#wind band

DOPE (2022) by Katahj Copley - copley describes it as "a gumbo of all the music that inspires and influences me". most of the inspiration is from Black musicians (kendrick lamar, coltrane, kamasi washington, etc). copley is one of 8 composers in the Nu Black Vanguard, and his work is AMAZING (im obsessed!!) other pieces: AYO ("Rooted from hip hop and jazz culture, AYO is built in the Black language." —copley), Halcyon Hearts

Of Our New Day Begun (2016) by Omar Thomas - absolutely GORGEOUS piece partially based on Lift Every Voice and Sing / Black church music, commissioned to commemorate victims of a terrorist attack on a Black church (this kind of commission is extremely common in the concert band world). if you choose ONE of these pieces to listen to - pick this one! (the performance i chose also has the composer conducting yay!) other pieces: Mother of a Revolution! (about Marsha P. Johnson!!!), Come Sunday

Soul Suite No. 1 (2023) by Marie A. Douglas - blends hip hop with (modern/experimental) western classical (so much more challenging of a listen, but worth it). "The words 'soul suite' are an expression that I have used to describe the hip-hop production technique called the 'beat switch' […] This piece serves as the first installment in a series of compositions which I will create and dedicate to regions of the world honoring cultural staples & historical phenomena within the African diaspora." —douglas (also a Nu Black Vanguard member)

Afrospire (2023) by Bakhari Nokuri - discovered this while researching the others lol, its great! inspired by afro-cuban rhythms!

Deep River (2021) by Benjamin Horne - folk song settings are very important to wind band history, so i had to include one (and i love the original spiritual, so it had to be this!) the composer (another member of the Nu Black Vanguard) ended up making this a movement in his Spiritual Symphony (2025) which is all african american spirituals!

anyway yea enjoy!! i did my best to choose pieces that show off all different aspects of wind band lit and performances that i felt were really good — safe to say this lineup is STACKED!!!

Orchestra version

God what a day. Where do I start? I mean, it wasn't that exciting, but interesting things happened. Things didn't get good until science though, when Janek almost set his book on fire with an electric motor.

Fun times.

After that I headed to windband. And I was getting chairs for the saxophone section, because I play tenor saxophone, when Andrew appeared, saying he was coming to the whole rehearsal instead of going to rugby. And I was like, "uh, why?!" And he wandered off and left me to set up for the saxes, which i did perfectly well, as usual. Andrew appeared behind me and was like "did you get me chair??"

Of course i did. It's a habit to prepare for his abrupt arrival.

We started playing a guardian's of the galaxy medley which i adore so much, it's goddamn beautiful, except Andrew can't always play it but that's just... mildly annoying.

He was relatively mature this windband. Kinda. And sorta kind, too.

At the break, Harry murdered me. Yes he did.

I was about to text Winch about the fact Harvey mouthed "foreskin friend" at me in retaliation to me calling Wini wifey on Sunday, when Harry snuck up on me and muttered "interesting" into my ear I kid you not, I screamed like I was about to be stabbed. And smacked him for good measure. Whack. The thing was Harvey was stood right in front of me playing trombone and watched the whole thing occur with no expression. The little git.

Anyway, after playing a new piece called Invincible which seems almost impossible for all except us, the 'taxes', according to the conductor, we had to pack up. And for once, Andrew helped. He stacked my chairs, and almost got stuck in the door and was insistent he didn't need my help. Now this is where things get interesante.

According to Harvey, Andrew announced he knew he is in my "top six crushes" because one of his friends told him.

First off, I do not have six crushes. I have four, max, and mainly it's all Andrew.

Second of all, how the hell did his friend find out?

I was bombarding Harvey with questions on the way home and he was equally as confused as I was-

Apparently Mattson found out as well. He looked sour as hell and when i tried to help him with the timpanis he gave me the cold shoulder. I guess he doesn't like the fact I like his friend, then.

Once I got home, I went detective. I messaged Alison, who had no idea, and then Carter, who revealed to me several things; (disclaimer - i do not blame Carter or Andrew's friend for him finding out I at least like him a bit. Carter didn't know they'd tell Andrew, and they didn't know not to tell him. Besides, he was gonna find out at some point, I was just curious as to how)

Carter and Peter were talking about Cath Morrison, as in me, the notebook and this blog, in science. Andrew's friend kept asking them about it, and I guess some information got through. And then they relayed it back to Andrew.

Interesting, interesting indeed.

So I guess Andrew knows I like him, at least a little bit.

Should I be upset or angry? Probably Am i? No. I'm pretty excited I don't know how this is going to go down. My romance life hasn't been this exciting and anticipatory in what feels like forever.

The teasing hope. The hanging question of "do they like me back"? Does he? Probably not. Probably not at all. Maybe as a friend. Ugh, who knows-

I'll wait it out and see... and I cannot bleeding wait.

In 1985 and 1987, German group Wind placed second in the Eurovision Song Contest.

In 1985, the song 'Für Alle' got them the silver medal, and in 1987, it was 'Lass die Sonne in dein Herz.'

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