UVM Band - Spring 2026

UVM Band - Spring 2026

Gavorkna Fanfare – Jack Stamp
Video (Wilmington Symphonic Winds, Jack Stamp conducting )                Video (Jackson State University WInd Ensemble)               

Gavorkna Fanfare exploits the idea of a fanfare for full wind band, rather than the traditional brass and percussion instrumentation. The opening pyramids lead to the melodic minor third cluster heard in original and inversion simultaneously. A polychordal transition based on the upcoming "fugato" subject leads to a minimalist accompaniment to the four-part counterpoint. The opening idea returns with a coda based on the melodic minor third. “Gavorkna” is a made-up word.  - Jack Stamp

Variations on a Korean Folk Song – John Barnes Chance
Video                (Hayfield Wind Ensemble, Alexandria, VA)

Windliterature.org's Korean Folksong page with more videos and resources
Two very interesting are fairly short videos on Arirang:  Arirang: "A folk song of Korea"  and "The Story of Arirang"

Variations on a Korean Folk Song is based on "Arirang," a well-known, nostalgic folk song that has become a unifying element for all Korean people.  A symbol of resistance during Japanese rule from 1910-1945, both North and South have placed "Arirang" on the UNESCO List of Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity, and "Arirang" was played when both countries marched together in the 2000 and 2018 Olympics. 

John Barnes Chance, a percussionist, heard the pentatonic (five-note) folksong while serving in a U.S. Army band stationed in the Korean capital of Seoul.  The "Arirang" theme is first presented in the low register of the clarinets, then gradually ascends in its second iteration. The first variation introduces the Asian percussion sounds of the gong and the templeblocks, while Variation Two features a slow, haunting solo by the oboe.  The brass introduce the march-like third variation, which concludes with a percussion ostinato that serves as the underpinning for the slow, fourth variation.  Three-measure percussion phrases introduce the final variation with fast notes in the woodwinds contrasting with the slow-moving theme in the lower brass. Though the theme is Asian in character, the variation techniques (such as imitation, augmentation, and polymeter) and harmonic treatment are typical of Western music.  Variations on a Korean Folk Song was won the American Bandmaster's Association's Ostwald Composition Prize in 1966 and has remained a standard piece in the repertoire since then.

Swarm – Brian Beck
Video with score            

Swarm, by Brian Beck, challenges the musicians to play catch using melodic and rhythmic themes as the ball. Players must do their part by passing their lines to each other while taking center stage. This trading of melodies around the ensemble creates interesting color moments throughout the piece.

Dancing in the Wind - Yosuke Fukuda

Video (Japan Ground Self-Defense Force Middle Army Band)                                    

I have been creating works under the theme "Hokusai Impressions" for some time. Hokusai is the famous Ukiyo-e painter of the Edo period, Katsushika Hokusai.  Ukiyo-e is a unique style of Japanese ukiyo-e that depicts the world through color, balance, form, and above all, the use of color to highlight Japanese customs and manners. Debussy was inspired to write the symphonic poem La Mer after seeing Fugaku Sanjurokkei (Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji), Kanagawa Okinamiura at the Paris Exposition at the end of the 19th century. Van Gogh also attempted to copy Ukiyo-e in his career.

The power of Ukiyo-e is to stimulate the imagination ... I believe its legacy is a strong sense of originality. It is not the result of the culture of the common people of Edo, which was isolated from the rest of the world, but rather the fact that the Japanese people originally possessed the power to enhance their culture. I would like to go back in time to experience the Edo period, when this power was strongly apparent.

I, too, have created works under the theme of "Japanese originality," though I do not know of my success. I have the lofty goal of approaching the "originality" of the ukiyo-e paintings of Hokusai Katsushika, which I admire.

As for Dancing in the Wind, I was interested in creating the world of Sharaku's "Kabuki pictures" and "iki" for band. I started with the idea of creating an "imaginary Kabuki stage." In the end, I had wind floating in the air in my mind. That's how the title came about.    - Yosuke Fukuda

Selections Havendance – David Holsinger

Video (University of North Carolina University Band)
Video (Metropolitan Wind Symphony, Lexington, MA)

For her earliest holiday costume, my daughter Haven wanted to be dressed as a ballerina. It was a passion that has not stopped to this day.  Havendance was the first of the “children’s dances” (including Nilesdance in 1987, and Graysondance in 1995). In 1982 I was teaching in Chillicothe, Missouri, and the former band director, Claude T. Smith and I were asked to write pieces for an anniversary concert of a North Central Missouri honor band.  Haven was eight and constantly leaping and dancing about the house, and she seemed the perfect subject for a “dance” piece. Thus Havendance.     - David Holsinger