Wind Ensemble Archives - �鶹ӰԺ University

Concerto competition winner Vivian Shanley explores musical versatility with double bass

Communications — Thu, 01 May 2025 13:45:09 +0000

Musicians often specialize in a single genre, some rarely venturing into other realms. For �鶹ӰԺ University junior Vivian Shanley, this was not an option. Through the double bass, Shanley has discovered just how versatile one instrument can be, using it to explore a broad spectrum of musical traditions during her time at �鶹ӰԺ.

Her recent victory in the Wind Ensemble Concerto Competition is a case in point. Set for performance with the LU Wind Ensemble in Memorial Chapel on May 3 (concert begins at 7:30 p.m.), Shanley’s winning piece—Dana Wilson’s Concerto for Contrabass and Wind Ensemble—is rich with allusions to many musical styles.

“There are definitely some jazz influences,” said Shanley, of Cedar Rapids, Iowa. “There are also a lot of Afro-Cuban influences, some avant-garde jazz influences. I would call it groove-based music. I hope the audience is dancing in their seats a little bit.”

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The piece’s shifting styles include a general improvisatory aesthetic—so convincing, in fact, that Shanley said she has received compliments on her “improvised sections,” even though the entire work is fully written out.

She insists that the piece’s inventiveness isn’t rooted in unjustified randomicity. Instead, its high-energy character arises from meticulously organized material.

“There’s so much kind of call and response between the bass and the wind ensemble, both as a whole and with individual players,” she said. “It’s really fun to listen to, whether you’ve heard it a million times like I have, or for the first time.”

Furthermore, each of the concerto’s three movements is titled and inspired by a poem; the wide-ranging authors include Walt Whitman, Hildegard von Bingen, and William Butler Yeats. Though each portion presents a distinct soundscape, Shanley observes a subtle narrative linking them together.

“In my mind, I have a story I’ve made up and applied to it,” she said. “I hope everyone else creates their own narrative too. It feels like a journey, and to me it’s all connected.”

Genre is not the only plurality in Shanley’s musical life; her instruments include not just the double bass, but French horn and piano. In fact, it was the latter that first drew her to music at just 5 years old.

“As soon as I started playing piano, I thought, I want to do this for the rest of my life: playing music,” Shanley said.

Quickly though, the bass became her calling card.

“I joined my orchestra in fifth grade on bass; I was just so drawn to the sound,” she recalled. “You kind of have to be, because it’s such a pain to haul around a bass. But I love how it’s so integral to so many styles of music. It can be the harmonic foundation, rhythmic framework, or a soloist.”

That versatility made �鶹ӰԺ University her ideal choice. She is majoring in music performance (double bass) and music education.

“I really came to �鶹ӰԺ because I wanted to study with Mark Urness,” Shanley said. “But I’ve stayed for so many more reasons. I love playing in the orchestra with Mark Dupere and playing in LUJE [�鶹ӰԺ University Jazz Ensemble] with Patty Darling. Even when my focus [has shifted]—between orchestra, solo music, jazz, or teaching—�鶹ӰԺ has always supported me.”

After her performance this week, Shanley has a busy summer ahead. She’ll be attending the Domaine Forget International Festival and bass-focused Wabass Institute, and she’s preparing for her first professional orchestra audition in June.

“The audition preparation has been a really exciting new challenge,” she said. “My whole musical career, I’ve been focused on one gigantic piece at a time. Now I’m working on 24 different orchestral excerpts. They’re all short, but all so different. It’s been super fun.”

Long-term, Shanley sees graduate school in her future, but not right away. First, she’ll complete student teaching as part of her major in music education.

“I love being a student,” she said with a laugh. “I think I want to be a teacher because it’s the closest you can get to just being a student forever.”

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Wind Ensemble concert, set for March 1, offers a nod to 150 years of Conservatory of Music history

Communications — Wed, 26 Feb 2025 21:07:08 +0000

The latest performance celebrating the 150-year history of �鶹ӰԺ University’s Conservatory of Music will come courtesy of the LU Wind Ensemble, directed by Ceon Rumphs, instructor of music.

The performance, “Homegrown: Celebrating the 150th,” features commissions and other special works with a nod to the Conservatory’s past and present. It is set for 7:30 p.m. March 1 in Memorial Chapel. The concert is free and open to the public. A reception will be held in Shattuck 156 following the performance.

Alumni and former Conservatory faculty members with ties to the pieces being performed will be in attendance.

“The Conservatory has been a home for students, faculty, and musicians for 150 years,” Rumphs said. “The legacy we all enjoy now is because of the labor of those who came before us. It’s our honor and privilege to present this concert as a small tribute to them.”

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. The Conservatory debuted in 1874, launched with a single faculty member. It has grown over the past century and a half into the celebrated music conservatory it is today. With more than 25 areas of study, 360 students currently pursuing one of three music degree options (plus a possible dual degree), and 48 full-time and 23 part-time faculty, the Conservatory prepares students for music careers of today and tomorrow.

