On the night of March 5, 2013, an expecting crowd flooded the Terry Center to watch Jesuit’s Spring Chamber Music Orchestra performed by the Jesuit/Ursuline Ranger Band. The Jesuit band was led by Director Donovan Putnam and Assistant Directors Zane Crownover and Ann Morton. The Ursuline band was led by Director Jane Chamber and Assistant Director Virginia Kassel.
The Orchestra played classics such as Mozart’s “Eine Kleine Nachtmusik,” Claude Debussy’s “Syrinx,” and Percy Grainger’s “Shepherd’s Hey.” They also played songs that were on the soundtracks to movies, such as “Throne Room Fanfare” from Star Wars and the theme song to Forrest Gump.
The Orchestra went on to play an unlikely song for a classical concert, Taylor Swift’s “I Knew You Were Trouble.” “The kids were really into the idea,” remarked Assistant Director Zane Crownover, “so we went ahead and did it.”
Trey Curran ’13, one of the leading trombonists, had to say that his favorite song from the program was “definitely the rendition of Taylor Swift’s I Knew You Were Trouble.”
But how would one even think of playing a song like that?
Curran ’13 continued, “Well, one day after school Daniel [Ahn]’14, Kevin Vuong ’13, Daryl [Johnson] ’16 and I were sitting around practicing. All of a sudden I thought of Taylor Swift’s song, I Knew You Were Trouble, and was like, hey, [do you guys] want to play that at the concert? So we did.”
They even played the most popular song of 2012, receiving over 1 billion views on YouTube, PSY’s “Gangnam Style.” Jeff Barone ’13, one of the trombonists who played “Gangnam Style” during the concert commented that this concert was “much more casual, which was nice. I think the relaxed atmosphere really helped us play better.”
The Jesuit/Ursuline Ranger Band then finished the concert on Scott Harding’s “Taiko,” a song mainly focused on percussion which brought the night to a relaxing close. The performance, in all, was a success and brought smiles upon everyone’s faces in the audience. “I thought it went really well. We put a lot of hard work and practicing into it, and I thought we put on a good show” explained Barone after the show.
This show ultimately prepared the Jesuit/Ursuline Ranger Band for their trip to Disney World, where they went from March 22-25. Along with this, it enthused the crowd as well as the players, who had an amazing time in an experience that they will never forget.
If you have any questions or would like to join the Jesuit/Ursuline Ranger Band next year contact Donovan Putnam (dputnam@jesuitcp.org), Zane Crownover (zcrownover@jesuitcp.org), or Ann Morton (amorton@jesuitcp.org).
