F25 Vermont Wind Ensemble

Vermont Wind Ensemble - Fall '25

Arrival Platform Humlet - Percy Grainger/Simpson       

YouTube Audio  (So. Illinois U. Edwardsville Wind Symphony)                                YouTube video of original piano version with score

Arrival Platform Humlet was begun in Liverpool Street and Victoria railway Stations (London) on February 2, 1908; was continued in 1908, 1910 and 1912 (England, Norway, etc.), and scored during the summer of 1916 in New York City.  Awaiting the arrival of a belated train bringing one's sweetheart from foreign parts; great fun!  The sort of thing one hums to oneself as an accompaniment to one's tramping feet as one happily, excitedly, paces up and down the arrival platform. The final swirl does not depict the incoming of the expected train. The humlet is not 'program' music in any sense. It is marching music composed in an exultant mood in a railway station, but does not portray the station itself, its contents, or any event.  There are next to no chords in this composition, it being conceived almost exclusively in 'single line' (unaccompanied unison or octaves).  There are likewise no 'themes' (in the sense of often-repeated outstanding motives), as the movement from start to finish is just an unbroken stretch of constantly varied melody, with very few repetitions of any of its phrases.  - Percy Grainger                   

City Trees – Michael Markowski
YouTube video w/score (Brooklyn Wind Symphony Symphonic WInds)                       Composer's website w/program note and other resources

I had just moved from Arizona to New York City when I began sketching the first fragments of City Trees. After being born, growing up, and living in the desert for 25 years of my life, moving to New York so suddenly was and continues to be one of the most challenging things I’ve ever done. I think it has also been one of the bravest. I left my friends, my family, and my ridiculously cheap rent all without much planning.

Every time I walk down a street in New York, I notice the trees shackled by the sidewalk. Some have little fences around them, many have trash nestled up next to their exposed roots, and others have grown so big and become so strong that they have broken right through the concrete pavement. As I pass beneath them, they all seem to wave their leafy pom-poms in the wind, a thousand leaves applauding, cheering me on as if I had just returned from the moon.

These trees have learned how to brave the concrete jungle, and it gave me solace knowing that they had flourished in such a challenging environment. Over time, the impossibilities of the city have become familiar, and although I continue to learn new lessons everyday, I’ve slowly begun to assimilate, finding my way around, discovering new places, and making friends while still keeping close with those who aren’t close by. The music in City Trees began to take on a growing sense of perseverance, embodied by the expansive melodies that sweep over the pensive, rhythmic undercurrent.

For me, City Trees is a reflection of the bravery that it often takes to venture into new worlds, embrace other cultures, and lovingly encourage new ideas. I am deeply honored to dedicate this piece to the Lesbian and Gay Band Association (known today as the Pride Bands Alliance). Although I may never completely understand the unique challenges my friends have faced and had to overcome, I am inspired by the overwhelming courage that has been so firmly planted for 30 years and that continues to grow, perhaps slowly, but always stronger. - Michael Markowski

Council Oak - David Gillingham
 YouTube video [they cut mm. 123-129] (Lakota West Symphonic Winds)                               YouTube audio (Deland HS Wind Ensemble at Carnegie Hall)     
                       

On the Seminole Hollywood Reservation in Florida, on the corner of U.S. 441 and Stirling Road, stands the "Council Oak" tree.  During the long history of the struggle of the Seminole tribe in Florida, this oak tree was of special significance.  When the Seminole tribe was faced with termination by the United States government, leaders of the tribe began meeting regularly underneath this great oak tree that helped to breathe new life back into the Seminole tribe.  In 1957, the U.S. Congress officially recognized the Seminole Tribe of Florida.  Council Oak was inspired by the significance of this tree and by the poetry of Moses Jumper Jr., who wrote a poem by the same name which chronicles the history of the Seminoles as told by the oak tree.  The thematic material is taken from four songs of the Seminoles as officially recorded by Frances Dunsmore in his book, Seminole Music and archived in the Bureau of American Ethnology of the Smithsonian Institution.  Additionally, I have composed a new theme, which I call the "Song of the Council Oak" which is indicative of Seminole and Native American melodic/rhythmic style.         - David R. Gillingham

 

The Council Oak

Moses Jumper, Jr.