The Wind Ensemble will lean into all of that as it presents its Winter Term concert. Works to be performed include:

Arclight Alley: Composed by alumnus David Werfelmann ’06, this piece was commissioned by Andrew Mast and the �鶹ӰԺ University Wind Ensemble. Mast is currently serving as the associate dean for the Conservatory. Werfelmann, an award-winning composer of instrumental, vocal, and electronic music, will attend the concert, Rumphs said.
My Robin is to the Greenwood Gone: Composed by Percy Grainger, this selection was arranged for wind ensemble by Fred Sturm ’73, the former director of jazz and improvisational music at �鶹ӰԺ. In the notes to the piece, Sturm dedicates the work to Fred Schroeder, the first director of bands at �鶹ӰԺ from 1951 to 1978. The Wind Ensemble’s performance will honor both the legacies of Sturm and Schroeder.
Trilogy for Trumpet and Wind Ensemble: It is composed by John Harmon ’57, the first director of the jazz program. Nadje Noordhuis, assistant professor of music in the Conservatory, will be featured on trumpet. The first movement of this work was initially conceived as a surprise gift to Robert Levy, director of bands at �鶹ӰԺ from 1979 to 2004. Levy and Harmon are expected to be in attendance, Rumphs said.
Songs Without Words: This piece is a nod to �鶹ӰԺ’s love of Wisconsin. Composed by Charles Rochester Young, it was commissioned by 12 Wisconsin universities and is dedicated to James Arrowood, professor emeritus at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point. Additionally, the composer was on the faculty at UW-Stevens Point and remains friends with many faculty members at the Conservatory, Rumphs said.
City of Ambition: As another nod to �鶹ӰԺ’s ties to Wisconsin, this piece by Wisconsin composer Theresa Martin will be featured. Martin maintains an active clarinet studio in Wisconsin. She will attend the concert.

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Bands concert to bring hip-hop collaboration to ‘Lincolnshire Posy’

Communications — Mon, 14 Nov 2022 16:23:22 +0000

When the �鶹ӰԺ University Symphonic Band and Wind Ensemble take the stage at Memorial Chapel on Nov. 16 for the final concert of Fall Term, it’ll feature a collaboration unlike anything the bands have presented in the past.

In a program celebrating a variety of voices, the Symphonic Band will present a regional premiere of Aakash Mittal’s Salt March for Wind Ensemble and the Wind Ensemble will feature Professor of Trumpet John Daniel in John Barnes Chance’s Concerto for Trumpet and Band and a performance of Percy Grainger’s Lincolnshire Posy conceptualized as a vehicle for hip-hop via the talents of Wasonu Allen ’20, aka Sonu.

Andy Mast, the Kimberly-Clark Professor of Music and director of bands, will lead the Wind Ensemble while Matthew Arau ’97, associate professor of music education and associate director of bands, will lead the Symphonic Band.

The performance of Lincolnshire Posy with a hip-hop collaboration takes the concert into new territory, Mast said.

Lincolnshire Posyis a standard in the band repertoire, but this one comes with a significant twist, with alumnus Sonu. performing in collaboration, reframing the piece, which is based on folk songs dealing with issues of justice, love, and loss.

Mast said a colleague at the University of Maryland shared a video last summer of a hip-hop-wind ensemble collaboration.

“I found it compelling and thought-provoking,” he said.

Mast had already been planning on programming the Lincolnshire Posy, one of the most widely recognized masterpieces in the wind band repertoire. He wanted to reframe the folk songs through the lens of contemporary hip-hop. That led to working with Sonu.

Mast called Sonu. “an already accomplished artist and human being” and said the energy leading into Wednesday’s concert is palpable.

“It will truly be Lincolnshire Posy as you’ve never heard it before,” Mast said. “It’s a risk, for sure, but this is what art should do. I look forward to every performance of every piece in this concert but particularly hope our audience can help support a truly different approach to music, poetry, and life.”

The concert is set for 8 p.m. Nov. 16 in Memorial Chapel. Admission is free. It also will be webcast at .

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Nate Scott ’23: New music and understanding with the Bassoon Department

Communications — Mon, 14 Feb 2022 18:38:14 +0000

Nate Scott ’23 knew from the outset that he wanted to study music performance. Eventually, he found that �鶹ӰԺ was like the ideal place to do it.

He discovered �鶹ӰԺ through a fair for performing arts schools, and since then has been able to expand his musical experiences more than he ever thought possible. Since coming to �鶹ӰԺ, Nate has been able to explore music outside of the usual classical repertoire that he otherwise may never have experienced.

He says, “The studio really opened me up to a lot of possibilities with the bassoon and showed me the player I could be.”

In addition to exploring new music, Nate also enjoys taking part in several ensembles here on campus such as the �鶹ӰԺ Symphony Orchestra, �鶹ӰԺ University Wind Ensemble, and his own chamber groups.

