With Heart and Voice

by David Gillingham

    With Heart and Voice was commissioned by Apple Valley High School Bands, (Apple Valley, Minnesota), to commemorate the 25th year of existence of this high school. Thematically, the work is based on the high school's Alma Mater, an old Spanish hymn which has made its way into most church hymnals under the name of "Come Christians, Join to Sing." Christian Henry Bateman wrote the words for the hymn in 1843 and the first verse contains the line, "Let all, with heart and voice, before this throne rejoice."  Hence the title, With Heart and Voice.
      The piece was commissioned to communicate, through music, the wonderful achievements of this school in 25 years. This, too, is the 25th Anniversary of the Oswego HS "Pageant of Champions" field band competition held at the Oswego High School, and With Heart and Voice was the perfect piece to help us celebrate the tremendous successes of our program during this time.
      The key word is communication.  In the fast-paced, information-filled world that we live in, there has never been more emphasis placed on the importance of communication. So, With Heart and Voice exemplifies the importance of communication. We have captured these ideas with musical and visual elements.
  With Heart and Voice opens with a portrayal of what most young people use as their primary means of communication: the world-wide web. A giant spider web - both in the drill formation as well as the guard prop - brings the listener to this point. Silks continuing throughout the program have been designed to highlight the progression of forms of communication in history: silks containing symbols from the earliest forms of language - cuneiform - used in Persia and Mesopotamia; silks containing symbols from early Greek and Japanese language; all the way to silks with the "@" symbol used in emails world wide today.
   Additionally, the music is presented in a variety of modes of communication: the program begins with a tuba soloist, followed by two soloists, then a small brass ensemble, a larger brass ensemble, a percussion ensemble and concluding with the full ensemble. In fact, human communication followed a similar pattern, with one person speaking, then a dialogue between two, communications between progressively larger groups of people, and finally - a world connected - as we have today. Throughout the program there are a number of musical "questions and answers" from choirs of voices staged on each side of the field.
   With Heart and Voice boasts a tremendous variety of tempi, key centers, complex chord structures and musical textures. It will be performed without interruption! - a tremendous challenge in itself, both physically and mentally.

The 2003 Marching Buccaneers

Drum Major                             Katherine Baer
Assistant Drum Major             Amanda Quirk
Soloists                                    Jason Schneider, Nicole McDonald Chris Riley  Will Tressider
Small Ensemble Soloists       

Marching Buccaneers Staff

Music  Arrangements              Nick Baratta
Drill Design                              Dan Campbell
Color Guard                             Stephen Brucker, Alison Penfield, Angela Conzone,

Marching & Maneuvering Paul McPherson,  Michael Tierney,  Brandie Noyes,  Alicia Chahowski, David McEneany
 
Summer  Music Assistants  Miles DeCastro,  Kristin Zaryski, Carrie Zaryski, Katie Donovan

Percussion  Heather Sweeting, Rick Rogers, Thomas Norton

Music   William Palange, Michael Dunsmoor

Assistant Directors  Michael Dunsmoor, Heather Sweeting, Paul McPherson

Director William Palange