With the spring semester the Langston university marching pride is taking their step back and letting the jazz and concert bands take the stage. The jazz band, under the direction of Professor Mark Gordon, is just getting back from the Houston area where they did four performances in two days. They performed at a music festival at the Buffalo Soldiers Museum along with other ensembles from different schools and colleges. The band also performed at different high schools to recruit for the band.
Along with the jazz band and the concert band, directed by Professor Brandon Stevenson, the music program is adding a new wind ensemble. The band is made up of around fifty students and is under the direction of Dr. Jonathan Allen, head of the music department.
I spoke with Allen, and he told me that since the band has been growing rapidly over time that “we can afford to have two large ensembles in the spring catered for concert style performance.”
He also explained that the wind ensemble is made of the finest musicians in the band and will be learning and performing challenging pieces. Allen is adding diversity to the music; he has picked out a wide variety of genres including works by African American, Hispanic, and female composers.
Amalia Davis, a bass clarinet player in the wind ensemble, said that the music being played is different than most of the traditional songs that would be played in concert bands, saying it’s “a different vibe than prof B’s music or even prof G.”
The ensemble will feature a song written by an HBCU graduate, Marie A. Douglas, in their upcoming concert. Marie graduated from FAMU where she started her career blending concert music with modern Hip-Hop and “Trap music.”
The piece the ensemble will be performing features an “electric accompaniment,” which will be adlibs and other electronic sounds to accompany the band to create a blended sound. Douglas’s music has been featured in large bands like The U.S. Navy Band, The U.S. Army field band, University of Georgia and many others.
Allen wants to thank the student population and the administration for supporting the band program and the entire music department. The music department would also like to invite the student population and staff to the end of the semester concerts taking place at the end of April. The choir concert will be on April 17th and the Jazz band, concert band brass ensemble and new wind ensemble will be performing April 24th.
Damien Alexander
Damien Alexander is a senior broadcast journalism student.
