the poster to download a printable version [1.5MB PDF, contains a photograph of Mady Byrne] to post where people may gather.
Posted by Webmaster on 4/5/08; 9:14:24 PM
from the OU Music dept.
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 The Wind Symphony presents their final Sutton Series Concert for the spring on Monday, April 14, at 8:00 p.m., in Paul F. Sharp Hall. The program includes:
Norman Dello Joio's Variants on a Mediaeval Tune
John Adams' Lollapalooza
selections from William Walton’s Façade, an Entertainment
Russell Peck’s The Glory and Grandeur featuring three percussion soloists
and Carter Pann’s Slalom.
For tickets, please call the F.A.C.T.S. box office at 325-4101. Tickets prices for Sutton performances are $8 for adults and $5 for faculty, staff, students and seniors.
(Click on the image of the concert poster to get your own PDF version, suitable for printing, framing, or papering your office!)
Posted by Webmaster on 4/5/08; 8:55:21 PM
from the OU Music dept.
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With the server being down on Thursday and Friday (intermittently) for hardware upgrades, we didn't have a chance to post much about tonight's planned Symphony Band and Concert Band concert, but now comes word from the Band Department that it has been postponed. We don't know a lot of details, but we're told it likely won't be rescheduled for any time in the next two weeks.
We'll post more details as we can.
Posted by Webmaster on 2/25/08; 3:52:09 PM
from the OU Music dept.
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 The University of Oklahoma Wind Symphony has been selected to perform in concert for the 2008 Southwestern Division Conference of the College Band Directors National Association. "What is CBDNA," you ask?
CBDNA is comprised of college band conductors who focus on the advancement of bands through performance, teaching, and scholarly activity. National and regional conferences present the latest ideas and literature for the medium and are held in alternating years at selected sites. The University of Oklahoma hosted the regional conference in 1990 and 2000.
One week ahead of time, the Wind Symphony, under the direction of Dr. William K. Wakefield (with guest conductors and fellow OU band alumni Brian A. Britt and Jeff E. Jahnke), previews its CBDNA program in a Sutton Series concert: Thursday, February 21, at 8:00 PM in Sharp Concert Hall, located in the Catlett Music Center on the OU campus.
You can see the program here (PDF format). It includes symphonic wind classics like the Hunsberger transcription of Shostakovich's Festive Overture, Op. 96, the Leist and Goldman transcription of Johann Sebastian Bach's Fantasia in G Major, BWV 572, and a newer Mark Rogers version of Percy Grainger's Colonial Song.
But there's also plenty of new music, as well: Jonathan Newman's As the scent of spring rain… (2003), and the CBDNA premiere of Carter Pann's Four Factories (2006), which saw its Oklahoma debut under the Wind Symphony three months ago.
The Wind Symphony is also performing John Mackey's 2007 work Clocking, whose scheduled premiere in January 2007 by the Central Olkahoma Honor Band (CODA) was cancelled due to the ice storm, finally taking place just last month. The program closes with the latest work by honored wind composer Frank Ticheli, Wild Nights! (2007).
We hope everyone can turn out for this great concert on Thursday night. Tickets are $8 for adults, and $5 for students, faculty, staff, or senior citizens. Call the Fine Arts Campus Ticket Service (FACTS) at (405) 325-4101 for more information. We hope to see you there!
(For those of you in the Kansas City area, the concert for CBDNA is at 7:30 PM on Thursday, February 28, in the Conservatory of Music at the University of Missouri–Kansas City. We've placed both events on our Events calendar. Click on the poster above to get your own tabloid-sized copy of the poster to print out and hang around your office!
Posted by Webmaster on 2/17/08; 3:05:22 PM
from the OU Music dept.
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 Does the writers' strike have you down? Want to show some OU support during Centennial Week? Come see the concert performing ensembles from the OU Band Department in their final concert of the semester!
