I got back yesterday from a quick trip up to lovely Manhattan, Kansas for part of the SCI Region VI Conference at Kansas State, where the KSU Concert Band performed my piece “Ode.” If you haven’t been to Manhattan, it is a lovely little town, and the drive from Guymon and back wasn’t so bad–about seven hours, but it is always fascinating to see the “High Plains” dissolve into the much lusher and more rolling plains of central and eastern Kansas. The last bit of the drive was along Interstate 70, and featured Kansas’ lovely Flint Hills. Kansas isn’t all “flat as a pancake!” Dining was good in Manhattan for the few meals that I was there, and the Kansas State community was abuzz with their basketball team’s success in the NCAA Tournament.
I didn’t get to attend all of the conference, but the concerts I was able to attend, along with a Friday night jam session and a paper session on Saturday morning, were excellent, and generally performed by strong student musicians, ensembles and faculty artists.
My piece, “Ode,” received its second performance by the KSU Concert Band under the baton of master’s candidate Anna Eaverson. Ms. Eaverson led the ensemble in a fantastic performance. “Ode” is a tricky piece with eight percussion parts and a rambunctious flute solo. The All-Faiths Chapel was a lovely venue, in somewhat stereotypical land-grant architecture, but pleasant nonetheless. I will be very curious to see how the recording turns out, because there were some balance problems in the performance (during the aforementioned flute solo) that I didn’t detect during the rehearsal. Yes, I also got to attend a rehearsal, somewhat serendipitously.
I arrived on campus at about 12:30, during the lunch break. I treated myself to a self-guided tour of McCain Hall, the home of the Kansas State music department. As I wandered, I heard my own music coming from down the hall, and sure enough, I was able to sit in on the tail end of the final rehearsal of my piece. Ms. Eaverson asked a couple of questions, but for the most part, the piece was already going very well. I was particularly pleased with the group’s excellent intonation, which meant that the twelve-note chord at the end of the piece didn’t sound quite as dissonant as it really is. Just a fantastic rendition, and congrats to all.
Other interesting pieces I got to hear were by conference host Craig Weston, Mark D’Ambrosio, Allen Brings and Trent Hanna, as well as Jerry Hui, Joseph Koykkar and William Clay.
The next scheduled performance of my music is the premiere of the incidental music to “If Only It’d Rain” on April 10 here in the Oklahoma Panhandle as part of the Dust Bowl Symposium.