The Academy Wind Ensemble executed jazz-inspired pieces on Friday evening during the group’s last performance with its Senior musicians. The ensemble’s performance consisted of Blue Shades and Amazing Grace by Frank Ticheli and Armenian Dances by Alfred Reed.
Beginning the concert with a standing clarinet solo, Willy Park ’26 played a full page of Blue Shades. As his last performance with the Wind Ensemble at Andover, the solo was a moment of recognition and a chance to display his talent at the concert.
“I remember when Mr. Daniels, the conductor for Wind Ensemble, asked me if I would be down to perform this piece. At first, I was very intimidated because I’ve never played a piece like this before with such a big solo. But when I listened to it, it sounded really fun, although it was also intimidating at the same time. On the music sheet, it said I had to specifically stand up from my chair and face the crowd. The length was also much longer than something I was more used to in different pieces,” said Park.
After working with the ensemble for three years, Conductor Ray Daniels reflected on his hope of diversifying the repertoire of the group as future events approach.
“One of my personal goals with this ensemble, when I first arrived here, was to just bring the level to a higher degree. When I auditioned this ensemble three years ago, they were playing some very traditional marches and traditional repertoire. But there are some really amazing pieces out there and professional level pieces that I wanted to introduce to the group. But I had to build that culture of striving to play that type of literature. And this past concert was a fine example of that. Playing the Blue Shades three years ago, I don’t think we would have pulled it off. Certainly not as much as we have this year. I really believe that the students have grown tremendously over these last few years,” said Daniels.
Cyrus Law ’27 highlighted the laughter with his bandmates during practices and the sense of community apparent throughout the preparation process.
“[The ensemble is] pretty supportive in the sense that if I get lost, I can ask the person next to me, ‘Oh, shoot, where are we?’ We’re not beating each other up for mistakes we make, because everyone makes mistakes. Among the whole band, I would say most of the time we’re focusing on our music and watching the conductor. But there are times when we would poke fun at our friends in the other sections. But it’s all in good fun. We’re not trying to put each other down for it. I’ve been in the band for three years, so [I’m] pretty familiar and comfortable with the whole group and the conductor as well,” said Law.
As a newer member of the ensemble, Nicholas Jung ’28 recognized the changing environment as members join and graduate.
“This year, more freshmen joined our ensemble for the trumpets and trombones and low brass, but we’ve performed really well the past year and learned to overcome challenges. As we practiced more and more together, we were able to be together in a sense. Whenever there was a challenge and when we couldn’t play something properly, we would go over it and practice it individually,” said Jung.