From the Band Department:
The Symphony Band and Wind Symphony present a concert of "Color and Light" on Monday, November 12, at 8:00 p.m., in Paul F. Sharp Hall. The Symphony Band performs Alfred Reed's Ramparts of Courage, Anton Bruckner's Christus Factus Est orchestrated by Norman resident Richard Thurston, Bob Margolis' Color, and Kenneth Alford's The Mad Major march.
The Wind Symphony program includes four movements from Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's Serenade No. 10, K.361 "Gran Partita", Paul Hindemith's Concert Music, Op. 41, Henry Purcell's Funeral Music of Queen Mary, which is transcribed and elaborated on by Pulitzer Prize winning composer Steven Stucky, and Carter Pann's Four Factories.
But wait—there's more!
The Wind Symphony presents an open rehearsal of Four Factories with prize-winning composer, Carter Pann, on Sunday evening from 8-10 p.m., in Paul F. Sharp Concert Hall. While visiting the University of Oklahoma, the composer will also present and discuss his ideas in a composer's forum hosted by Dr. Marvin Lamb on Monday, November 12, from 11:30 a.m. - 12:20 p.m., in Catlett Music Center, Room 014
Tickets for this Sutton Series concert are $8 for adults, and $5 for students, faculty, staff, and senior citizens. They're available at the box office in Catlett Music Center shortly before the performance, or in advance through the F.A.C.T.S. Fine Arts Ticket Service at (405) 325-4101.
Click here or on the poster to download a PDF file with two poster designs, including the one seen on the OU Bands Web site. Print them out; hang them around your office; mail them to your friends; decorate the cars of people who need more music in their lives. See you at the concert!
Posted by Webmaster on 11/7/07; 1:47:30 AM
from the OU Music dept.
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When people visit our little site from a search engine like Yahoo or Google, their question is usually provided when they click the link from the search engine. Unsurprisingly, we get a lot of people searching for common terms like "Sooners" and "OU Homecoming" and "Oklahoma Band," but some of the questions are topical, and we thought we'd take a minute and try to answer a few of them.
How many people are in the OU Band?
I believe that the 2007 Pride of Oklahoma has 310 members, let's say ±2%. This has been a typical size for the band in the past several years. Every member auditions every year (even section leaders, who audition in the spring semester as part of the leadership determination process).
Where does the OU band sit at the Texas game?
I actually did not know this, because you probably saw all the news stories saying that, "starting in 2007," OU and Texas would alternate end zones each year. But we asked, and after all of the press and confusion, this year the answer is—no change whatsoever. The Pride will sit in bleachers on the stadium surface in the corner of the "South" end zone at the Cotton Bowl, just to your right as you come out of the tunnel. The Show Band of the Southwest occupies similar seats on the same sideline but behind the other ("north") end zone. In other words, it's just like it has been for the past several years. (The seats in the Cotton Bowl stadium were removed this year and replaced with benches, but the bands don't occupy any of them.)
What are the lyrics to O.K. Oklahoma?
The full lyrics to O.K. Oklahoma are found on this page, where you'll also find the story of the song, and a recording of its first-even performance on the NBC Red Radio Network from December 1, 1939.
Where can I find the trumpet part to Boomer Sooner?
Members of OUBAA can find parts to Boomer on this page. We have parts to some of the spirit tunes available here to assist Alumni Band members who want to practice before homecoming. However, these arrangements belong to the University of Oklahoma, and they're not licensed for other uses or performances. If your group is interested in recordings or sheet music of OU-specific spirit songs, contact the OU Band Department for details on what is available.
Where is The Pride performing in Dallas this year?
The full Texas trip schedule has not been announced, but we're told that The Pride will rehearse Friday morning in Pauls Valley, and perform Friday Night at a high school football game in Carrolton, among other pep and OU alumni events. The best way to keep track of public Pride performances (at least, the ones we track) is to check out our Events calendar. You can subscribe to it in iCal (Mac OS X) or Windows (Vista) Calendar and get all the latest updates automatically. Instructions are on the page. We'll update it with details of Texas performances as they're made available.
