Salute to Service Program Notes
Dr. Kenneth Singleton was Director of Bands and Chairman of the Wind Conducting Program at the University of Northern Colorado in Greeley, from June 1985 through May 2019. Previously he was Director of Concert Bands at New Mexico State University in Las Cruces. He also taught at the Hartt School of Music (University of Hartford), Albertus Magnus College and Yale University, both in New Haven, Connecticut. Singleton holds degrees from the University of South Florida (Bachelor of Arts) and the Yale University School of Music (Master of Music, Master of Musical Arts, and Doctorate of Musical Arts). His doctorate in tuba performance was the first awarded by Yale in that area. Under Singleton's leadership the UNC band program, consisting of four concert and athletic ensembles, earned well deserved praise throughout the country and abroad. In December, 2011 the Wind Ensemble visited China, performing in the Beijing Concert Hall and the Sheraton Lions Lake Resort in Qingyuan. For over 30 years the Wind Ensemble performed and/or presented annually at the Colorado Music Educators Association annual convention.
In 1998 Singleton was elected to the Colorado Bandmasters Association Hall of Fame, and in January 2014, he was selected as a member of the Colorado Music Educators Association Hall of Fame. The University of Northern Colorado hosts the Colorado All-State Bands Festival each year, and under the leadership of Singleton and Associate Director of Bands Richard Mayne, the All-State Band weekend became widely recognized as one of the finest in the country.
As a transcriber of wind and brass music, and music editor for the Charles Ives Society, Singleton has more than 100 publications to his credit. His edition of Charles Ives' Third Symphony has been recorded by Michael Tilson Thomas with the Concertgebouw Orchestra (Sony), Leonard Slatkin with the St. Louis Symphony (BMG), and numerous other conductors and orchestras. His brass transcriptions are in the recorded repertoires of the Denver Brass, Summit Brass, St. Louis Brass Quintet, the Dallas Brass, and numerous other professional ensembles.
Singleton was principal conductor of the Denver Brass for 24 years and appeared with them this past May for a pair of Memorial Day concerts. He is presently Conductor of the Boulder Concert Band, a premier adult ensemble with a long history of excellence. Over the years he has guest conducted numerous ensembles, ranging from the Colorado Springs All-City Band and the El Paso All-Region Symphonic
Band, to Orchestra New England and the U.S. Air Force Band. He has conducted All-State Bands in New York, New Mexico, North Dakota, Tennessee, and Colorado.
In 2000, Singleton was elected to membership in the American Bandmasters Association, and in April 2002 he was awarded the Distinguished Service to Music Award by Kappa Kappa Psi, the national college band honorary fraternity.
In 2009 he created an imaginative Christmas Brass Concert for the Greeley Philharmonic Orchestra.
REPERTOIRE
SMITH Star Spangled Banner
The Star-Spangled Banner’s music was originally written by John Stafford Smith around 1773 for the Anacreonic Society, a men’s social club in London. The words set to it were written by lawyer and amateur poet, Francis Scott Key, after he saw the American flag of 15 stars and 15 stripes, known as The Star-Spangled Banner, still flying after the bombardment of Ft. McHenry during the Battle of Baltimore in the War of 1812. It did not become our National Anthem until 1931, and then only through an act of Congress. The stirring tune has continued to inspire Americans ever since.
SOUSA Liberty Bell March
John Philip Sousa is known to the world today as The March King. But when he was 13 in 1868, his dad, a trombonist in the Marine Band, enlisted him in the United States Marine Corps as an apprentice to keep him from joining a circus band. His “minority enlistment” meant that he would not be discharged until his 21st birthday.
Sousa completed his apprenticeship in 1875 and began performing on the violin and conducting in theatrical pit orchestras. Sousa returned to the U.S. Marine Band, “The President’s Own,” as its head in 1880 and remained as its conductor until 1892, all the while composing marches and other pieces for his band. Sousa was also instrumental in the development of the marching brass bass, one that could sound upward and over the band whether its player was seated or marching. Today we know that instrument as the Sousaphone.
“The Liberty Bell March” was written in 1933. it was one of Sousa’s first international hits. Its popularity in the world of marches is likely exceeded only by one other Sousa March.
STEFFE Battle Hymn of the Republic
As with many popular American songs, the Battle Hymn of the Republic has an interesting history. The Battle Hymn’s music began as an older Methodist folk hymn which developed into “John Brown’s Body.” Early in the Civil War, Julia Ward Howe heard this song during a public review of troops outside of Washington, D.C. Howe’s companion at the review, the Reverend James Freeman Clarke, suggested to Howe that she write new words for the fighting men’s song. Staying at the Willard Hotel in Washington on the night of November 18, 1861, Howe wrote the verses to the Battle Hymn of the Republic, beginning with the stirring words that led to its ultimate popularity – “Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of The Lord.” The song, published in 1862, soon achieved popularity as “The Battle Hymn of the Republic.”
