The Music Department starts the 2026-27 Music Concert season with Concert Band and Jazz Ensemble performance on Wednesday, October 28.
The Concert Band will lean into an American Voices theme for their first concert of the season. They will play Early Light by Carolyn Bremer, Alleluia! Laudumus Te by Alfred Reed, Shenandoah arranged by Omar Thomas, an American Hymn Song Suite by Dwayne S. Milburn, and El Capitan by John Phillip Sousa.
This will be the first concert for Normandale Community College Concert Band Director Rose Tyler.
“This is a theme that a lot of people are doing this year, but our take is to have slightly different representation and make sure that we have diversity within our composers,” said Tyler. The opening of “Early Lights” by Carolyn Bremer is really cool and it actually stems from her love of baseball and has quotations from the National Anthem in it. Then we got into and old standard with Alleluia! Laudumus Te, and follow that with a familiar folk tune Shenandoah, where composer Omar Thomas bring new and unique harmonies to it. We have an American Hymn Song Suite that takes familiar tunes but twists them a little bit, and we end with Sousa’s March, which is very Americana.”
Tyler is looking forward to presenting familiar tunes in new ways.
“Presenting familiar tunes in new ways is a theme throughout these pieces,” said Tyler. “We hope the audience finds thenew ways we play the familiar tunes exciting and maybe nuanced.
Tyler is excited about the what she has seen from the Concert Band as they prepare for this concert.
“It is a very talented group,” said Tyler. “It is a cool mix of community members and students, which I think it is great to see, and is a great experience for everyone.”
The Jazz Ensemble will play five songs that include Stompin’ on a Riff by David Berger, Work Song by Nat Adderly (arranged by Geoff Keezer), The Man I Love by George Gershwin and Ira Gershwin, Naima by John Coltrane (arranged by Dave Wolpe), and All of Me by Seymour Simons and Gerald Marks (arranged by Rick Stitzel).
Jazz Ensemble Director Aaron Moe is excited by how the Jazz Ensemble has started as they prepare for the first concert.
“The first concert is always nerve-racking for everyone, because the band is all meeting each other for the first time in August,” said Moe. “We are finding the voice of the group for the first concert. They left the gate quickly, which is a promising sign. It is a wide variety arrangement of styles for the first concert, including some vocal charts.”
Moe is excited about the two student vocalists, Sophie Meyers and Brooklyn Vasquez, who will be featured (Meyers during The Man I Love and Vasquez during All of Me).
“There will be vocal features on every concert this year,” said Moe. “We have some pretty stellar voices, so we are going to make sure we take advantage of that. We have two vocalists that singing right now with the band that are performing at a really high level. I am very excited for what we are going to be able to do with them over the course of the year.”
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