WCHS Band Has 'Conversation With The Night'
July 28, 2016 at 4:25 p.m.
By David [email protected]
“The night is dark. It has a dark, eerie feeling and can be scary. The night has fun parts to it, too,” said Chris Yingling, a Warsaw Community High School senior who plays the saxophone in the marching band.
“I think of it being peaceful and crickets chirping and looking at stars,” Cari O’Hara, WCHS senior and flutist, said.
“Night makes me think of calm and sadness. I know it’s pessimistic, but that’s what I think of,” said Drew Tomasik freshman trumpet player.
The WCHS marching band and color guard are thinking of night sounds this season as the title of the 2011 show is “Conversations with the Night”.
According to band director Mickey Ratliff, the show’s music is based on two pieces.
The first piece is “Conversations with the Night”. It opens and closes the show. Ratliff said the idea for the show came from “Conversations with the Night” by composer Andrew Boysen Jr.
A school band commissioned Boysen to write the piece as a memorial to a musician who was a friend of the band. The musician had died.
Boysen’s idea for the piece came from the fact that the musician would often go out on long walks at night to have some peace and solitude, to mediate and think, Ratliff said.
After the musician died, his mother would console herself by going out at night and conducting conversations with her late son.
“It was a way of mourning for her,” Ratliff said.
The piece’s story gave Ratliff the idea for the show. It’s not that the marching band is trying to portray that story, but portray the progress of dusk to dawn.
“That piece of the show starts very quiet and solemn,” Ratliff said, “and I can visualize a sunset when I hear the music. We end the show with the same bit of music to represent the beginning of dawn.”
The middle section of the show comes from the piece “Wild Nights”, and is the fast-paced section of the show.
Ratliff said the “Wild Nights” section is very fast, rhythmic, jazzy at times and also arabic at times. The original piece was written by Frank Ticheli.
“That original piece was written as a musical depiction of an Emily Dickinson poem,” said Ratliff. “The poem is all about freedom, liberty and recklessness and wild abandon. We hope to depict that with that part of the show.”
The night has very difference characteristics, he said. At times, it can be quiet and reflective, but the night also can be very scary, fun and crazy.
When the show moves from “Wild Nights” back to “Conversations with the Night”, Ratliff said, it brings listeners to the sunrise of the new day. He said that part of the show will be a big expressive part of the show. If the marching band can pull it off, Ratliff said, it will be gorgeous.
“I think it’s challenging, at least for me, but I really like it,” said Tomasik of the music.
“I really think the music is a step up from years previous,” said Yingling. “Different styles from years past.”
“It’s different from previous years and it’s kind of a hard piece, depending on your musical ability,” said O’Hara.
Asked what makes it hard, O’Hara said, “The off beats.”
“Lots of notes,” interjected Yingling.
“The 16th notes,” O’Hara contributed.[[In-content Ad]]The public will get its first glimpse of the show during halftime of the Aug. 19 football game against Columbia City.
Warsaw’s first contest is Sept. 10 at Goshen. The marching band then travels to DeKalb Sept. 17, and to Penn Sept. 24. District competition will be at Penn Oct. 1.
The competition for Oct. 8 is to be announced. Ratliff said in the past few years, the band has traveled to Plymouth for a contest that day. He’s been considering going elsewhere this year.
Regional contest will be Oct. 15 at Chesterton, with semistate being Oct. 22
Ratliff said the band hopes to make semistate this year.
“We went to regional last year. We’ve not made it yet to semistate. We’ve been very close. Last year, we were 3-1/2 points behind the lowest scoring band that made it,” Ratliff said.
The top 10 scoring bands from regionals move on to semi state.
“Making it to semistate is a goal of ours, it is within reach,” Ratliff said. “But it’s not a given. We have to push ourselves and work hard. I’ve always felt we’ve had the potential to do it. We just need that extra something-something. I think the show design will help us because it’s the most artistic show we’ve done.”
He also said the styles of music on the field are different than what the WCHS marching band has done in the past, too.
“It seems like everyone is excited about music and I don’t find that anywhere else,” Tomasik said about this year’s band.
“I think we have a better chance of getting to semistate,” said Yingling. “The freshman class has been awesome. We have a tight-knit group.”
O’Hara said, “We have a lot of work to do yet, but I think we have a really good group.”
Full band camp started Monday to get ready for this year’s show. Prior to that, the band had a week of half days, from 1 to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday. Before that, the band had three weeks in June.
June’s practices were about getting the freshmen and new band members oriented and taught what to do, Ratliff said. The band also participated in the annual Silver Lake parade, which is the band’s first performance of the new school year. By the time they did that parade, the band had only six rehearsals under its belt.
Marching band membership is up about 10 members this year. Ratliff said they have 110 members this year, compared to about 100 last year.
“We’ve garnered a few more freshmen than we lost in seniors last year. They’re doing a real good job, too,” said Ratliff. “The success of the band depends on the freshman class because they are new. But we have a good class this year.”
O’Hara said her goals for the band this year are to make semi state. Personally, her goal is to “be the best marcher I can be.”
Yingling also wants to make it to semi state, but also perform at the semi state level all year round. Personally, he wants to establish himself as a leader.