WILDER Effie Sings a Lullaby & Effie Goes to the Carnival
For some reason the tuba has gotten a bad rap over the years. Conductor Ken Singleton and tubist Alan Harvey have made it their mission to raise the status of the tuba, and this evening they join forces with the brass in performing two movements from Alec Wilder’s Effie Suite. In case you haven’t already guessed, Effie is an elephant – and a young one at that.
NEWMAN How the West Was Won
1962’s How the West Was Won was a collaboration of some of the most well-known filmmakers and actors of the era, including Jimmy Stewart, John Wayne, Gregory Peck, Henry Fonda, and Debbie Reynolds.
Along with advances in cinematography, music became an increasingly important element in the movies. For the movie How the West was Won, noted composer Alfred Newman developed a uniquely American sound, where the music becomes almost as important as the images on the screen.
INTERMISSION
WILLIAMS Hymn to the Fallen
John Williams joined the US Air Force in 1951. In 1952, he was assigned to the Northeast Air Command 596th Air Force Band, stationed at Pepperell Air Force Base in St. John’s, Newfoundland and served as pianist, brass player, composer and arranger. His “Hymn to the Fallen” was written for the 1998 World War II movie Saving Private Ryan.
UNGAR Ashokan Farewell
“Letter to Sarah” by Major Sullivan Ballou was discovered by Ken Burns and his team while they researched documents for their Civil War documentary. A week before the Battle of Bull Run, Sullivan Ballou, a Major in the 2nd Rhode Island Volunteers, wrote home to his wife in Smithfield. It will be accompanied by Jay Ungar’s Ashokan Farewell. Read the full letter here.
WARD/BATES, ARR. DRAGON America the Beautiful
Poet Katherine Lee Bates wrote the poem during the summer of 1893, which Bates spent teaching English at Colorado College in Colorado Springs. Later she remembered:
“One day some of the other teachers and I decided to go on a trip to Pikes Peak. We hired a prairie wagon. Near the top we had to leave the wagon and go the rest of the way on mules. I was very tired. But when I saw the view, I felt great joy. All the wonder of America seemed displayed there, with the sea-like expanse.”
O beautiful for spacious skies,
For amber waves of grain,
For purple mountain majesties
Above the fruited plain!
America! America!
God shed His grace on thee
And crown thy good with brotherhood
From sea to shining sea!
INTERMISSION
GERSHWIN Strike Up the Band
Is there any other music that screams “America” and 1920’s “Jazz” any louder than Gershwin’s hit song from the musical comedy “Strike Up the Band?”
ANDERSON Bluebells of Scotland
In the 1950’s and 1960’s Leroy Anderson was an acknowledged master of what was known as “light classical” music. Leroy Anderson was a first generation American. His parents immigrated from Sweden and settled in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Leroy graduated from Harvard University and studied music at the New England Conservatory of Music. While working toward a PhD in German and Scandinavian languages at Harvard, he enlisted as a private in the U. S. Army in 1942 and was sent to Iceland as a translator and interpreter for the US Counter Intelligence Corps. While there he wrote an Icelandic grammar book for the army. He was promoted to captain and sent to the Pentagon in 1945 as chief of the Scandinavian Desk of Military Intelligence. He was then offered the post of US military attached to Sweden, but he had finally decided to make composing his full-time career.
ARNOLD Independence Day
David Arnold is a British composer whose film scoring includes James Bond, Godzilla, and Independence Day. Calling it as "nothing short of brilliance", Andrew Overfield, writing for The Sound Architect summarized: "The music brings to the ears a blend of chaos, frenzy and patriotism without relying heavily on digital elements and hits to emphasize the power and beast that encompasses this critically acclaimed disaster movie."
SOUSA Stars and Stripes Forever
Unequalled by his predecessors, John Philip Sousa is responsible for bringing the United States Marine Band to an unprecedented level of excellence: a standard upheld by every Marine Band Director since. Perhaps the most significant tribute to Sousa’s influence on American culture, "The Stars and Stripes Forever" was designated as the national march of the United States on Dec. 11, 1987. A White House memorandum states the march has become "an integral part of the celebration of American life."
-from the official site of the US Marine Corps
The Greeley Philharmonic is proud to recognize members of the orchestra with past and current military service: Jason Byrnes (Army National Guard), Leo Canale (US Air Force), Susan Fritts (US Army), Heike Gazetti (US Air Force), Lowell Graham (US Air Force), Kenneth Singleton (US Army), and Robert Vitale (US Air Force).