I don't like the ads.
That's not a question. Either way, the answer is to log in, or join the site by registering (it's free). Logged-in members do not see the ads, and can also comment, access the sheet music, and generally get more free things. Consider it a nudge.
Thanks for visiting the site, and keep your eye on the Homecoming 2007 News.
Posted by Webmaster on 9/28/07; 4:01:38 PM
from the Gameday, OU Music, Pride of Oklahoma dept.
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If you're playing at Homecoming 2007 and want to practice, here's a reminder about where to find three of the rah-rahs:
You are not logged in right now, so you'll need either to log in, or join the site by registering to see this information, but it's quick and free, so join us now!
Posted by Webmaster on 9/28/07; 3:34:25 PM
from the Homecoming 2007, OU Music dept.
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 The Wind Symphony and Symphony Band present a combined concert on Thursday, September 27, at 8:00 p.m. in Paul F. Sharp Hall of Catlett Music Center.
The program of "Tributes and Treasures" includes the Symphony Band performing Cajun Folk Songs II by Frank Ticheli, Fanfare and Flourishes by James Curnow, Prelude in the Dorian Mode by Antonio de Cabezon, and Solid Men to the Front by John Philip Sousa. We don't want to spoil anything, but one of these is rumored to be a march.
The Wind Symphony program features Festive Overture by Dmitri Shostakovich (the Hunsberger transcription), Black Dog for solo clarinet and Wind Ensemble by Scott McAlister, with featured soloist Christina Giacona, a DMA student of Dr. David Etheridge. The progrma also includes Fantasia in G by J. S. Bach, Divertimento by Vincent Persichetti, and Slava! by Leonard Bernstein.
As part of the Sutton Series at the University of Oklahoma School of Music, tickets are $8 for adults, and $5 for students, faculty, staff, or senior citizens. Tickets are available at the Fine Arts Box Office in Catlett Music Center, or from the F.A.C.T.S. Ticket Service at (405) 325-4101. Come join the band department and support the band students in an evening of tributes and treasures! Click on the poster image above for your own printable PDF poster to hang around your office.
Posted by Webmaster on 9/23/07; 9:09:13 PM
from the OU Music dept.
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 Please join the OU Symphony and Concert Bands for the final concert of the 2006-2007 academic year on Monday, April 23, 8:00 PM, in the Paul F. Sharp Concert Hall in Catlett Music Center on the OU campus. The concert is free! Click on the graphic to download a PDF version of the poster with the program, or click here to download a high-quality (10MB) printable version.
The Concert Band, directed by Jeff Jahnke, is open to all university students, who audition solely for chair placement. It's a spring semester-only ensemble, and provides many members of The Pride with the opportunity to keep their musical chops in shape during the long non-football season.
The Symphony Band, directed by Brian Britt, is a year-round seventy-piece ensemble comprised of talented undergraduates who earn membership on the basis of audition. The program includes works by Alfred Reed and Aaron Copland. Also of note: the 1982 Igor Fantasy by the Dean of OU's College of Fine Arts, Dr. Marvin Lamb; and Paul Hindemith's Symphony in B♭ - yes, the entire symphony.
Come on out and enjoy this free concert by the band department to end the academic year on a (no pun intended) high note. See you there!
Posted by Webmaster on 4/19/07; 8:33:11 PM
from the OU Music dept.
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 Put those numbers aside and join the OU Wind Symphony for the final concert of the 2006-2007 academic year on Monday night, April 16, in the Paul F. Sharp Concert Hall at 8:00 PM.
This Sutton Series concert includes John Mackey's Redline Tango, C.L. Barnhouse's The Battle of Shiloh, the Lucien Calliet transcription of Richard Wagner's Elsa's Procession to the Cathedral from Lohengrin (one of Bill Wakefield's favorites), and Morton Gould's Symphony for Band (one of Gene Thrailkill's favorites).
