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Curtains raise on fall instrumental concert Thursday night

Godzilla is making an appearance at this year’s fall instrumental concert.

Professor of Music John Fletcher is conducting the symphonic band for the annual fall instrumental concert. Fletcher selected the music, auditioned the members of the band and rehearsed with the students.

“Since there are three ensembles for this concert, each ensemble has a different instructor in charge, being myself, Kathy Thompson and Heath Jones, and we all play the same part for them,” Fletcher said. “Eventually the three of us come together to talk about the plan of how everything is to be done and how it will all come together for the show.”

Fletcher said there is not a set theme for this concert considering there are different ensembles performing during the concert, but his ensemble is the featured piece for the entire performance.

“For my portion of the concert we are featuring a piece called ‘Godzilla eats Las Vegas,’” Fletcher said. “So I have kind of made that the feature piece for our ensemble. I can’t say this is the theme for the whole concert but that is what is on the poster for the concert and what we are using to help publicize the show. Each ensemble is different and each conductor chooses what creative pieces they would like their section to perform.”

Fletcher said this concert will be a unique experience for those who attend. According to Fletcher, this particular concert includes a wide variety of music and performance techniques.

“Coming out to watch this concert, the audience should expect a diverse collection of pieces and be ready to see all the hard work that everyone has put into the preparation for this show,” Fletcher said. “Personally I am looking forward to the Godzilla piece the most because the band members get to talk, scream, march and do crazy things where they get to move around on stage and have special sound effects accompanying them.”

Thompson, department chair and professor of music, directs the chamber orchestra, and she said she is excited to see how the students have progressed throughout the year.

“A large number of the students in the orchestra are freshmen, so it will be their second concert this year, and I am really looking forward to see how they have progressed since the last concert because I know they have made some big strides in good directions this semester,” Thompson said. “I have a passion for the music we are playing and the students that are in the orchestra and I can’t wait for everything to come together.”

Senior violinist Marina Pendleton is playing first violin in the concert and has a solo in the Irish fiddle piece, “The Cliffs of Moher.” Pendleton said she enjoys being able to share the fruit of hard work with family, friends and the Oklahoma Christian community.

“I love to experience the rhythm and feeling of the whole orchestra coming together and creating beautiful music,” Pendleton said. “I am especially excited that we are playing a fiddle piece. Fiddle is one of my favorite genres, but it’s not traditionally played by an orchestra. Dr. Thompson does a great job of creating a diverse and new collection of pieces for each of our programs.”

This year, the fall instrumental concert will be Thursday, Nov. 17, at 7:30 p.m. in the Hardeman Auditorium and it is free to attend.

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