Brass gleaming, fingers perched for the first note, all eyes focused on the conductor, the Jesuit-Ursuline Ranger Band prepares to begin its annual Christmas Concert. The band played various carols and arrangements for a Jesuit crowd on Tuesday, December 9th. Accompanied by the Jesuit Men’s Chorus, the musicians combined for a total of ten songs throughout the night. From Sousa arrangements matched with melodies from Christmas carols to classic holiday songs, the Ranger Band put on another fantastic performance.
Band President Dominic Iannelli ’15 reflected back on the season, saying that “[it] was my last Christmas concert ever, which is pretty sad to think about, but it was an awesome concert and I’m glad my last one ended on a positive note.” Iannelli went on to say that “he’s looking forward to ensembles, when we get to split up into small groups and perform specialty songs. The low brass is planning to play some cool arrangements of hit songs, so I’m definitely pumped for that.”
In spite of the football season ending, the band still practiced every morning beginning at seven o’ clock in the morning. Why, you ask? Iannelli explained that “in concert season, we’re inside full-time practicing more complex songs,” while “during marching season, we’re outside most of the time practicing simpler stand tunes and show songs.”
Mr. Zane Crownover, Assistant Director of Music, added insight to the contrast between the seasons by saying that the “big differences are the overall instrumentation. We no longer have a full drumline battery, so percussion parts get watered out. We get one snare drummer, compared to four during marching season. The wind players—everybody spreads out. We have more low reed section, we get out bassoons back, we get our oboes back, instruments that we don’t normally play during marching season.”
At the concert, the Jesuit Men’s Chorus augmented the Christmas spirit by singing three selections. Crownover commented that “the Men’s Chorus, in particular – I felt had a fantastic performance. They don’t get a lot of combined rehearsal time, because it’s guys that are in the Men’s Chorus class, plus people that are in the band that don’t have the same class schedule. So, our only full rehearsal was the dress rehearsal.”
In fact, the resilient chorus managed to produce an arrangement of Christmas cheer that had the crowd raving over it’s uniqueness and humor. Iannelli commented that the final arrangement was “hilarious” and that he’s “never seen the men’s chorus like that before.” Crownover also commented that the song was his “highlight” because he “[saw] all the hard work some individuals of the group put in to pull it off.”
Mary Emma McLaughlin, Captain of the Color Guard, made the tough transition from carrying a flag in marching season to playing French Horn in concert season. She explained, “the concert was a really eye opening experience for me because I had never performed with the band in this environment before…It isn’t the quality of the music that makes a performance worth-while, it’s the way that you play it. If you’re having fun, you could make a thousand wrong notes and it wouldn’t matter. As long as you love what you’re doing and you’re improving day-by-day, every performance is a success. That being said, I’d say that this concert was very successful.”
Since the concert occurred in the heart of “dead week,” most students had a hefty amount of projects or papers due the next day. But, McLaughlin added that though “we all had homework to do, and a lot of us probably didn’t want to be there, you never would have known that by the way everyone presented themselves. Last year, I was in the audience and it was entertaining just to watch the band perform. This year, being a part of it made it that much more spectacular for me.”
The Jesuit-Ursuline Ranger Band didn’t fail to entertain this holiday season with this stellar performance encompassing so many parts of Jesuit’s Fine Arts Department. With Ursuline as the last Christmas concert on Sunday, November 14th, the Ranger Band looks forward to another great performance with the Orchestra and Ursuline Choirs.