Need more music? The Jazz Bands perform in a Sutton Series concert the following night (same bat-time, same bat-concert hall), and the Symphony Band and Concert Bands present their final concert a week later, on Monday, April 23 (more on that later in the week). Want to know more about all of this faster? Check out the OU Bands Web site and subscribe to the RSS feed.
Or check out the entire OU School of Music calendar to find even more gems, like the Tuesday noon recital by the Sooner Bassooners! (I can't make this stuff up, folks. Remember what Professor Peter Schickele once said: "Chopin once said that the only thing more beautiful than the sound of a guitar was the sound of two guitars. So, it seems not unreasonable to ask, what sounds more beautiful than two guitars? Four bassoons, right?")
Sutton series concert admission is $8, or $5 for students, faculty, staff, and senior citizens. We hope to see you there!
Posted by Webmaster on 4/15/07; 1:52:43 AM
from the OU Music dept.
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Dear Alumni:
I hope you will join us for a rare opportunity to hear all three concert bands on Monday, February 19. Please note the special concert time of 7:00 p.m. Thank you!
 University of Oklahoma Bands present
"GIFTS, ELEGIES, and GARDENS"
Monday, February 19
Paul F. Sharp Hall
Catlett Music Center
500 West Boyd Street
Norman, OK
7:00 p.m. Concert Band
Jeff Jahnke, conductor
John Pasquale, guest conductor
The Corcoran Cadets - John Philip Sousa
Concord - Clare Grundman
Simple Gifts - Four Shaker Songs - Frank Ticheli
7:30 p.m. Symphony Band
Brian Britt, conductor
Jeff Jahnke, conductor
Beltway Jam - Jack Stamp
American Elegy - Frank Ticheli
Variants on a Mediaeval Tune - Norman Dello Joio
Rolling Thunder - Henry Fillmore
8:15 p.m. Wind Symphony
William Wakefield, conductor
John Pasquale, guest conductor
Christopher Evans, guest conductor
Circus Polka - Igor Stravinsky
Gumsucker's March - Percy Grainger
A Child's Garden of Dreams - David Maslanka
Galop - Dmitri Shostakovich
Posted by William K. Wakefield on 2/5/07; 12:38:59 PM
from the OU Music dept.
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Many of you know Jeremy Gossett, the young man who's been the announcer for the Pride of Oklahoma for the past five years. (Due to scheduling conflicts, he wasn't at homecoming this year - that was our old friend John McCormick stepping back in, but Jeremy did the others, including the Centennial halftime in 2004.) He also produced and directed the 58-minute film Legacies and Friends: the 2005 Pride of Oklahoma that was announced here last August and available on video. It was also shown this past weekend at the Trail Dance Film Festival in Duncan.
If you follow the Fox television series American Idol, you may also have seen reports about the "Oklahoma Five" - five OU students who traveled to the San Antonio auditions for the show last August (about the same time Legacies and Friends was being shown!) and who all made it to final auditions in front of judges Simon Cowell, Paula Abdul, and Randy Jackson. Due to agreements with Fox and 19 (the producers of Idol), they're not allowed to say how those auditions went until the show with that day's auditions.
[Update: Fox has now, for reasons known only to Fox, moved the San Antonio audition show to Tuesday, February 6, at 7PM CST ("Auditions No. 7: San Antonio"). The show on as I update this (Wed 31 Jan, 8 PM CST) has auditions from Los Angeles. Dang!]
And you're probably already ahead of me - the link in this article takes you to a Duncan Banner newspaper article pointing out that our Jeremy Gossett is the brother of recent OU vocal music education alumnus Laura Gossett, who is one of Idol's "Oklahoma Five!"
