The sounds of many different instruments began to meld into one beautifully composed piece as renowned composer Frank Ticheli signaled for Powell High School freshman Curtis Muecke to join in.
“We had this one part where we had the entire melody. In the practice, he did hit me in the nose because we’re in such a small space,” Muecke joked. “He just brought his hands up and made us play and it was really cool.”
The chance for Muecke to experience the moment came at the last second. Muecke said he was moved by Ticheli the night before when Ticheli realized they were short on second clarinet players.
Muecke was one of seven Powell High School students selected to play amongst 300 students and 80 high schools from Alaska, Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Montana and Wyoming in the University of Montana High School All Star Bands Nov. 11-13 in Missoula.
“So every song that was performed at that concert was written by Frank Ticheli and they got to work with him. When you get insights from the composer, for example, ‘this melody that this section is playing, that represents something,’” Powell band director John Fabela said. “So they were getting direct information right from the composer, which is very rare for us musicians.”
Students were split into three bands: copper, silver and maroon with an additional special section for percussion. From PHS, Muecke attended the copper band, juniors Kiyoko Hayano, Liam Atkinson and senior Gabby Paterson attended silver band, juniors Joe Bucher, Amiya DeFoe Love and senior Hannah Sears attended the maroon band.
“That’s pretty incredible to watch. It gets kind of emotional, because somebody world famous, he’s making eye contact with my students and bringing them in the right spot, that’s just pretty cool,” Fabela said.
Hayano also was a member of the percussion special section where students learned Brazilian percussion from Professor of Music Robert Ledbetter who spent time learning the style in Brazil. Hayano said that percussionists do not often get much play in big band music so she enjoyed her time in the group.
“So the drum instructor at UM was Dr. Bob and he was really exciting. We actually learned to play all the music without sheet music,” Hayano said. “So he had one big drum and he would always drum the rhythms to us, and we drum them back to him and that’s how we learned to play as a group.”
Atkinson said that he enjoyed the experience of being two hours away from the Canadian border, seeing the biggest mountains he had seen in his life and working with “amazing conductors” and Ticheli who he called “literally one of the biggest names in the music world.”
DeFoe Love also enjoyed the experience and the chance to see a UM football game although she was not a fan of the weather.
For all the students involved, the biggest moment of the event was hearing “Lux Perpetua” (Eternal Light). The piece was written by Ticheli for a college that lost two student athletes in a crash.
“The UM college band played it before any of the all star bands went up and played and it was probably the prettiest piece I think most of us have ever heard,” Bucher said.
Fabela said that this was the first time the University of Montana had tried an event like this. The response was strong enough that a third band option had to be added. He said that if they bring in a musician of “that same caliber” Powell High School would definitely consider going again.
English (US)