"Firsts": College of the Canyons' Symphonic Band Inaugural Concert

On December 3, 2012, I had the pleasure of conducting the inaugural concert of the new Symphonic Band at College of the Canyons in Santa Clarita, California. The program, entitled "Firsts," included a wide array of musical styles. Several members of the band performed solos. The goodly-sized audience received the music enthusiastically, and most remained to enjoy the tasty reception that followed.

Membership in the band has grown wonderfully from an enrollment of but one at the first class meeting to a mid-sized ensemble of woodwinds and brass. Some of our members live locally, and some travel (Los Angeles, Burbank, Sierra Madre, Beverly Hills, Granada Hills, and Tarzana) to join in the music-making. Our members include high school students, COC music majors, other regular COC students, COC employees, SCV area residents, music educators, and professional musicians.

We expect to continue to grow and present great programs, so if you are interested in joining us, please email me. [ray at raymondburkhart dot com] We meet on Monday nights from 6pm to 10pm. The next semester begins on February 4, 2013.

Our December concert opened with three fanfares originally published in 1921 in the British arts magazine, Fanfare. They were adapted to suit the instrumentation of the new COC Band. Also on the program was a set of two pieces from a collection of Civil War music that I'm researching and reconstructing: an untitled galop and the well-known and sentimental "When the Swallows Homeward Fly." The Civil War set was followed by a later 19th-century work, the Helicon Schottische, which featured Peter Mockary on tuba.

The COC Symphonic Band devotes most of its rehearsal time to band works, but we are also cultivating smaller ensembles that focus on music for brass and music for "harmony" ensembles, which usually involves pairs of flutes, oboes, clarinets, bassoons, and horns. On the December concert, the brass ensemble performed two works: a transcription of Hassler's late-Renaissance choral work, "Verbum caro factum est," and an arrangement of Gershwin's "Someone to Watch Over Me," which featured trumpeters John Klinedinst and Justen Finch.

Other works in a jazzy vein included my arrangement of "The First Noel" and my original composition, "The Y2K Bug Blues," which featured hornists Caitlin Kimmick and Nathan Campbell. I played the trumpet solo.

We also played two important works of the mid 20th-century avant-garde: Terry Riley's ground-breaking "In C" and John Cage's famous "4'33"."

It was a genuinely fun and interesting evening of good music. The venue, the Dr. Dianne G. Van Hook University Center lobby, with its tall, lovely Christmas tree, was perfect. I look forward to more concerts there of great music for great people. We in the band hope you will attend, whether you are in the category of performer or audience member. Either way, you'll be glad you did!