Eleven student conductors will step in front of the Wind Ensemble, each bringing their own style to a program of familiar tunes.
The Wind Ensemble’s Spring Pops Concert will return to the Wheeler Stage on May 18. The annual concert is the final project for students of the Conducting II course, with each student conducting one piece of their choice.
Conducting II students have worked all semester to study scores, learn their piece and figure out how to cut it down to fit this year’s three-minute time frame.
The concert is their first chance to conduct on their own, Marcus Haynes, a senior music education major who plays the french horn in the Wind Ensemble, said.
“Everything else they do in that class is done as a group, where everyone is doing the same song,” Haynes said. “Now they have to kind of go out on their own and put a lot more thought into how can they alone be expressive and show the intent of this piece.”
Every conductor has a different style, Danielle Lilly, a senior music education major who plays the bassoon in the Wind Ensemble, said. It makes the concert both exciting and challenging as the ensemble follows 11 different conducting styles, she said.
Learning to adapt to different conductors is a helpful skill for ensemble members to learn, she said.
“It helps you get used to different conducting styles, because in professional ensembles, you might have four different conductors at any given time,” Lilly said.
The student conductors also receive valuable experience through the concert, Elizabeth Shatzer, a junior music education major who plays the oboe in the wind ensemble, said.
Being in the class teaches students how to cut and arrange music well, she said.
“I want to be a band teacher after college, so it feels like prep for when I’m teaching,” Shatzer said. “If I have to make cuts to my own music with my students after college, I now know how to do it.”
The concert will take place in the LaRita Boren Campus Center, providing a convenient break from the stress of finals.
Through the concert, the Wind Ensemble and student conductors hope to provide students a fresh take on some familiar music and a quick brain break, Shatzer said.
“I know if I wasn’t in the ensemble I’d probably just come sit in the Stu to listen, just because it’s something that’s not work or studying,” she said, “and generally we play a lot of songs that people know.”
The concert not only offers a brain break, but an opportunity to support hardworking peers and friends.
It is rewarding for conductors and performers to see friends come and enjoy the music that has taken so much hard work and time, Shatzer said.
“I hope that they can recognize some of the pieces that the student conductors chose,” Lilly said, “and I hope that they can recognize how much hard work the student conductors put into preparing those pieces.”
The Wind Ensemble and students of the Conducting II class invite students, faculty and friends to enjoy a program of beloved music and hard work from their peers.
