Broome Street Wind Ensemble and Simple Strings

(By: Aedan Roach)

The Broome Street Wind Ensemble and Simple Strings held a concert at the Drew United Methodist Church on November 13, 2016 at 2:00 p.m. Broome Street Wind Ensemble and Simple Strings is made up of players of all ages and is local band that plays in the Port Jervis area. They have been doing this concert for the last several years to collect food for a food drive for the local food pantries. When you entered the church sanctuary, everything was decorated for Thanksgiving, which was appropriate for their cause and for this time of year. The stage presentation was well organized and everyone was dressed in black, which helped the audience to stay focused on the music.  The concert started with the Broome Street Wind Ensemble, directed by Brittany Robinson, and opened with the Star-Spangled Banner.  The next ensemble they played was the United States Coastguard Anthem, which they played for the very first time. After that, they played three more songs. The first, Mt. Everest, written by Rossano Galante, reminded me and others in the crowd of the Jurassic park theme song. The next songs, Semper Paratus, written by Francis Saltus Van Boskerck, and The Promise of Living, written by Aaron Copeland, were pleasant to hear around this Thanksgiving season because they were full of thankfulness. During the Promise of Living, there was a flute solo by our very own, Zara Gigi Southard, which was beautiful. After the Wind Ensemble finished their song selections, there was a short break in the concert, so that the players could change to the Woodwind Quartet. They ended the first part of the concert with Menuet, written by B. M. Colomer and the people in the audience said it was a very soothing song.

The band members then switched to Simple Strings, which was directed by Seth Riehl, and included another Calvary Player, Amber Southard, playing the cello. They began with two classical pieces, Eine Kleine Nachtmusik, written by Mozart, and Allegretto, written by Beethoven. Mr. Riehl compared Beethoven’s piece to something from Lady Gaga and said that “a simple melody can grow into something so much more.” Then they played Lullaby to the Moon, by Brian Balmages, and Sabbath Prayer from Fiddler on the Roof, by Jerry Bock, which were both 20th century pieces.  After these pieces, the full Orchestra, still directed by Seth Riehl performed. The first piece they played, Gavotte in D minor, written by Jean Baptiste Lully, which tells a story of a conductor stabbing himself in the foot with his conducting stick, while conducting his orchestra. The next song they performed was Capriccio in A, which was composed by Franz Josef Haydn. Haydn used his music to express himself because he was an insecure person. Mr. Riehl stated that Haydn developed this piece to sound like a musical joke, almost like you would hear in a Tom and Jerry cartoon. Lastly, they played the Turkish March, also written by Beethoven, which is a Gypsy parade.

The Broome Street Wind Ensemble, directed by Brittany Robinson, ended the concert with four songs from various movies. The first, The Nightmare Before Christmas, written by Danny Elfman, is a Christmas song with a dark twist.  The second, Into the Woods, written by Stephen Sondheim, was based on several fairytale stories. The third song, the Seal Lullaby, written by Eric Whitacre, was originally written for a movie but Dreamworks chose to make Kung Fu Panda instead, so Eric Whitacre decided to publish it himself. For the final song, the wind ensemble played highlights from Star Wars: Episode 1 The Phantom Menace, written by John Williams, which brought the final excitement to the end of the concert.

The concert was a total success and the crowd appeared to love every song. The band were well rehearsed and didn’t miss a note. It also appeared that the food drive was a success because the table was overflowing with donations. The audience felt good because they had sense of giving, while enjoying a beautiful concert.