Wheaton Municipal Band to host 'Healing Power of Music' July 11
On Thursday, July 11, the Wheaton Municipal Band Concert explores the healing power of music with Alex Kaminsky, former director of bands at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Florida, at 7:30 p.m. in Memorial Park in downtown Wheaton.
After the tragic shooting at the high school, the nation watched and wondered how the students and faculty could recover from such trauma and loss? Music has intrinsic healing power.
"The power of music has never been more evident to me than how I saw it help my students deal with their inner emotions," Kaminsky said. "Their music-making took on a new dimension. Everyone that heard their voice through their music were deeply affected by it, myself included."
This week's program includes music not often performed in Memorial Park, and it promises to be an evening filled with emotion and healing.
Kaminsky picked the music selection, because the Stoneman Douglas Wind Symphony performed them at various times after the shooting. The music includes "American Overture" by Jenkins, "Be Thou My Vision" by Gillingham, and "Children's March" by Percy Granger.
Also on the program is a work by Wayne Quin. The Marjory Stoneman Douglas Wind Ensemble premiered Quin's work "Song for Silent Voices" at the Midwest Band Conference in 2018. Ouin wrote in his score "These brave young musicians, having been through unspeakable tragedy, are an inspiration to all. This music somehow merges grief and gratitude; the quiet void from a life lost and the thankfulness for times shared."
"Our music-making centered around Leonard Bernstein's quote, 'this will be our reply to violence: to make music more intensely, more beautifully, more devotedly than ever before'," Kaminsky said. Bernstein said this after he conducted a performance that honored the recently assassinated President John F. Kennedy.
"Music is an art - just like an artist can paint his/her emotion onto a canvas, a musician can play a piece expressing emotion. A musician's canvas is silence," Kaminsky said. "Music can heal in many ways. Playing music has proven to be a great form of therapy."
An outstanding musician and educator, Kaminsky has been recognized for his musical excellence, receiving the National Band Association's Citation of Excellence ten times and the top rating of Superior at the State Concert Band Assessment for an unprecedented 23 consecutive years. He has taken a new position as director of bands with Vander Cook College of Music in Chicago.
Onso on this evening's program is a new work commissioned for the Wheaton Municipal Band by composer Ornsby Rose.
The band performs the premiere at this concert and the composer will be in the audience enjoying its first performance.
Don't miss this powerful concert, Thursday, July 11, at 7:30 p.m. in Memorial Park 208 W. Union Ave.
in downtown Wheaton.
The concert conveys the healing power of music, just as the Marjory Stoneman Douglas band students came together to play their instruments in community as one voice, lifting each other up and communicating to listeners hope for the future.
For more information, visit the band's website, www.wheatonmunicipalband.org.