So if you're watching Idol on Wednesday night, there are five OU music students to root for: Heather Appel, Grant Fisher, Tony Foster, Michael Preston, and Laura Gossett. My news spies are good, but I can't tell you if any of the other four are or were in The Pride (cross-overs at OU between vocal and instrumental performance are reasonably common), but I still thought this was a fun family connection worth sharing! Yay Gossetts!
Posted by Webmaster on 1/29/07; 2:21:50 AM
from the Alumni sightings, OU Music, Pride of Oklahoma dept.
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 Got the Thanksgiving week blahs? Can't stand even one more hour of Deal Or No Deal? Want to support the students in The Pride and the rest of the OU School of Music?
Come to the band concert tonight (Monday, November 20) at Catlett Music Center!
This final concert of the fall semester includes both of the band department's symphonic wind ensembles. The Wind Symphony, directed by Dr. William K. Wakefield and with guest conductors John Pasquale and Eric Eaks, will perform Strauss' Serenade in E-flat, Opus 7, a brand new transcription (not the old warhorse Carl Fischer one) of the overture to Verdi's La Forza del Destino, the full Hindemith Symphonic Metamorphosis on Themes of Weber, and the premiere of a brand new march by OCU composition professor Ray Luke, The Oklahoman, commissioned by and named for the newspaper of the same name. (Don't laugh - if you were in Wind Ensemble in 1986, you probably remember that Sousa's famous The Washington Post march was an entry in a contest by that newspaper. It won a prize of something like $5!)
Brian Britt and Jeff Jahnke conduct the Symphony Band in some great 20th-century classics for winds: Norman Dello Joio's Scenes from "The Louvre", John Barnes Chance's Elegy, the overture to Leonard Bernstein's Candide, as well as Sousa's The Gallant Seventh March. It's enough top-notch music to carry you right through the holiday sale ads on TV that started six weeks ago.
The concert begins at 8:00 PM in the Paul F. Sharp Concert Hall at Catlett Music Center, at 500 W. Boyd (the corner of Boyd and Elm) in Norman. Tickets to this Sutton Series concert are $8 for adults, and $5 for students, seniors, and OU faculty and staff. We hope to see you there! Click on the poster image to download your own 11 X 17 PDF poster to print and hand out today, too!
Update: If you absolutely can't get to Sharp Hall tonight, the concert will be streamed over the Web starting at 7:55 PM. Click here to watch, but make sure you have QuickTime installed. (If you're using any Mac released since 1991 or any PC that has iTunes, you have QuickTime installed; if not, you can get it for free here.)
Posted by Webmaster on 11/20/06; 12:54:53 AM
from the OU Music dept.
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 The University Band department presents its first full symphonic concert of the semester next Monday, October 16. Starting Homecoming Week with the concert ensembles on stage has become something of a tradition, and this year's edition looks like another winner. From the OU Bands Web site:
The Symphony Band presents Noisy Wheels of Joy by Eric Whitacre, Second Suite in F by Gustav Holst, Salvation is Created by Pavel Chesnokov, and Bullets and Bayonets by John Philip Sousa. The Wind Symphony presents the American premiere of Eric Champagne'’s Champ-de-Mars, By day of Light, which was recently selected winner of the Michael Hennagin Prize, Lincolnshire Posy by Percy Grainger, Contre qui, Rose by Morten Lauridsen, Inglesina by Davide Delle Cese, and A Slavic Farewell by Vasiliev Agapkin.
The Symphony Band is directed by Brian Britt and Jeff Jahnke; the Wind Symphony is under the direction of Dr. William K. Wakefield and features guest conductor Christopher Evans. This Sutton Series concert begins at 8:00 PM on Monday, October 16, in the Paul F. Sharp Concert Hall at Catlett Music Center at 500 W. Boyd, at the northwest corner of the main OU campus. Admission is $8 for adults, and $5 for students, faculty, staff, and senior citizens.
