I recently attended a symphony band concert for a graduating class event at a local school’s auditorium. The song that fascinated me was On a Hymnsong of Philip Bliss, a Philip Bliss composition as arranged by David Holsinger. The following is a description of the orchestra and performance. The stage had 30 performers including the conductor. The orchestra consisted three primary sections, namely woodwind, brass, and percussion. The woodwind section comprised of a bassoon, five saxophones, flutes, clarinets, and an oboe. Second, the brass section consisted of a series of trumpets, baritones, a tuba, two French horns, and trombones. Finally, the percussion section had a timpani, snare drums, triangle, bass drum, and crash cymbals.
It would be worth noting that the orchestra included instruments from most of Hornbostel-Sachs instrument classification as follows. First, the aerophones have a major place in this performance. Notable instruments from this family include the saxophone, trumpets, the tuba, French horns, bassoon, flutes, clarinets, and the oboe. Second, the instruments from the membranophone category included the timpani, snare drums, and the bass drum. Third, the orchestra’s idiophones include cymbals and triangle.
The performance was polyphonic in texture characterized by multiple voices relatively independent from each other along trend. However, various around this texture would happen periodically to highlight and differentiate slow and intense scenes. I would characterize this performance as being mostly consonant. The reason behind this categorization is that the transitions between verses and choruses were agreeable and pleasant.
The overall music featured a simple orchestration with rhythmic variations and dynamism. This song’s tempo remained relatively slow with the quickest parts coinciding with the various parts played by the brass choir. The beginning was characteristic of an eight note pattern played using the triangle, alto saxophones and clarinets. These instruments seemingly played on the 1&2s and 3&4s. The first active part began with underlying introductory notes played into the tune of French horns cued in the trumpet segment. Flutes then took over as the melody progressed to a level that passed the tune to French horns and trombones.
There was also this part that had a subdued feel with the low wind instruments responding to the clarinet. The transition was a reminiscent of the beginning save for the complex harmonies. Ideally, the second part was the most intense piece of the performance. This part was characteristic of faster tempos and louder dynamics than its first similar counterpart. It started with a brass choir that subsequently stretched to delay resolutions. The bit came to a close with the higher woodwinds. The performance would then end with a similar rendition of the clarinet section and finally the conclusion
The performers were largely professional comprising of renowned musicians from the local Community Church Band. Notably, these musicians shared a formal type of communication with their audience. This idea is characteristic of the level of silence in the auditorium during the performance and the musicians’ style of exit after the performance. Furthermore, the level of interaction was semi-formal with some taking turns to switch places in the percussion section. The conductor, a visible leader, remained formal through the use of hand gestures to offer cues to the end and beginning of different pieces.
The entire orchestra and the audiences seemingly comprised of individuals from middle to upper social classes. I could tell this classification from their dress code and presentation style. The audience, including myself, showed approval by applauding at the end of the performance. There were no physical accompaniments to the music shown by the band’s relative calm posture during the performance. Guiding from the cues, one would see that the band learned the music through rigorous training and self-teaching for synchrony.
Finally, the following are some of the things I recognized concerning the song's performance. The song’s right of ownership belong to David Holsinger as Published by TRN Music Publisher. Holsinger wrote this song to the setting of Philip Bliss’s It is Well with my Soul. He would first perform it in honor of the Shady Grove Church Academy of Grand Prairie retiring Principal Steve Edel (Concert Band Land). Third, the music’s tonal variation invites a solemn event as a form of entertainment and farewell. Thus, its symbolic content makes it fit for graduation ceremonies, farewell parties and funerals. Lastly, I noted that though seemingly prepared, the musicians performed out of their personal free will for a local event.
Works Cited
Concert Band Land. You Tube Video: On a Hymnsong of Philip Bliss. 27 May 2010. Web. 20 March 2016. <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-rfMz9a4oYk>.