Like so many of his peers, Nate says he is grateful for the numerous opportunities that the “�鶹ӰԺ Difference” has brought him.

“Meeting so many different people here has really help me expand myself both academically and personally. I am a really different person than I was coming into �鶹ӰԺ, and I really like who I am now.”

In his time after �鶹ӰԺ, Nate hopes to spend some time traveling, further expanding his possibilities with the bassoon, eventually hoping to land in grad school on the east coast.

Nate Scott

Class Year: 2023

Area of Study: Bassoon Performance

Hometown: Bonney Lake, Washington

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On Main Hall Green With … Andrew Mast: Embracing the rush of music, history

Communications — Thu, 03 Feb 2022 15:24:37 +0000

About the series: On Main Hall Green With … is an opportunity to connect with faculty on things in and out of the classroom. We’re featuring a different �鶹ӰԺ faculty member each time — same questions, different answers.

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In addition to directing award-winning bands in �鶹ӰԺ University’s Conservatory of Music, Andrew Mast is an astute observer of history.

The Kimberly-Clark Professor of Music and director of bands stepped up to organize the Jan. 15 recital that helped launch the year-long celebration of the 175th anniversary of �鶹ӰԺ’s founding. He did so in part because he has been fascinated by the school’s rich history ever since he arrived on the Conservatory faculty in 2004. The recital featured faculty, students, and alumni performing pieces composed in or near 1847 or composed by Lawrentians.

History—musical or otherwise—helps inform and inspire Mast’s teaching at �鶹ӰԺ.

When he’s not directing the �鶹ӰԺ Wind Ensemble and the Symphonic Band, he might be found teaching a course on band history. Or a course in First-Year Studies. Or he might be pursuing his interest in the Vincent Persichetti Society, an organization he co-founded that is dedicated to the work of the prolific 20th-century American composer.

Then again, he might be seeking inspiration on a long motorcycle ride through the Wisconsin countryside. That, too, is a passion.

Mast, who earned bachelor and doctorate degrees from the University of Iowa and a master’s degree from the University of Minnesota, is a past recipient of �鶹ӰԺ’s Freshman Studies��(�ԴǷ��First-Year Studies) Teaching Award in 2011 and the Young Teacher Award in 2009.

We caught up with Mast to talk about interests in and out of the classroom:

In the classroom

Inside info: What’s one thing you want every student coming into your classes to know about you?

My mother was Scandinavian and my father was raised Amish, resulting in a hyper-attenuated sense of modesty that precludes me thinking very much about what others should know about me. I would hope that it doesn’t take long for students in my classes and ensembles to get the sense that I care about them as people and try not to take myself too seriously.

Getting energized: What work have you done or will you be doing at �鶹ӰԺ that gets you the most excited?

Perhaps it’s cliché, but every rehearsal energizes and excites me. I’ve been fortunate to take the Wind Ensemble to regional and national conferences, do recording sessions and work with world-renowned performers and composers, but I just love the “daily-ness” of working with �鶹ӰԺ students in a collaborative way.

Going places: Is there an example of somewhere your career has taken you (either a physical space or something more intellectual, emotional or spiritual) that took you by surprise?

So many come to mind, but I distinctly remember guest-conducting in the Czech Republic commemorating that region’s liberation from the Nazis after World War II. This was during the early years of the Iraq War when there was so much turmoil about that conflict, but being reminded of a time when American forces had been part of something so (nearly) unambiguously noble was truly heartening. The combination of music and politics was perfect.

Out of the classroom

This or that: If you weren’t teaching for a living, what would you be doing?

My usual answer to that question is that I’d be teaching something else—probably English or history—but if you’re going to kick me out of the classroom altogether, I would run a motorcycle touring company. Or sell motorcycles. Or find a way to earn money riding motorcycles that didn’t involve going ludicrously fast on them.

Right at home: Whether for work, relaxation or reflection, what’s your favorite spot on campus?

The stage of the Memorial Chapel, hands down. Whether for an evening concert or during an afternoon rehearsal when sunlight is streaming in through the stained-glass windows, I never fail to have a catch-my-breath moment at the sheer beauty and palpable karma of the place.

One book, one recording, one film: Name one of each that speaks to your soul? Or you would recommend to a friend? Or both?

So many of each I’d love to share, but here goes:

��Ǵǰ�:��Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance by Robert Pirsig—the combination of father/son narrative, middle-brow philosophical inquiry, and depiction of motorcycling combines in one of the few books I’ve re-read multiple times and love it.

Recording: Uff da. You’re asking a musician, so this is a tough one, but I’d have to say Moving Pictures by Rush. All I know is that if I’m ever in a coma and I don’t respond to Tom Sawyer, go ahead and pull the plug because there’s nothing going on inside.

Film: Since it’s that time of year, I’ll say Groundhog Day. This isn’t the greatest movie of all time but I’ve loved it each of the 100 times I’ve seen it. Sly commentary combined with Bill Murray’s goofiness makes me laugh and think every time.

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