Page 16 - 2017-BMR-December

Reflections . . .

and waving their arms. I had stranger after stranger coming Clearly there are many meanings that can come out of
up to me at that game saying they were so happy we were a show called “In the Garden of Cosmic Speculation,” but
playing that song and that they just loved singing along. At this interpretation was one that I found really unique and
a football game! special. A few weeks ago we had a student share what his
We had a standing ovation at Lufkin when we performed interpretation of the show was and he explained that our
for their home crowd and I received emails from their show was about Houston and the hurricane. We had six
football fans that next week about how much they loved our large prong-like props in our show that represented the six
show and music. Over the next few weeks I also received major hurricanes that had hit various parts of the world
emails from stadium golf cart drivers and other strangers up until that point. We had a large circular spiral tarp that
from across our state that saw our kids, either at a game or represented Hurricane Harvey. Our opener, “Adoration”
contest, who just wanted to share how much they had been from Scythian Suite, represented the impending chaos and
touched by the performance. PEOPLE CONNECTED and ultimate destruction of the storm. The 2nd production,
they wanted to share how much it meant to them. “All This Shall Be Yours,” was the struggle between the
dark times and the eventual rise of the
community to become heroes in the face
of darkness. The euphonium soloist in
How Great Thou Art was the voice of
God telling everyone that we would be
ok and that he would protect us, and that
our closer, “Temen Oblak” (which literally
means Dark Clouds) represented the dark
clouds lifting and the triumph and survival
of our city. WHOA.
A memory that will last a lifetime --
Watching the kids in sheer elation for over
an hour after our Finals performance on
Saturday night. We always have many tears
and see lots of hugs after the last contest
performance of the season, but this year
was different. On a completely different
level. Not just the seniors. Not just the girls.
Have you ever seen about 300 kids loving
on each other for almost an hour straight
after a performance? If you have, then
you’re as lucky as we are. If you haven’t...
it’s something to behold. I’ve never seen so
much connection and appreciation for one
another as I saw that night....UNTIL THIS
MORNING IN CLASS.

Bandmasters Review • December 2017 14 Texas Bandmasters Association