Dear Band Directors,
I want to first start out with a huge thank you, but I want to dive deeper into this thank you and I will by writing this blog.
I have been wanting to say thanks for quite some time now, but I feel this is the moment where my heart will be most compassionate towards the subject.
At Oklahoma Baptist University, we are playing
Perthshire Majesty by Samuel Hazo. As Beth handed out this piece, I felt an emotion that can only be described as great gratitude. This gratitude goes out to the wonderful band directors not just at the high schools but to the middle schools and elementary schools as well.
At elementary schools, teachers start the process of music education through simple, but educational activities. I still remember Mrs. Cobb (R.I.P.) and the recorders as well as Hagalina Magilina Hoopenstiner Wallendiner Hogan Logan Mogan (was her name). I can recall learning "scooby dooby doo" and "mama made me mash my m&m's" as exercises to warm our voices and lips up before singing. Because of Mrs. Cobb (R.I.P.), music was my favorite memory of elementary school, and ultimately the beginning of my music career. She inspired me to have fun while making music, and I carried that passion into middle school where I joined the infamous band program of Broken Arrow Public Schools.
Mr. Burton was my next music educator that I was under the instruction of. He developed my music experience and skill by giving me the chance to play saxophone. I remember the first day with my mama's sax and playing on the mouthpiece to see if I could make a sound (not very good one, but it was just a mouthpiece!) and ultimately play the sax. I learned how to read, practice (although I didn't very often and I regret it), and play music. Mr. Burton helped cultivate my love for music and the music program, but the most valuable lesson he taught me was to enjoy the privilege of making music. He prepared me for high school and put a contra alto clarinet into my hands. Through his persistence, we (as a whole) became better musicians prepared for high school and the world to come.
In high school, I was a member of the Pride of Broken Arrow and I could write a novel on that experience, but I am not in this post. My freshman year with Mr. Vento was amazing. At South Intermediate High School in the Wind Ensemble, we kicked some music butt to say the least. We tackled pieces such as Fire, Green Bushes, Simple Gifts, and Pas Redouble, and we nailed them. This was my first experience to play in a high school band and it was amazing! Mr. Vento told us stories about his college experience and taught us scales and different modes and all sorts of valuable information!
Sophomore year, under the direction of Mrs. Cottrell, we played pieces such as Persistence, and Variations on America. On the Piece Variations' I had sixteenth notes on contra for more than a beat and believe me, I had never really had that kind of music before. In the marching band, we were the best we could be and because of that, we won the Grand National Championship. Tell me about an experience! She helped prepare us for the high school and once we got there, we took off into the music world.
Junior Year, wow. This I believe was the pinnacle of my high school musicianship. We performed for the first time ever in the National Concert Band Festival in Indianapolis, Indiana. Preparing for this honor was a challenge. We had the music essentially from the first month of the fall semester and the hard part was keeping it interesting to the musicians in rehearsal. Under the direction of Mr. Tomlinson, we performed pieces such as Bogoritse Devo, Turning, Canzona, Vienna Fanfare, The Little Ripper,and Symphonic Dance for Band. This was a very challenging set of music. Bogo (in short) was short, but a sweet song-like ballad that we played until the very end. Turning by John Mackey, was scary in my opinion. The beginning (we played this after Bogo) has a very abrupt trombone part and will wake you up if you fell asleep, but then it becomes a very lyrical emotional song to play. I admit, I was moved and more than once cried while playing this piece. Canzona, what can I say about this? When I first heard the recording, it reminded me of Batman for some reason. The Oklahoma Intercollegiate Honor Band played Canzona this year and I relived rehearsing this piece. The wind ensemble grumbled most about this piece, but we knocked the snot out of it (haha). I didn't play in Vienna Fanfare because it was a brass piece, but they opened the performance and basically got everybody's attention. Wow, this next piece was well...wow! Symphonic Dance for Band, was a piece that was Japanese and very different. It was about 16 minutes long and challenging (the others were too, but the sheer length of this one was the most challenging). We brought in several guest conductors to help us develop this piece and bring out it's full potential. I learned from these pieces how to be a musician, and that is why I believe this was the pinnacle in my music career. I am not going to mention much about symphonic band for this year, but symphonic band deserves some credit too. I played alto sax in this band and even though some of the pieces weren't as challenging in SB, I still grew from the experience of being a musician in this band.
Senior Year, even though we didn't have a big venue to perform at like junior year, we pulled it off with a big hit. I was in all three concert bands that year and it was a blast. I played contra for wind ensemble, alto sax for symphonic band, and I learned bassoon for concert band. In wind ensemble, we played a piece called Give Us This Day, and I believe this is one of my most favorite pieces to play in a band setting. It has lyrical moments and some groovy moments too. We also took the challenge of playing Lincolnshire Posy. This piece challenged my practice routine and my musicianship. Looking back at it, I wished I had taken more joy into playing this song. I believed at this point I developed a little bit of senioritis and didn't take school quite as seriously as I should've. In symphonic band, we played both classics and more contemporary pieces such as Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring, Lux Arumque, and Perthshire Majesty. These pieces showed me different styles of music and how even though they were different, they all have a since of beauty that gives us a glimpse of heaven on earth through music. Concert band gave me a chance to learn a new instrument the bassoon and it was a challenge to learn how to play it. The reeds alone cost a small fortune and the difficulty of tuning it made this experience a difficult but rewarding one.
All in all, Broken Arrow's music program has given me more than I can imagine. Because of my experience with the music program, I have found out that I want to be a music educator myself.
Mr. Tomlinson said that we would never have our caliber of band even in most colleges. I can see that now. We played difficult music that some colleges won't even touch. The talent that Broken Arrow has not just in students but teachers as well has made the difference in my life. I owe the growth of my musicianship to Broken Arrow, and someday I hope to repay them by being a music educator myself that will give the inspiration to students as the Broken Arrow band program has given me.
I want to say thank you again to the Broken Arrow band program. I also want to say to the current students to not take your band program for granted because until you graduate and see how marvelous it was, you don't know how much you will miss it. Most of you look at the marching band as the main point of the band program, but without the concert bands, you couldn't be even be able to play on the field of dreams. When you go to band class, give your director a thanks for what they are giving you.
A Special Thanks To:
Mrs. Cobb (R.I.P.)
Mr. Joe Burton
Mr. Steve Vento
Mrs. Stephanie Cottrell
Mr. Reid Bennet
Mr. James Stephens
Mr. Aaron Bryan
Mrs. Kelly Pence
Mr. Tom McGillen
Ms. Mitchell
Mr. Ruiel Doonkeen
Mr. Darrin Davis
Mrs. Kristen Stephens
Mr. Scott Tomlinson
(and the Diet Coke that kept them all happy!)
Sincerely,
Brittany Seale
