Conductor
H e c t o r G a r c i a , a native of San Antonio, Texas, is currently Assistant Director of Athletic Bands at UTSA and is the conductor of the UTSA University Band as well as the director of the UTSA Athletic Pep Band.
Hector graduated with a master's degree in instrumental conducting from the University of Texas at San Antonio in 2023 under the mentorship of Dr. John Zarco and Ron Ellis. While a graduate student at UTSA, Hector performed with the UTSA Wind Symphony and was a teaching assistant for several undergraduate courses including Conducting I & II, Marching Band Techniques, Wind Symphony, and Symphonic Band.
Prior to attending UTSA, Hector taught brass/woodwind beginning band classes, marching band, concert band, and jazz band at the high school and middle school levels for three years. He received a bachelor's degree in music studies from Texas State University in 2017. Hector’s professional affiliations include Texas Music Educators Association and Kappa Kappa Psi. Some of his hobbies include photography, traveling, and doing card tricks for those around him. Fun fact: his favorite food is sushi!
Program Notes
Compiled and Edited by Hector Garcia
A f f i r m a t i o n by Randall Standridge. This one is for all the outcasts, the geeks, the marginalized, the wallflowers, and the people who are "different." Every once in a while, I believe you get to "say something" with a piece of music. When I was in High School, I was definitely NOT one of the popular crowd. My tastes in music, art, and movies were too weird. I was awkward. I was not a very attractive guy. Generally, I was that "gay, artsy kid.” If I could go back in time, I would give that younger me a hug and say "you are FINE the way you are. You are AMAZING." This new work, A f f i r m a t i o n , commissioned by the Barrington Middle School Band and their director, Mr. David Triplett-Rosa, is an anthem for all the kids who ever felt like they didn't belong. A huge thank you again to David and the band for letting me write this work and trusting me with its message. It would have been easy to write something soft, lyrical, and saccharine, but I wanted to take a different approach... l wanted it to be a celebration. This is the single happiest thing I have ever written in my career. So this one goes out to the band geeks, the nerdy kids, the art kids, the drama kids, the punk rockers, the LGBTQA+ kids, the kids of color, and all the people (kids and adults) who have ever been made to feel "less than" because of who they are. You are beautiful. You are JUST FINE the way you are. And you are WORTH celebrating. Be 100% you. Peace, Love, and Music.
[Program note score.]
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A T r i p w i r e is a low-bearing laser or string that sets off an explosion, trap, or alarm when touched. This piece follows a team of bandits who must escape a secret hideout without being detected or tripping the wire.
J a R o d H a l l (b. 1991) is a Texas-native composer, educator, conductor, and DFW-based freelance tubist/trombonist. He holds a Bachelor of Music Education degree from the University of North Texas where he studied tuba with Don Little and conducting with Dr. Nicholas Williams and Dennis Fisher. While at North Texas, JaRod performed with the North Texas Wind Symphony, was a featured soloist with the Symphonic Band on the recorded album Jingle Them Bells, performed in the 3 O'Clock Lab Band, served as drum major for the Green Brigade Marching Band and conductor of the 2013 Crossmen Drum and Bugle Corps, and played tuba/bass trombone in the 2014 Disneyland All-American College Band. He has additionally performed with the Carrollton Wind Symphony, Metropolitan Winds, and Texas All-State Symphonic Band (2007-09) and Jazz Band (2010).
As an educator, JaRod's ensembles are perennial sweepstakes winners at the Texas UIL Concert and Sight-Reading contest; recently, his band at Griffin Middle School was awarded the Citation of Excellence, honoring the top non-varsity bands in the state of Texas. JaRod's students have premiered many of his compositions and arrangements for young band.
[Program note score.)
A m e r i c a n R i v e r s o n g s is based on traditional and composed music of an earlier time when the rivers and waterways were the lifelines of a growing nation. A m e r i c a n R i v e r s o n g s begins with a rousing setting of "Down the River," followed by an expansive and dramatic treatment of "Shenandoah," or "Across The Wide Missouri," as it is sometimes called. After a brief transition, a brass band is heard playing a quadrille-like version of Stephen Foster's "The Glendy Burk." As the "Glendy Burk" travels along, a second theme is introduced by piccolo, flutes, and tambourine. The second theme is based on a Creole bamboula tune that probably originated in the Louisiana delta region. Other composers have used this melody, including Louis Moreau Gottschalk in his La Bamboula, Op. 2 for piano and his Symphony No. 1, subtitled A Night in the Tropics. The bamboula theme is marked by an incessant syncopated ragtime rhythm and used to good effect in the coda to bring A m e r i c a n R i v e r s o n g s to a rowdy, foot-stomping close!