“My personal goal is to be a better musician,” said Tomasik.
“The night is dark. It has a dark, eerie feeling and can be scary. The night has fun parts to it, too,” said Chris Yingling, a Warsaw Community High School senior who plays the saxophone in the marching band.
“I think of it being peaceful and crickets chirping and looking at stars,” Cari O’Hara, WCHS senior and flutist, said.
“Night makes me think of calm and sadness. I know it’s pessimistic, but that’s what I think of,” said Drew Tomasik freshman trumpet player.
The WCHS marching band and color guard are thinking of night sounds this season as the title of the 2011 show is “Conversations with the Night”.
According to band director Mickey Ratliff, the show’s music is based on two pieces.
The first piece is “Conversations with the Night”. It opens and closes the show. Ratliff said the idea for the show came from “Conversations with the Night” by composer Andrew Boysen Jr.
A school band commissioned Boysen to write the piece as a memorial to a musician who was a friend of the band. The musician had died.
Boysen’s idea for the piece came from the fact that the musician would often go out on long walks at night to have some peace and solitude, to mediate and think, Ratliff said.
After the musician died, his mother would console herself by going out at night and conducting conversations with her late son.
“It was a way of mourning for her,” Ratliff said.
The piece’s story gave Ratliff the idea for the show. It’s not that the marching band is trying to portray that story, but portray the progress of dusk to dawn.
“That piece of the show starts very quiet and solemn,” Ratliff said, “and I can visualize a sunset when I hear the music. We end the show with the same bit of music to represent the beginning of dawn.”
The middle section of the show comes from the piece “Wild Nights”, and is the fast-paced section of the show.
Ratliff said the “Wild Nights” section is very fast, rhythmic, jazzy at times and also arabic at times. The original piece was written by Frank Ticheli.
“That original piece was written as a musical depiction of an Emily Dickinson poem,” said Ratliff. “The poem is all about freedom, liberty and recklessness and wild abandon. We hope to depict that with that part of the show.”
The night has very difference characteristics, he said. At times, it can be quiet and reflective, but the night also can be very scary, fun and crazy.
When the show moves from “Wild Nights” back to “Conversations with the Night”, Ratliff said, it brings listeners to the sunrise of the new day. He said that part of the show will be a big expressive part of the show. If the marching band can pull it off, Ratliff said, it will be gorgeous.
“I think it’s challenging, at least for me, but I really like it,” said Tomasik of the music.
“I really think the music is a step up from years previous,” said Yingling. “Different styles from years past.”
“It’s different from previous years and it’s kind of a hard piece, depending on your musical ability,” said O’Hara.
Asked what makes it hard, O’Hara said, “The off beats.”
“Lots of notes,” interjected Yingling.
“The 16th notes,” O’Hara contributed.[[In-content Ad]]The public will get its first glimpse of the show during halftime of the Aug. 19 football game against Columbia City.
Warsaw’s first contest is Sept. 10 at Goshen. The marching band then travels to DeKalb Sept. 17, and to Penn Sept. 24. District competition will be at Penn Oct. 1.
The competition for Oct. 8 is to be announced. Ratliff said in the past few years, the band has traveled to Plymouth for a contest that day. He’s been considering going elsewhere this year.
Regional contest will be Oct. 15 at Chesterton, with semistate being Oct. 22
Ratliff said the band hopes to make semistate this year.
“We went to regional last year. We’ve not made it yet to semistate. We’ve been very close. Last year, we were 3-1/2 points behind the lowest scoring band that made it,” Ratliff said.
The top 10 scoring bands from regionals move on to semi state.
“Making it to semistate is a goal of ours, it is within reach,” Ratliff said. “But it’s not a given. We have to push ourselves and work hard. I’ve always felt we’ve had the potential to do it. We just need that extra something-something. I think the show design will help us because it’s the most artistic show we’ve done.”
He also said the styles of music on the field are different than what the WCHS marching band has done in the past, too.
“It seems like everyone is excited about music and I don’t find that anywhere else,” Tomasik said about this year’s band.
“I think we have a better chance of getting to semistate,” said Yingling. “The freshman class has been awesome. We have a tight-knit group.”
O’Hara said, “We have a lot of work to do yet, but I think we have a really good group.”
Full band camp started Monday to get ready for this year’s show. Prior to that, the band had a week of half days, from 1 to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday. Before that, the band had three weeks in June.
June’s practices were about getting the freshmen and new band members oriented and taught what to do, Ratliff said. The band also participated in the annual Silver Lake parade, which is the band’s first performance of the new school year. By the time they did that parade, the band had only six rehearsals under its belt.
Marching band membership is up about 10 members this year. Ratliff said they have 110 members this year, compared to about 100 last year.
“We’ve garnered a few more freshmen than we lost in seniors last year. They’re doing a real good job, too,” said Ratliff. “The success of the band depends on the freshman class because they are new. But we have a good class this year.”
O’Hara said her goals for the band this year are to make semi state. Personally, her goal is to “be the best marcher I can be.”
Yingling also wants to make it to semi state, but also perform at the semi state level all year round. Personally, he wants to establish himself as a leader.
“My personal goal is to be a better musician,” said Tomasik.
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