If you're in the Norman area, come see the current generation of OU wind musicians on stage, including dozens of Pride of Oklahoma members, in a challenging and enjoyable concert to kick off homecoming week! Click on the image above for your own printable copy of the concert poster, too.
Posted by Webmaster on 10/10/06; 10:58:49 AM
from the Homecoming 2006, OU Music dept.
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Former Pride announcer Ryan and OU music professors Rath and Matlick earn local honors next week:
[The honorees] all are involved in making art a bigger part of our lives in Norman and all will be honored Thursday at the annual Fall Arts Luncheon, hosted by the Business and the Arts Committee of the Norman Chamber of Commerce.
… Ryan served as the PA announcer for The Pride of Oklahoma and later OU football games at Owen Field. He is an audio engineer, mixing and making sure the audience can enjoy the performances, whether it is a sporting event broadcast by ESPN or Fox Sports, musical theatre from the Lyric or the sounds of the OKC Philharmonic. Anyone who has been to a concert or musical in the Oklahoma City-Norman area or watched a Sooner football or basketball game on ESPN has experienced the purity of sound by Ryan.
He has begun teaching classes at OU in the Weitzenhoffer College of Fine Arts, passing his talents on to the next generation of audio engineers. He continues his teaching schedule despite travel all over the country to work for the networks of ESPN and Fox. He also has volunteered his talents since the beginning to do the audio production at the annual Sullivan Family Concert.
Rath, an associate professor of bassoon at OU, is the founding member of Midlife Crysis. He also is the principal bassoon for the OKC Philharmonic. While he dreamed of bringing The Beatles to his classes, he has been bringing 1964 - The Tribute to Norman for 15 years.
Another OU professor of music, Matlick developed an interest in art as a 15-year-old. When he was a senior in high school, he began to get calls to play as an extra horn with the Louisville Orchestra. He spends his time these days teaching at OU and performing with the OKC Philharmonic, the Oklahoma Brass and Woodwind quintet and solo recitals in addition to his gigs as the bass guitarist with Midlife Crysis.
(Via the Norman Transcript.)
Posted by Webmaster on 9/30/06; 11:23:56 AM
from the Alumni sightings, OU Music dept.
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A non-traditional community band sponsored by the OU Band Department:
New Horizons Band concert * The band is made up of continuing education students. * The concert is 8 p.m. Tuesday in the Paul F. Sharp Concert Hall.* Musical pieces will include marches and folk songs.
An interesting note:
They will play a march, folk songs and a "Serenade for a Picket Fence," written by Norman Leyden.
"Serenade for a Picket Fence" will be a special feature during the concert, showcasing Brian Britt, associate director of bands and assistant professor of music with the Pride of Oklahoma, and Dr. Lance Drege, director of percussion.
(Via The Oklahoma Daily.)
Posted by Webmaster on 5/4/06; 11:32:58 PM
from the OU Music dept.
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 Please join the OU Wind Symphony on Monday night, April 24, for a special Sutton Series concert in Sharp Hall at Catlett Music Center on the OU Campus. OU's premiere symphonic wind group will perform Aaron Copland's Old American Songs with guest vocal performance by OU vocal performance faculty member Kim Josephson. The concert also includes Copland's Outdoor Overture, and Ottorino Resphigi's famous The Pines of Rome.
The Wind Symphony also welcomes the Marcus High School Wind Symphony to the stage, under the direction of Amanda Drinkwater, for performances of Michael Daugherty's Bells for Stokowski, the Finale from Charles Ives's Symphony No. 2, and Prokofiev's March, Op. 99. It's a full evening of music for an $8 ticket (students and seniors, $5). Click the image to download your own full-size 11" X 17" PDF poster for the concert, or click here to download a 25% (5.5" X 8.5") grayscale poster suitable for any laser printer.
On Tuesday night, the Symphony Band and Concert Band take the stage, directed by Brian Britt. We have no performance details at this time, but we know that both bands put on a great concert in February, and that like that concert, admission to this one is free. Show up
Posted by Webmaster on 4/20/06; 4:32:53 PM
from the OU Music dept.
