Wind Symphony

The BYU Wind Symphony Performance was on February 15, 2019 at 7:30 in the de Jong Hall of the Harris Fine Arts Center on BYU campus. I absolutely loved this performance! I got the privilege to sit in the front row and actually see the performers. I thought the performance was great in volume and great in dynamics. I also thought this performance was well rehearsed and it wasn’t too fast or slow.

There was good balance and good energy.

I really enjoyed the piece by Marc van Delft “Dance Suite Part 1, Op. 160.” This piece reminded me a lot of dance music that I dance to in my jazz classes at BYU. I wouldn’t say that this piece was fugue madrigal, concerto, or symphony. This piece, as mentioned by the maestro, was made for dancing and celebration, which I guess would put it as program music. This song reminded me of an Indian chase. The tempo was very fast and upbeat. It made me feel anxious and curious at what was about to happen. The drums were fast as well as the flutes.

Then, there were several abrupt stops where the music would just stop and there would be a sudden silence. Then, it would pick up again into the fast, chasing music. I almost felt like I was being chased through trees in a forest, and then I would freeze to hide and catch my breath. My heart would be pounding, my nerves would be beating, and my blood would be racing through my body. Then I would start running again! The entire song would carry on in this way. Fast, upbeat, racing music, followed by sudden stops of silence. There was also an instrument that made snapping sounds which reminded me of twigs snapping as I would run through the forest. The dynamics were shown clearly with the loud volume compared to the softer start up again after sudden silence. This contrast in dynamics kept the song exciting and the audience awake. It made you wonder what was coming next and what other surprises were in store in the song later on. The rhythm was consistent, except for when there were sudden stops, and then the slow, but continuous movement to start up again.

The flute player during this song was very dramatic. I noticed that she had a few parts where she was playing solos. Especially during these moments, but even throughout the entire song, she had very dramatic movements. Her upper body would sway back and forth, back and forth, back and forth. It matched the rhythm of the song and tempo of the music. Her eyes would often remain closed for portions of the song, indicating that she was in deep reflective moments. I could tell that she was super passionate about what she was doing and really enjoyed playing the music. Many of the musicians would tap their feet at the same time to help keep the rhythm and to stay together on time. I also noticed the maestro. Throughout this song, he was full of dramatic arm movements and head bobs. Especially as the music got louder and more intense, he would almost be jumping out of his stand because he was so excited and determined to get the right volume and tone of the music.

At the parts of sudden stops and very quiet and intricate music, he would almost hold his breath and his arm movements were so small, that I couldn’t tell what was happening. You could see in the eyes of the musicians that they were watching very closely to be very precise and on time.