The marching season has come to an end for a majority of my clients, and throughout the next few weeks, I'll be posting information on all my shows.  To start, we'll take a look at Georgetown High School, from Georgetown, TX.

This was my 2nd season writing for G-town, and the first year with my good friend Amanda Marino as their marching band director.  Amanda and I went to TX State together, and have developed a very good, trusting working relationship.  Amanda called me in November, and we began brainstorming ideas.  I remember this brainstorming session well, because it was the day before Thanksgiving, and she was driving home for the holiday, as I was sitting in the Detroit airport waiting to head back to Texas.  After a healthy exchange of ideas, we came upon a concept that we thought would be creative but also appropriate for the level of the GHS band.

The show:  "State of Mind".  The premise: 4 different productions that each display the characteristics of a particular mood.  Early on, Amanda mentioned she wanted to use music from Copland's "The Red Pony" to open the show.  After discussing what images this piece conjures, we decided on the idea of discovery and curiosity.  With that, we had one quarter of the show planned out.  Enter Daniel Montoya Jr., arranger extraordinaire who submitted a large number of potential works for the rest of the show.  It didn't take long before we realized Eric Whitacre's "The Seal Lullaby" would make a gorgeous ballad on the field.  Because of Daniel's friendship with composer John Mackey - we had early access to his latest opus, "Asphalt Cocktail".  After picking these two works, we needed to figure out how to use them in the context of the show.  The aggressive nature of the Mackey - seemed an obvious soundtrack to a movement about anger and aggression.  After much discussion, we decided to use "The Seal Lullaby" to represent love.  We knew we wanted a happy ending to the show, so Daniel suggested a mix of "Ode to Joy" and "Simple Gifts" (two pieces that happen to share the same chord progression...Daniel, that genius!)  The obvious theme for the closer...joy!  So with the show concept, and the musical selections in place, we got to work on the actual design and pace of the show.  Daniel, being ever so efficient, had the first draft of the show done by T.M.E.A., so the staff was able to plan out the show in February.

We decided early on that we wanted characters to help set the mood of the show.  In the opening movement, "Curiosity", we're introduced to a little boy who is gradually discovering the different elements of the marching band...from the timbres of the various instruments, to the basic motor skills of the marchers.  The opener would be 2 minutes of pure discovery and surprise.

In the second tune, "Love", we meet two characters, a band member a color guard member, who experience love at first sight.  While they are, at first, unsure how to deal with these emotions, the piece reaches it's climax with the two lovers giving in to their feelings, and meeting at the center of the field.

A color guard soloist disrupts the beautiful music, and introduces a much more aggressive mood in the third production, "Anger".  Featuring the percussion section and rifle line, this movement is filled with linear and geometric forms that constantly evolve as members of the band pick fights and take out their aggression on eachother.

The mood changes dramatically, once again, as the spirit of happiness takes over the members of the field.  The finale to the show, "Joy" is all about celebration - a celebration of life, a celebration of friendship, and a celebration of the band as they bring their journey through the season to an end.

A video of "State of Mind" can be found here:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xWEVzkYi07s

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I had the pleasure of visiting Georgetown during my 5-day trip to Texas in early October.  At the time, they were still recovering from an outbreak of H1N1 that had dramatically affected their band.  I believe the day I saw them, they had over a dozen members out sick.  Regardless, they worked their tails off that weekend at the Westlake Marching Festival.  I'm pleased to say that since my visit - every video I saw of the band showed them making dramatic improvements.  These improvements culminated at the BOA Super Regional in San Antonio last week.

Even though the band did not fare as well as they might have hoped, competitively, I'm extrememely proud of them for acheiving a show of such depth at such a high level.  It was an honor to write for them this year, and I anxiously look forward to working with them again next year.