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 All three of the OU Band Department's concert wind ensembles are performing in concert early next week, so if you're in Norman, come by Catlett Music Center to hear what's going on.
The Wind Symphony, under the direction of Dr. Wakefield, is performing at 8:00 PM on Monday, February 27, in Catlett's Sharp Hall. The program includes the third movement of Symphony No. 2 by David Maslanka, Donald Grantham's Southern Harmony (a fantastic series of vignettes based on old Southern spirituals found in a 19th century book of the same name), the Florentiner march by Fucik (under guest conductor John Pasquale), and Ron Nelson's Courtly Airs and Dances. As a Sutton Series concert, admission is $8, or $5 for students, staff, or faculty.
 On Tuesday, February 28, the Concert Band and Symphony Bands, both under the baton of Brian Britt, perform in Sharp Hall, also at 8:00 PM. The Concert Band is open to all students who wish to play, and offers a program that includes Jay Chattaway's Parade of the Tall Ships and James Curnow's Festivity. Guest conductor Christopher Evans also directs the band in a performance of Hugh M. Stuart's Three Ayres from Glouchester.
The Symphony Band, an audition-required ensemble, has a program that includes Ron Nelson's Lauds, Martin Ellerby's Paris Sketches, and Sound Off by John Philip Sousa. Guest conductor Erik Eaks takes the podium for Eric Whitacre's luscious new orchestration of his own work Lux Aurumque. (You can download an MP3 recording of Lux Aurumque here, courtesy of the composer.) The program also Admission to the combined Symphony Band and Concert Band concert is free.
We hope to see you at one or both concerts!
Posted by Webmaster on 2/24/06; 11:50:23 PM
from the OU Music dept.
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Alumni who live in or near Norman might consider the New Horizons Band at OU, which rehearses in our very own Band Room, as a way to stay in practice. It was profiled in Monday's Oklahoman:
The band is open to anyone, including people who have never played an instrument and those who haven't played since junior high or high school. And there is no need to worry about a dreadful audition. There isn't one.
Michael Raiber, assistant professor of music education at the University of Oklahoma, coordinates the program.
[…]Most of the New Horizons Band members are ages 50 to 85. The OU music education students who teach them are age 21.
Raiber said the matchup is an interesting, successful sociological arrangement that is beneficial to both groups. The band is an outlet for senior players and offers an opportunity for young OU students who plan to teach junior high and high school band.
Do you know of other alumni-friendly ensembles? Post your comments with the 'Discuss' link below.
Posted by Webmaster on 1/30/06; 2:09:51 PM
from the OU Music dept.
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 The OU Wind Symphony performs its final concert of the fall semester on Monday, November 21, at 8:00 PM, in the Paul F. Sharp Concert Hall at OU's Catlett Music Center.
Under the direction of Dr. William K. Wakefield, Director of University Bands, and guest conductor Christopher J. Evans, the Wind Symphony will perform Prokofiev's March, Op. 99, Carl Maria von Weber's Concertino for Clarinet (with featured faculty soloist Dr. David Etheridge), Bernstein's Profanation (from the Jeremiah symphony), Frank Ticheli's Apollo Unleashed (from his Symphony No. 2), Percy Grainger's Over the Hills and Far Away (Children's March), and John Philip Sousa's Glory of the Yankee Navy.
The concert is part of the School of Music's Sutton Series; tickets are $8 for adults, and $5 for students, faculty, staff, and seniors. Tickets are available in advance from the OU School of Music Ticket Office, or just before the performance.
Click on the thumbnail to download your own PDF version of the poster for this concert to print out and post where people might see it, and come out on November 21 to support the band program!
Posted by Webmaster on 11/14/05; 12:40:02 AM
from the OU Music dept.
