An American Elegy By Frank Ticheli

Performed by the North Texas Wind Symphony
Conducted by Eugene Migliaro Corporon

An American Elegy by Frank Ticheli is, above all, an expression of hope. It was composed in memory of those who lost their lives at Columbine High School on April 20, 1999, and to honor the survivors. It is offered as a tribute to their great strength and courage in the face of a terrible tragedy. Frank Ticheli hopes the work can also serve as one reminder of how fragile and precious life is and how intimately connected we all are as human beings.

Category:

Music

Tags:

• an american elegy
• frank ticheli
• music
• concert band
• wind ensemble
• symphonic winds
• wind symphony
• concertbandland

[NotStuckJustResting]

I'm pretty sure my band director had to memorize the score from 9:30 on. There's no way he could've read it; he was crying his eyes out every single time we hit that part.

[goviegrl22]

@GlamourGurl4585

Here's the thing about music that a lot of younger musicians don't get: only about 10% of the actual music is what is on the page. The other 90% lies in execution, interpretation, and expression of what you see. In this piece, the difficulty does not lie in execution, but in interpretation and expression. There is a big difference between an ensemble that is simply playing the notes (i.e. many younger ensembles) and one that is expressing the music (i.e. collegiate ensembles).

[PaulK0512]

idk.. something brought me here.. good memories.

[genelleynelle]

@goviegrl22 I'm a young musician and I get it. We played this song every year with a different group and every time it was a completely different song. It was definitely more than notes on a page. I honestly didn't even read the music majority of the time because I was watching my conductor to conduct every note.

[jslasher1]

@goviegrl22 Well said. I couldn't agree more.

[doodoobeatlenomoar]

@KaylaKeifer D; You can't cut down American Elegy to 5 minutes. Tell them to deal with it and listen to the whole thing.

[Piratedayisfun]

@goviegrl22 I know what you mean... however i'm in a Collegiate ensemble and when we played this we took this piece to heart this piece is hard not to feel strongly about I know when i was playing i want to make everything i did musical and expressed to the point where it was just moving. You may think Collegiate ensembles don't recognize this other 90% we do it just takes us a while to understand... whats going on and when we all think collectively we make the best music ever

[RockLeegirl96]

OMG!! all the choirs in my school are doing this song with vocals and the band and it sounds so frickin amazing!!!!

[KaylaKeifer]

Man, what would we do without concertbandland? ;)

[KaylaKeifer]

I just realized, if we do play this at commencement, we have to cut it down to under 5 minutes...

:/

[KaylaKeifer]

Oh hey, I got top thumbs up? WHAT?!

I really really really want to play this at commencement <3

I haven't played this in so long.

gah.

This song--tears.

[RayLathrophornBA]

Playing this song as a Sophmore in the El Dorado Wind Ensemble.I play the 1st horn part and let me say. Amazing. Best horn solos ever!