Spring Concerts at Ridge

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Art credits to Joyce An!

Ian Bertram ‘17

Orchestra: June 2

Band: May 26

Choir: June 7

Attention, Ridge students! Our music department is one of the best in the state. Even if you don’t play an instrument, you can still take advantage of Ridge’s superior music education program by attending the spring band, orchestra or choir concerts, at 7pm on May 26, June 2, and June 7 respectively.

Students and teachers alike donate vast amounts of time and effort to make the concerts beneficial experiences for both the performers and the audience. Mr. Zugale, Ridge’s band director, explains, “Picking the music is the most important and time consuming task, [because what we play composes the] curriculum from which students learn about music… For rehearsals, I create a rough timeline for what we need to learn by certain dates to ensure a quality performance. Then, I study the score to determine specific sections that will need focus. Of course, over time as performance problems are solved, more nuanced interpretation becomes the focus.”

Mr. Zugale, Ridge’s band director, characterizes the upcoming band repertoire as “an eclectic mix of traditional band music, arrangements of folk songs, and more contemporary works,” including the Wind Ensemble’s “Danzón No. 2” by Arturo Márquez. The Danzón is based on three dance themes that cycle through three different moods:  slow and sensual, syncopated and bombastic, and a surging, dramatic marcato[1]–a close variation of the first dance theme. Márquez uses creative transitions to navigate through the different dances as the piece progresses.

The orchestra plans to perform the finale of Dvorak’s “New World Symphony,” “Overture to Candide” by Leonard Bernstein, “Danse Bacchanale” by Camille Saint-Saens, and the “Peer Gynt Suite #1” by Edvard Grieg.

According to Ms. Curran, Ridge’s Orchestra director, all of these pieces are “exciting, standard orchestral fare. I’m hoping all of the students are enjoying playing the literature for this spring season.”

Many orchestra students are just as happy with the literature as Ms. Curran hopes. Timmy Morrow ’17 contends that Dvorak’s “New World Symphony” “has very powerful melodies… All the components of Dvorak’s symphony, they come together in a cohesive way, and they’re based off inspiration [Dvorak] got from coming to America… So, it has very powerful themes, and they’re relatable.”

Further, many of this year’s pieces contain notoriously difficult (though beautiful) wind solos, such as New World Symphony and Danse Bacchanale. Nevertheless, Ms. Curran optimistically states, “I really think it will be one of our best performances.”

As for the spring choir concert, the selections are not finalized. Sarah Morrow ’16 speculates that the choir will be performing “Popular stuff and old classics: “Old Horatius Had a Farm” (the Latin version of Old MacDonald), “Bridge over Troubled Water” by Simon and Garfunkel, and some student-conducted pieces… That’s just stuff that we’ve been working on.”

One way or another, Sarah knows that the choir will be performing “really exciting stuff that a lot of people are going to enjoy because of the variety.”

Come to Ridge’s spring music concerts! The students are working hard, and the music selections are fantastic. As with all subjects, music students reap the benefits of their labor through the colder months in the springtime, so these concerts really are the most opportune chances for all Ridge community members to appreciate the high school’s music programs.

[1] Italian for “marked”. When seen in in a score, it is a directive for the musician to play the note short and emphasized.