CHOOSE JOY
WHITWORTH CONCERT BAND
Kyla Fague, conductor
WHITWORTH
JAZZ ENSEMBLE II
Christopher Parkin, director
Whitworth Concert Band and Jazz Ensemble II
Tuesday, April 25, 2023 | 8 p.m.
Whitworth University
Cowles Auditorium
PROGRAM
WHITWORTH CONCERT BAND
Kyla Fague, conductor
Choose Joy Randall D. Standridge
The Spirit of Aloha Brian Balmages
Elements (Petite Symphony) Brian Balmages
I. Air
II. Water
III. Earth
IV. Fire
Arabian Dances Brian Balmages
- INTERMISSION -
WHITWORTH JAZZ ENSEMBLE II
Christopher Parkin, director
Summertime George Gershwin
Arr. Michael Sweeney
What the World Needs Now Burt Bacharach
Arr. Larry Panella
Footprints Wayne Shorter
Arr. Bob Mintzer
A Night in Tunisia Dizzy Gillespie
Arr. Christopher Parkin
Choose Joy
Choose Joy is part of the unBroken Project, which is a series of pieces for band by Randall Standridge that deal with mental health struggles. Currently, there are five works in the series, each for a different grade level: unBroken, Choose Joy, (not) Alone, Blue Sky Horizon and Fragile. The composer hopes to add at least two more compositions to the project. Choose Joy is dedicated to Nicole Crandall, whose story is told below. It uses elements of Beethoven’s Ode to Joy along with a five-note motif representing the five members of Nicole’s immediate family. A trio is heard near the beginning, representing Nicole and her siblings; the parts have been written for the instruments they played in band (flute, clarinet and saxophone). The work alternates between a rhythmic and joyful intensity and a more nostalgic and bittersweet lyrical moment in the middle. There are moments of happiness, humor, worry, pain and determination.
The composer writes, “Commissions can take many forms. I have written pieces that celebrate special occasions, I have written works that tackle serious issues, I have created commissioned pieces that commemorate historical events, and I have written commissions that encouraged me to just play around in my imagination. I have also written too many that are memorial works. Each piece of this type is a reminder to me (and, I hope, to the audience and performers) that time is our greatest gift and most valuable asset, and we are always spending it, whether we intend to or not. When we ask someone for their hand in marriage, we are asking for and offering our most reassured possession. Our time. Our lives. When we choose a profession, we are agreeing to dedicate our time to this. When we lose someone, we are simultaneously grateful for the time we have had with them and grieving for that time being depleted. We may never get time back. Ever.
“In May 2021, I was approached by Joe Glass of Salyards Middle School about a commission. Joe asked if I might be interested in a new commission, but that the circumstances were somewhat unusual. It is with his permission and the permission of the family involved that I am sharing these details. He told me about Nicole Crandall, a recent graduate from the high school that Joe’s program feeds and his former student. Nicole had been battling Level 4 Glioblastoma, a very aggressive form of brain cancer. She was then 20 years old and had been moved into hospice care. To celebrate her, they have asked that I create a work in her honor. Illness is the thief of time.
“In spite of this, Nicole and her family had created a motto that they used to navigate this difficult time. ‘Choose Joy.’ I was very moved by this, as I feel too many people waste their time (and their lives) choosing hate, choosing anger, choosing misery. Do those emotions legitimately exist? Absolutely, but I can safely say for myself that there have been moments where I gave energy to them and fed them, instead of shutting them down. Choose Joy. I like that.
“For those of you that may have been touched by cancer (either yourself or a loved one), I am sure you can agree that we never know how much time we are given on the
Earth, but life events such as these can put a lot of things in perspective. To Joe, thank you for trusting me with this project. To Nicole and her family, thank you for reminding us that happiness can be a choice, even in the face of incredible adversity. It is raining as I finish writing this, and I looked out my window just now. Instead of thunderheads, there is a rainbow shining in the heavens. Even in the darkest clouds, there can be beauty and light.
“Peace, Love, and Music.”
