Six Macon students performed Saturday in the Northeast Missouri Music Educators Association All-District Band concert at Truman State University's Baldwin Auditorium in Kirksville.
Payton Bingaman, Cathryne Wiggans, Aryan Patel, and Dyllan Hamblen, all of Macon, played in the All-District Band. Bridget Roberts and William Henry, both of Macon, played in the Honorable Mention All-District Band.
Bingaman was 11th chair on flute, Wiggans was sixth chair on clarinet, Patel was second chair on euphonium, and Hamblen was sixth chair on tuba, according to a Macon school slide shown at the concert. In the Honorable Mention band, Roberts was sixth chair on clarinet, and Henry was second chair on tuba, according to the slide.
The two bands included 185 students, the announcer said. The students rehearsed at Truman during the day before the 6 p.m. concert, according to the association. The announcer recognized students with two, three, and four years in the district honor bands, as well as students in their first year.
Richard F. Chapman, a senior instructor at the U.S. Army School of Music, conducted the Honorable Mention band. He previously commanded the 399th Army Band at Fort Leonard Wood, according to the association. The announcer said Chapman's conducting career has spanned military, professional, and community music on five continents.
The Honorable Mention band's printed program listed "Sunchaser" by Carol Brittin Chambers, "Thawing" by Kazuki Shimoda, "Hands Across the Sea" by John Philip Sousa, arranged by Andrew Balent, and "Shenandoah" by Frank Ticheli, and said the selections and their order would be announced.
Chapman thanked parents from the stage. "So thank you for letting me work with your children, your students and make music," he said. He also thanked the band directors in the audience for teaching students the fundamentals.
Chapman closed the Honorable Mention set with "Hands Across the Sea," which he called "one of my favorites." He said the military played the march often overseas to build allies and partnerships.
Chapman said his family left Fort Leonard Wood in 2016 and spent about 10 years overseas in Europe, Japan, and Korea before returning to the United States about six months ago. He called Missouri an adopted second home and said his child was born in the state.
Richard Mark Heidel, director of bands at the University of Iowa, conducted the All-District Band.
"It's just been a thrill to be here today," Heidel said. He said he was "very, very proud of these students," who spent about five and a half hours Saturday putting together a demanding program. Their lips were a little tired, he said, and some ice cream might be in order on the way home.
The All-District Band played "Melodious Thunk" by David Biedenbender, "Rippling Watercolors" by Brian Balmages, "Under the Double Eagle" by J.F. Wagner, arranged by Andrew Glover, and Symphony No. 4 by Andrew Boysen Jr., who teaches at the University of New Hampshire. Biedenbender has written that "Melodious Thunk" was inspired by Thelonious Monk and uses a fragment of Dizzy Gillespie's "Salt Peanuts."
Heidel called "Under the Double Eagle" an 1893 European march that became hugely popular in the United States. He said Boysen's symphony, the major work of the night, runs about 11 and a half minutes and presents the structure of a symphony with contemporary techniques.
"It's modern, it's intense," he said.
Missouri All-State Band auditions are Dec. 5 at Hickman High School in Columbia. Each district decides which of its students, including alternates, are eligible to audition, according to the Missouri Bandmasters Association.