From small acorns Mighty oaks grow…

One day I walked beneath the council oak or council tree

I thought to myself, if he could talk, what would he say to me?

Would he tell me how he shaded and provided for the inhabitants of this land,

And how through history all things were changed by man.

I know he would speak of the Seminoles’ early day, / When, beneath his branches, the children would play

Then came a time when decisions had to be met, / And when within his shade, the meeting tables were set.

Some of the faces, the oak said, were never honest and true. / They only thought of themselves as the chosen few.

Yet, many were there who were true in what they said, / And these were the ones that ultimately led.

The oak went on as if to say, / That in those times the people were happy in their way.

The oak remembered distinctly those men and women of the past,

Because of them, this nation is where it is at last.

The heated arguments, the finances at an all time low,

But together the oak and the Seminole would eventually grow.

And within the Seminole homes there may have been no door,

But the oak proudly said you could never tell these people they were poor.

And as the old oak went on to say, / I want to tell you something this day.

There is comparison here I want you to see / Of how the Seminoles are like this mighty oak tree.

You see, together as a seed we both once grew, / But not all went on, just a dismal few.

Some nations and trees have fallen in their attempt to grow, / Perhaps defeated, trodden and weakened to a slow.

But in years we have faced the storm and the rain, / Stood above the flood as in stature we’d gain.

Our weak branches would soon falter and fall to the ground / But the roots of our faith would soon abound.

And the leaves of life would fade from the blister of death, from the winter sting,

Only to be replaced with another life in the spring.

And above all, we knew, from the tip of our head to the roots to the sod,

That we were together, created through the grace of a living God.

And with this, the old oak gave a joyous sigh, / For I knew he represented a way of life that would never die.

         

Conversations with the Night - Andrew Boysen
YouTube video (Concord-Carlisle HS Band at Symphony Hall)             YouTube video (Youngstown State Alumni Wind Ensemble)       
       

Conversations With the Night was commissioned by Jeff Doughten and the Andrews, Texas High School Band as a memorial to their friend and fellow musician, Jerry Don Belt.  The piece is based on one of Jerry Don’s favorite hymns.  The title for this work explains a lot about the organization of the piece and the motivation behind it.  It stems from a conversation I had with Jerry Don’s parents in which they told me of his deep religious convictions, his love of people, his fascination with lightning, and his smiling face.  In other words, they gave me a chance to get to know Jerry Don as much as I possibly could.  The one thing that struck me the most in our talk was the fact that Jerry Don used to enjoy going for walks outside at night by himself.  His mother then mentioned how she goes outside at night now to talk with him, because that is when she feels the closest to him.  Conversations With the Night is my reaction to how she must feel at times when she talks to him–feelings of pain, love, and ultimately, peace. - Andrew Boysen

Tempered Steel - Charles Rochester Young

YouTube audio (North Texas WInd Symphony)                                        YouTube video (w/score)

As we grow stronger and more resilient through hardship, we become "tempered." Tempered Steel is a celebration of our triumph over these unavoidable hardships and obstacles that we regularly face. It rejoices in the tenacious and unrelenting resolve that is part of us all. As the title implies, the metallic sonorities of the wind band are continually explored and developed throughout the work, while the "tempest" is a symmetric hexachord that is exposed and developed through a variety of juxtaposed gestures and themes. 

Tempered Steel was "forged" in 1997 as the first work to be commissioned by the Big 12 Band Directors Association. It was premiered by the Baylor University Wind Ensemble at the College Band Directors National Association convention in Kansas City, Missouri, that year. - Charles Rochester Young