The Spirit of Aloha
– Randall D. StandridgeThe Spirit of Aloha was born after a trip I took to Honolulu, Hawaii, to work with the Niu Valley Middle School Concert Band and director Wayne Fanning. They had been selected by the American School Band Directors Association to premiere a new work of mine called Open Space. Wayne decided to fly me out to the island ahead of the premiere so we could dive into the piece together and dig into the musical aspects of the music. While there, my wife and I had the opportunity to soak in the beautiful scenery and culture of Oahu. I actually did not work with the band until my fifth day on the island. By that point, I was already incredibly relaxed and in great spirits. On a Monday morning, I walked into the band room at Niu Valley Middle School and immediately felt the “aloha spirit” in the students and directors. In fact, it was stunning. I immediately received numerous leis (a wreath of flowers or other objects) as a welcome to the island and received additional ones when it was time to leave. Students brought chocolate covered macadamia nuts, Hawaiian coffee (which I am drinking as I write this!) and too many other gifts to mention. However, it was not the gifts that truly affected me. It was the “aloha spirit” of the students and visiting directors. They were so engaged, musical, respectful, spirited and kind. They took risks. They laughed. They poured their hearts into my music and made me a better person as a result of my time with them.
As I returned home, I immediately felt the need to “give back” to these wonderful people. It is in this “aloha spirit” that I have composed this piece and dedicated it to them. The music reflects on my time in Honolulu. While the majority of the music is original, I do incorporate Hawaii Aloha toward the end of the piece. While this song is not the official state song of Hawaii, many consider it to be just as important (much like America, the Beautiful). When people in Hawaii sing this song, they often stand up and hold hands. It is a beautiful sight. The music was presented to the Niu Valley Middle School Concert Band immediately after their concert at the American School Band Directors National Convention in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. While they had just premiered a new piece of mine, the dedication was to ASBDA, the commissioning group. Now, they have their own piece.
– Brian BalmagesElements (Petite Symphony)
Elements is a short four-movement work (thus its subtitle Petite Symphony) constructed in the same form as a traditional symphony: Allegro non troppo, Largo, Scherzo and Allegro vivace. Each movement corresponds with and musically depicts a specific element: air, water, earth and fire.
The first movement, Air, has a minimalistic quality to it. The opening four-note motif continues uninterruptedly throughout the entire movement, while voices carrying it and textures surrounding it constantly change. According to Greek philosopher Empedocles, air is an outwardly reaching element, reaching up and out. This explains the structure of the movement, which begins very sparsely then builds and develops though the music is not physically getting louder. As different voices continue to layer, an angular melody comes to the forefront. However, in a peculiar form of musical development, it is actually the music around the melody that develops, not the melody itself.
The second movement, Water, is impressionistic in nature. The movement represents Empedocles’ belief that water is an inwardly reaching element. It describes a quiet body of water with a glasslike surface. Momentary crests and dips in the music represent droplets of water interrupting the smooth appearance of the surface and creating small ripples that extend from the point of impact. Note that the climax of the movement actually occurs one measure before one would think, depicting the sometimes unexpected and unforeseen beauty of nature.
The third movement, Earth, describes the rapid spinning of the earth itself. It draws its musical inspiration from Mercury, the Winged Messenger from Holst’s The Planets (rather ironically because earth was the only planet excluded from his work). Except for a few brief moments, the entire movement is light with a great deal of forward momentum. While the other movements are mostly through-composed, the third follows a rather specific form in which the A section returns almost in its entirety at the end (like many Baroque and classical compositions), symbolizing the Earth’s recurrent spinning on its axis.
The final movement, Fire, is the most aggressive and harmonically complex, and as a result, is the most challenging. It depicts the intensity of fire and is relentless in its approach. Even when the music appears to have reached a climax, dissonance takes over to create an element of uncertainty. Finally, the familiar four-note motif of the first movement blazes through the rhythmic and harmonic complexity. Unlike the openness in which it was first introduced, it is now juxtaposed with the aggressive theme of the final movement, integrating Empedocles’ conviction that both air and fire were outwardly reaching elements.
– Brian BalmagesArabian Dances
The Middle East is a source of amazing folk music that includes a great variety of instruments not commonly used in Western music. In researching Arabic folk music, I came across many folk tunes that were performed with traditional instruments. In such cases, it is quite common for there to be no harmony – strings and winds double the melody line while percussion makes up the entire accompaniment. However, Arabic music has evolved with contemporary artists infusing a mixture of traditional and commercial sounds into their music. This concept of traditional and contemporary sounds coexisting in a single work serves as the inspiration for Arabian Dances
There are three themes that are used throughout the work. The first is a traditional Arabic song called Ala Dal’ona. While the song is originally a love ballad, it has had many new sets of lyrics to reflect loss of homeland, desire for freedom, and even a voice for women’s rights. Thus, despite its simple melody, it has a very complex background. Excerpts of the song are used in the very beginning of the work, while the full tune with percussion accompaniment is presented at the Allegro Moderato. It is first presented in a more authentic form, with just melody and percussion. As the music develops, more contemporary sounds are added, including more extensive harmonies.
