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O Canada
CONCERT BAND
Prayer for Ukraine: Bozhe Velykyi
Oleksandr Konysky (Text) & Mykola Lysenko (Music), 1885
Arr. Andrea Ciona & Jay Michalak
This arrangement is based on the version that Andrea Ciona grew up singing in Ukrainian Orthodox Churches in Canada. This prayer is sung at the end of the church service, and has become the unofficial Hymn of Ukraine. The lyrics ask for Protection, Freedom, Wisdom and Prosperity in Ukraine.
Beethoven Machine
Michael Colgrass
The Beethoven Machine is dedicated to children of all ages (just like lego!). This unique piece has the band divded up into a “Children’s Orchestra” (represented by most of the ww) and the “Adult Orchestra” (represented by most of the brass. It is about a machine that has the ability to crank out music in the style of Beethoven. A musical tug of war happens between the Children’s Orchestra and the Adult Orchestra. Let’s see if you can figure out who wins in the end!
Studio Ghibli’s “Joyful Parade” Anime March Medley
Joe Hisaishi (arr. Yo Goto)
(Raise your hand if you went to the Vancouver Symphony Concert this past weekend, featuring Joe Hisaishi conducting his own work?)
Written for the opening ceremony of the 47th National Sports Festival of Japan, this is a medley with selections from My Neighbor Totoro, Laputa: Castle in the Sky, and Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind, all famous films from what has been dubbed the Japanese Disney Studio, Studio Ghibli. As far as Ms. Lo knows, all of these films are on Netflix, should you be looking for something to do this summer.
Sustao Dance Suite from Danserye
Tylman Sustato, arr. David Marlatt
The Danserye, from 1551, the Renaissance, is a set of dances published by Susato, an amateur musician who was a printer of music. Susato says of his dances: “the dances shall be pleasing and appropriate, to be played on instruments of all kinds”. Get ready for a toe tapping good time….16th Century style.
TUESDAY BAND
Rhapsody in Blue
George Gershwin, arr. Mike Story
Rhapsody in Blue is perhaps the most famous of Geroge Gershwin’s compositions in the symphony world and the music is featured in Disney’s Fantasia 2000. In 1924 young George Gershwin stated “Music must reflect the thoughts and aspirations of the people and the time. My people are American. My time is today.”
We hear this today in two sections - the slow, meandering, melody of the opening and the loud, New York City Jazz that ensues.
Thoughts of Love
Arthur Pryor, arr Geroge Wilson
Ancient Voices
Michael Sweeny
Ancient Voices is intended to invoke a sense of the pre-historic and contains sounds using instruments that may have been used in prehistoric times. There are effects such as blowing air through instruments to simulate wind, tone clusters to create a sense of mystery, and pencil tapping to simulate the use of sticks as rhythmic instruments.
JAZZ BAND
Out of Nowhere
Out of Nowhere is a swinging showtune that Bing Crosby first introduced to the world in 1931. It features our trombone section as well as several soloists.
Shiny Stockings
Shiny Stockings is a Jazz Standard most well known from a recording made in the 1950s with Jazz greats Ella Fitzgerald and the Count Basie Orchestra. Its composer, saxophonist Frank Foster is the voice behind many of the popular Jazz Standards today. Shiny Stockungs features our brass section using cupmutes to recreate the old-time sound.
Watermelon Man
A fun 16 bar blues piece written by Herbie Hancock. This tune and the album it was on, Taking Off, paid his bills for 5 to 6 years. Since then it has been a fun tune with pop, funk, and blues elementas all fused together. Our version features
******INTERMISSION*****
JAZZ COMBO
Chameleon - Herbie Hancock
Superstition - Stevie Wonder
CONCERT BAND
Whirlwind
Jodie Blackshaw
Jodie Blackshaw is an Australian composer who is dedicated to teaching young musicians all about the possibilities of sound. A wide variety instruments used to create a soundscape into which the story is launched.
Whirlwind is inspired by an Indigenous Australian story about how the Broge birds in Australia came to dance. You can hear this dance when the instruments play the melody one after the other, as if taking turns in an intricate dance.
Carnival of the Animals
Camille Saint-Saens. Arr. Jay Bocook
Carnival of the Animals was first heard during Paris’s carnival season, before Lent. It is a musical portrait of many different animals. Today we will hear the introduction, March of the Lions, The Elephant, Fossils, and a grand Finale.
The Seal Lullby Eric Whitacre
In 2004 Eric Whitacre was asked to write music for an animated feature based on Kilpling’s The White Seal. In response, he wrote Seal Lullaby and sent it to the studio. After a few months of silence, Eric called the studio, who told him “Oh, We decided to make Kung Fu Panda instead”. Luckily for us, song lives on in its choral and instrumental versions where you can hear the tender melody and the softly rolling waves. Today we feature 2022 Graduating Student Penny Gu on the Piano.
The opening of the story features a seal mother singing to her young pup the following words:
Oh! Hush thee, my baby, the night is behind us, And black are the waters that sparkled so green. The moon, o’er the combers, looks downward to find us, At rest in the hollows that rustle between.
Where billow meets billow, then soft be thy pillow, Oh weary wee flipperling, curl at thy ease! The storm shall not wake thee, nor shark overtake thee, Asleep in the arms of the slow swinging seas!
West Side Story:
A Medley including Maria, Tonight, One Hand One Heart, Cool and Somewhere
Music: Leonard Bernstein, Lyrics: Stephen Sondheim, arr, Jay Bocook
This reimagined tale of Romeo and Juliet in NYC features a struggle between two gangs, the Jets and The Sharks. Recently readapted in 2021 from the 1961 Film, the music remains as timeless as ever. We start off with Tony, a FORMER jet, who falls in love and sings about Maria, a girl from the Sharks Gang. In Tonight the famous balcony scene occurs and in One Hand One Heart they pledge their love to each other. However, all is not well and Cool leads us to the upcoming showdown between the Jets and the Sharks. The Medley ends with Somewhere, a song that talks about having a dream where…
“There's a place for us Somewhere a place for us Time together with time to spare Time to look, time to care
Someday, Somewhere We'll find a new way of living We'll find a way of forgiving
Somewhere
As with the movie, the music ends on a bittersweet, but hopeful note.
Hail Kits
Hail Kitsilano! Hail Gold and Blue!
Sing we thy praises; All of us to thee are true
Hail Kitsilano! We shout to the sky!
Honour and Glory then to Kitsilano High!
Music and lyrics 1936 by Ivor Parfitt, Kits music teacher 1928-1959