The Raritan Valley Symphonic Band returns to Franklin High School, 500 Elizabeth Avenue, to start its 42nd season with its free Fall concert, “American Voices”, at 3 p.m. October 20. 

The band is under the direction of Music Director William Berz.

American composers of many different types of music, diverse backgrounds, and different eras will be featured during the performance.

The concert begins with Castles in Europe, composed by James Resse Europe, one of the most famous African American musicians of his day.  Called the “Martin Luther King of Music” by famous jazz pianist Eubie Blake, Europe became the first African American bandmaster in the US Army.  He was bandleader for the dance duo of Vernon and Irene Castle, the inventors of the foxtrot.  Castles in Europe was composed in 1914 with the subtitle “The Innovation Troy-Ragtime March”, referring to the Castle dancers.  After leaving the Castles’ band, Europe joined the New York Army National Guard and was later commissioned as a Lieutenant and assigned to the all-black 369^th US Infantry Regiment.  Once his musical background was discovered, he was asked by his commanding officer to form a military band. They were deployed during World War I and were received with great enthusiasm. Sadly, Europe was attacked and killed by a band member during a 1919 American tour.  He was buried with military honors at Arlington National Cemetery.

Frank Ticheli’s Simple Gifts: Four Shaker Songsfeatures songs from the songbooks used by Shaker communities during the 1830s to 1860s.  The Shakers were a religious sect known for their architecture, crafts, furniture, and most notably, their songs.  At their peak prior to the Civil War, some 6,000 members resided in nineteen Shaker communities interspersed between Maine and Kentucky.  The finale uses the Shaker’s most famous song “Simple Gifts”, which has been used in hundreds of settings, most notably by Aaron Copeland’s Appalachian Spring.

New Wade ‘n Water, by contemporary African American composer Adolphus Hailstork, is an adaption of the traditional African American spiritual “Wade in the Water”.  The piece opens with an introduction constructed using a G blues scale and mixed meter.  This theme serves as an interlude between each variation of the main melody.

Aaron Copeland’s Down a Country Lane was originally a piece for piano in 1962.  Copeland subsequently arranged it for youth orchestra.  In 1988, Merlin Patterson transcribed this arrangement for wind band.  The piece uses themes from Copeland’s score for the 1945 short movie “The Cummington Story” about World War II refugees integrating successfully into a small Cummington MA community.

The concert’s first half concludes with John Philip Sousa’s Saber and Spurs march, dedicated to the officers and men of the 311^th Calvary in World War I.

The second half begins with Laura Estes’ Kvetchers, Surprises in Controversial Time.  The term “Kvetchers” is a colloquial term for complainers and this piece is a fun and quirky concert march in the style of a musical joke, as each section has its own “musical surprise”.  This 2020 composition was Estes’ first following her retirement from music teaching.

“Shenandoah” is one of the most well-know and beloved Americana folk songs.  Omar Thomas composed his own arrangement of Shenandoah in 2018 that is set differently than others.  It recalls the beauty of the Shenandoah Valley, not bathed in golden sunlight, but blanketed by low-hanging clouds and experiencing intermittent periods of heavy rainfall with only a few moments of sun piercing the clouds.  This arrangement is at times mysterious, somewhat ominous, constantly introspective, and deeply soulful.

New Jersey resident Timothy Broege composed Surfboard Blues as a dedication to surfers of the mid-Atlantic coast.  Broege was once a guest conductor of the Raritan Valley Symphonic Band.

The concert concludes with The Lion King featuring music from the 1994 American animated musical film and subsequently a hit Broadway show. 

RVSB comprises about 70 musicians from the northern and central New Jersey area.  Band membership includes professional musicians and music educators, as well as amateur musicians ranging in age from high school through retirees.

This concert is funded, in part, by a grant from the Somerset County Cultural and Heritage Commission.  For more information about the band please visit www.rvsb.org.