Pierre La Plante, of French-Canadian descent, was born in Milwaukee and grew up in Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin. He attended the University of Wisconsin at Madison, where he received his Bachelor and Master of Music degrees. His many years of teaching at the elementary through college levels include classroom, vocal and instrumental music. Mr. La Plante is a bassoonist and has been a member of the Dubuque Symphony, the Madison Theatre Guild Orchestra, and the Unitarian Society Orchestra. He currently performs with the Beloit-Janesville Symphony. Pierre, his wife Laurie, and their daughters Amy and Elizabeth, live in Blanchardville, Wisconsin.
[Program note from score.]
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Percy Aldridge Grainger’s folk-song settings are nothing short of legendary. In Y e B a n k s a n d B r a e s O ’ B o n n i e D o o n , Grainger succeeds not only in capturing the essence of a song, but also infusing the work with captivating charm, piquant harmonies, and resplendent sonorities. Only two seventeen-measure strophes in length, this relatively simple setting features a drone background, a tender countermelody, and tempo rubato. Grainger’s original musical adventure with this song was penned some 34 years earlier, for “men’s chorus and whistlers,” but he has surely eclipsed that original version in this work for the wind band, which was for him a “vehicle of deeply emotional expression.”
[Program note by Brian Casey from windrep.org]
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While composing S u n D a n c e , I was consciously attempting to evoke a feeling: bright joy. After completing the work, I found that the music began to suggest a more concrete image a town festival on a warm, sunwashed day. I imagined townspeople gathered in the park, some in small groups, some walking hand in hand, others dancing to the music played by a small band under a red gazebo. Throughout the composition process, I carefully balanced the songlike and dancelike components of "bright joy." The oboe's gentle statement of the main melody establishes the work's songlike characteristics, while in the work's middle section, a lyrical theme of even greater passion appears. Several recurring themes are indeed more vocal than instrumental in nature.
The work's dancelike qualities are enhanced by a syncopated rhythmic figure This figure is used not only in the main melody, but also as a structural building block for virtually everything in the piece, including other melodies, accompaniment figures, and episodes.
[Program note by the composer.]
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“We must accept finite disappointment, but never lose infinite hope.” - Martin Luther King, Jr.
Inspired by the juxtaposition of uncertainty and boundless optimism, I n f i n i t e H o p e seeks to forge a path of faith, trust, belief, and assurance amidst a world of chaos. It reminds us that hopes and dreams are all around us, and that, as Robert Fulghum said, "...hope always triumphs over experience." At some point in life, most of us experience moments that truly test our resolve - either as individuals or as a society. Despite those tests, we can always look inward and outward - and refuel on the hopes within ourselves and in others, And in that very moment, we find ourselves sharing in the magic of infinite hope.
I n f i n i t e H o p e was commissioned in honor of the 70th anniversary of Texas Bandmasters Association. It was premiered by the United States Coast Guard Band at the TBA Convention in San Antonio, TX. [Program note from the score]
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Special thanks to the following for their ongoing support and dedication to the UTSA Bands:
Dr. Tracy Cowden, Director, School of Music
Dr. Stacey Davis, Acting Director, School of Music
Dr. Kasandra Keeling, Associate Director, School of Music
Prof. Ron Ellis, Director of Bands
Dr. John Zarco, Director of Instrumental Ensembles
Naomy Ybarra, Administrative Services Officer 1
Steven Hill, Administrative Associate
Wesley Penix, Senior Events Manager
Rolando Ramon, Marketing Coordinator
Mr. Donald Marchand, Music Program Specialist, UTSA Bands
Prof. Sherry Rubins and Prof. Paul Millette, Percussion Area Faculty
Dr. Rachel Woolf and Dr. Oswaldo Zapata, Woodwind and Brass Area Coordinators
Prof. Troy Peters, Director of Orchestras
Dr. Yoojin Muhn, Director of Choral Activities
Dr. Jordan Boyd, Assistant Director of Choral Activities
UTSA School of Music Faculty
Jordan Rodriguez and Jared Worman, School of Music Librarians
UTSA Band Managers
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Monday, February 26, 2024 – Guest Artist: James Scott & Nadia Soree
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