The second theme is an original that serves as a unifying device throughout the work. First presented at measure 17, this theme winds up being juxtaposed with both folk songs in the piece at various stages. As with the other songs, extensive ornamentation is used throughout the piece in an attempt to represent the unique characteristic of Middle Eastern music.
The third theme is Tafta Hindi (“Cloth from India”), a song that tells of an Arabic marketplace where merchants are calling out to potential customers. This theme is introduced at measure 148 and is first presented with only melody and percussion (as with Ala Dal’ona). Again, in an attempt to bridge traditional and contemporary sounds, the music continues to develop with added harmonies and the use of Western percussion instruments, such as timpani, suspended cymbal, crash cymbals and tom-tom.
The ending of the piece (Vivace) contains the most contemporary orchestration and rhythms. It comes the closest to representing traditional Western music before the final statement of the Tafta Hindi theme in the last four measures, which brings the work to a powerful and exciting conclusion.
– Brian BalmagesWHITWORTH CONCERT BAND
Buscher ’23
Perlot ’26
Courtney Starr ’25
Gariepy ’25
Sanders
Meyer
Zamora-Alvarez
McIntyre ’26
Fery
Witruk ’23
BASSOON
Cadence Roling ’26
CLARINET
Corbin Meyring ’24
Jenna Young ’24
Christian Aguilar ’24
Vanessa Martinez ’25
ALTO SAXOPHONE
Benjamin Medina ’24
TENOR SAXOPHONE
Christopher Anderson ’23
BARITONE SAXOPHONE
Ron LaPlante (guest)
TRUMPET
Ben Veith ’25
Andrew Tucker ’24
Nicholas Horner ’26
FRENCH HORN
Kate Larue ’26
TROMBONE
Michael Bedford ’22 (alum)
Greta Berner ’26
WHITWORTH JAZZ ENSEMBLE II
DRUM SET/PERCUSSION
ABOUT THE WHITWORTH CONCERT BAND
The Whitworth Concert Band is open to all students, regardless of major, without audition. It is especially designed for the student who wants to continue to play in band at Whitworth, but who is unable to make the larger commitment to the Whitworth Wind Symphony. The prerequisite for concert band is participation in high school band at least through the junior year, or permission from the conductor. The concert band rehearses once a week, performs a concert each semester on campus, and joins the wind symphony to perform for the commencement ceremony each May. For more information, contact kfague@whitworth.edu.
KYLA FAGUE
Kyla Fague graduated from Whitworth in 2001 with a degree in music education and received her master’s degree in conducting from the American Band College at Southern Oregon University. While at Whitworth, she was awarded the Anna J. Carrel Outstanding Senior in Music Award and was a member of the Whitworth Wind Symphony and Jazz Ensemble I, playing saxophone as well as studying piano. Fague taught high school band and math for four years in her hometown of Fairbanks, Alaska. At the 2005 Alaska Jazz Festival, she received the Most Distinguished Director Award. After returning to Spokane, Fague taught band at Medical Lake High School and Medical Lake Middle School. She directs the Chancel Choir at Hamblen Park Presbyterian Church. Fague loves spending time in the beautiful outdoors of the Pacific Northwest with her husband and three kids. She has been directing the Whitworth Concert Band since 2006.
WHITWORTH JAZZ ENSEMBLE II
The Whitworth Jazz Ensemble II operates under the direction of Christopher Parkin. Academic content and curriculum is based on the art of swing style, big band repertoire and solo improvisation. Participation is determined through yearly auditions, and rehearsals occur twice per week.
In addition to one campus concert each semester, Jazz II performs around the Spokane region at dance halls, churches, assisted living centers and schools of all levels. The course is an important pedagogical component for future music teachers and is a degree requirement for jazz performance majors. For more information, contact cparkin02@whitworth.edu.
CHRISTOPHER PARKIN
Christopher Parkin was born and raised in Washington state. He received a bachelor of arts degree from Whitworth University and a master’s of music from the University of Southern Mississippi. His return to Whitworth in 2008 marked the beginning of his faculty service, and he has been teaching saxophone and jazz studies courses ever since. He is an active arranger, clinician and adjudicator as well as a Yanagisawa sponsored artist.
In addition to his academic endeavors, Parkin enjoys spending time with local bands and orchestras as well as freelance performing around the Inland Northwest. These ensembles include the Spokane Symphony, Spokane Jazz Orchestra and Son Dulce – a 12-piece salsa band.
He and his wife, Krina, have two boys and one girl. They love living life together doing various family activities such as music and children’s ministry, exercise, cooking, and travel.
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