At 7 pm on May 6th, the Morgan Concert Band held its annual spring concert. The band played a series of five songs, each as entertaining as the previous. The band always begins its concerts with a short introduction by the band director, quickly followed by the playing of the National Anthem. This year’s spring concert is directed by Mr. Smith, more favorably known as Chief, because the band director, Mr. Orduz, is currently out on paternity leave.
Before each song, one or two band members introduced the song, providing the title and some background.
The first song, “Encanto” by Robert W. Smith, was introduced by seniors Drew Auletta and Robert Bergman. It is a
rhythmic composition written in the 1980s. Following “Encanto” was “Blue Mambo”, introduced by seniors Riley Brauchler and Meredith O’Brien. Blue Mambo was written in 2017 by Michael Sweeney. It is a bluesy style dance song based on the musical form of the Cuban “Mambo”.
“I’d say the traditional mambo rhythms carried out by the percussion section were spot on.” Says band parent Rick Brauchler, who watched the concert and played percussion in high school.
Senior Amber Robayo introduced “Appalachian Morning”, a song that reflects a walk through the woods and mountains of the Cumberland Gap in the Appalachian Mountains. The fourth song, “Kvechers” (k-ve-ch) was introduced by junior Anthony Strunjo. Kvechers means “to complain” in Yiddish, written by Laura Estes. Estes composed the song as a musical argument back and forth between different sections of the band.
Right before the last song, Mr. Orduz joined the band on stage to introduce the ten seniors of the band and tell the audience what they will be doing after high school. The seniors then presented Mr. Orduz with a gift, as a thank you for his support and teaching for the past two years in the band. The gift was a picture frame featuring all the seniors, and each of the seniors had signed the frame and written a small note to Mr. Orduz.
Patrick O’Donnell, a senior French horn player in the band, states, “When Mr. Orduz began working as the new band director, people were unsure what to expect, but Mr. Orduz quickly filled the spot Chief had previously held. He quickly became liked by many, myself included, and became a great director and teacher. Not only that, he also became a good friend of many as well, strengthening the connection between him and students.”
The band then played their final song of the concert, “Argentum”, written in 2015 by Randall Standridge and introduced by seniors Joseph O’Brien and Patrick O’Donnell. The title of the song means “Silver” in Latin, and was written for the 25th anniversary of a band director, and much of the song is played in ⅞ time.
Band director Mr. Smith reflected on last night’s concert, saying, “It’s always a privilege to conduct a band.” He appreciates how many people were there to support the band, and then stayed to watch the chorus concert that followed. “The band looked spectacular on stage.”
Chief says conducting the band on stage as a substitute was not much different than when he was the core teacher, but coming back and teaching in the classroom took a little more work. “I had some catching up to do, normally I would be learning the music right alongside the band, now here I’ve got to catch up with you guys.”