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 (Updated with program details)
The final concert in the Centennial Celebration academic year comes on Thursday, April 21, in Catlett Music Center's main venue, Paul F. Sharp Concert Hall. Attendees will hear the Concert Band, directed by Michael Boone with guest conductors Michael Raiber and John Si Millican. The Concert Band features many Pride members, performing a program of contemporary wind literature that includes Fisher Tull's Introit, Alfred Reed's The King of Love My Shepherd Is, and John Zdechlik's Celebrations.
That's followed by the Symphony Band, under the direction of Brian Britt and guest conductor John Pasquale. The Symphony Band is a smaller group performing some difficult literature, including Roger Nixon's Fiesta Del Pacifico, and Charles Ives's Old Home Days (with guest conductor John Pasquale). The program closes with the March from Paul Hindemith's Symphonic Metamorphosis, a piece so difficult that in some states, boxes of antihistamine read "Do not drive, operate heavy machinery, or perform the Symphonic Metamorphosis while taking this medication."
The concert begins at 8:00 PM, April 21. Admission is free, so if you're free, come support current OU student musicians in their final performance of the academic year. (There may be a recital with band performances we can tell you about shortly, and if so, we'll update.) Click on the poster to download a printable PDF version for yourself and share it with your friends!
Posted by Webmaster on 4/20/05; 11:05:02 AM
from the OU Music dept.
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 The OU Wind Symphony performs live in concert Monday April 11, so don't suffer a Monday night of reruns on TV! The program includes Bach's Come Sweet Death in memory of the late Dr. Frederick Fennell, Saint Saens's Marche Militaire Francaise, David Del Tredici's In Wartime, and Elgar's famous Engima Variations.
Click on the picture to download your own PDF poster for this 100th anniversary season Sutton Series concert. The performance is in Sharp Hall, Catlett Music Center, at 8 PM. Admission to all Sutton Series concerts is $8 for adults, and $5 for students, faculty, staff, and senior citizens.
Check out the OU School of Music calendar for more performances. The Symphony Band and Concert Band perform next week, and we'll post details shortly.
Posted by Webmaster on 4/10/05; 11:01:28 PM
from the OU Music dept.
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 Mark your calendars again for the other two University of Oklahoma symphonic wind groups in concert on Thursday, February 24. The Symphony Band, under the direction of Brian Britt and guest conductor Christopher Evans, will perform selections including Shostakovich's Galop and Who Puts His Trust in God Most Just, a stunning Bach vocal-instrumental chorale arranged by Dr. James Croft.
 The Concert Band, directed by Michael Boone with guest conductor John Pasquale, will perform a rare Sousa march and other contemporary band literature. Both groups perform on the same concert at 8:00 PM, February 24, in Catlett Music Center's main venue, Paul F. Sharp Concert Hall. Admission is free, so come support current OU student musicians as they perform! Click on either poster to get your own printable PDF version, too.
Posted by Webmaster on 2/17/05; 8:20:16 PM
from the OU Music dept.
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 Mark your calendars for Wednesday, 16 February 2005, when the OU Wind Symphony performs in concert. The program includes Giannini's Symphony No. 3 (some alumni may remember playing at least the 4th movement of that one), as well as OU tuba instructor Brian K. Dobbins performing Ralph Vaughan Williams's Concerto for Bass Tuba with the ensemble, and John Pasquale conducting Wagner's Trauermusik.
Click on the picture to download your own PDF poster for this 100th anniversary season Sutton Series concert. The performance is in Sharp Hall, Catlett Music Center, at 8 PM. Admission to all Sutton Series concerts is $8 for adults, and $5 for students, faculty, staff, and senior citizens. (Check out the OU School of Music calendar for more performances.)
Posted by Webmaster on 2/3/05; 10:48:10 AM
from the OU Music dept.
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This Page was last updated: Friday, April 25, 2008 at 4:37:10 AM
This page was originally posted: 5/2/08; 12:47:44 PM
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