May 13, 2023

1.03
Mia Gensure
Mentored by Will Hawkins

Piano - Mia Gensure

"This is a pop song for a Concert Band. It starts with a motif that comes back many times throughout the piece, in the middle it goes on an adventure then comes back home with a Piccolo and Baritone Saxophone Soli. I hope you enjoy."

Pentatonic Swing
Zichen Wang
Mentored by Josh Gilbert

Clarinet - Zichen Wang
Piano - Vyom Srivastava
Bass - Will Ostrow
Drums - Steve Qi

"This piece, as you can tell by its name, is a jazz piece in G Pentatonic scale. Pentatonic scales are heavily used in Chinese traditional music. This piece is the product of mixing Chinese traditional music and jazz. I'm planning to write two more of this type, one will be a slow ballad and one will be a jazz waltz."

Anxiety
Sean Xiong
Mentored by Will Hawkins

Trumpet - Sean Xiong
Piano - Maya Burshteyn
Flute - Silver Wang
Drums - Edison Zhang

"I want to express the anxiety generally in life that people are generally experiencing these years. Most sections of this piece are explaining the problems we've encountered, and as the music turns into a major near the end, there is hope."

Testimony
You Lyu
Mentored by Josh Gilbert

Alto Saxophone - Tanmay Gupta
Guitar - You Lyu
Bass - Will Ostrow
Drums - Caden Akram

"This piece is a tribute to the great alto saxophone player Charlie Parker. It uses the chord progressions from his piece "Confirmation" with a minor adjustment on one chord. It also changes from swing to Latin during the B section to bring out variety (also because of personal preference). The reason I choose this progression specifically for my composition is because it has haunted me for half a year. It also sounds very nice."

Looking Up, Mvmt. III: Curling Grass
Will Hawkins

Voice - Jennifer Burks
Piano - Josh Gilbert

"This central act (Looking Up) was composed amidst a swell of school shootings in the Spring of 2018. The song swept into me, words and music together, and expresses the terrible invasion of adult violence into the lives of our precious children. However, I hope this triptych brings peach and strength to its listeners; catharsis is needed for us to move forward. The ignorant bliss of childhood, represented in the first medley, provides light for those of us who later struggle in the adult world's cynicism and 'maturity.' May children live in that light again."