Friday, March 6, 2026
The CSC Eagle Newspaper – Chadron, NE
Latest:
The CSC Eagle Newspaper – Chadron, NE
Lifestyles

CSC professor impresses audience at Wind Symphony concert

Teri Robinson
Jack Royals, sophomore of Rapid City, South Dakota, plays the xylophone last Thursday during the CSC Wind Symphony and Campus and Community Band concerts in Memorial Hall’s Main Auditorium.-- Photo by Teri Robinson
Jack Royals, sophomore of Rapid City, South Dakota, plays the xylophone last Thursday during the CSC Wind Symphony and Campus and Community Band concerts in Memorial Hall’s Main Auditorium.– Photo by Teri Robinson

A change in setup gave audience members the opportunity to hear the Chadron State College Campus and Community Band and a faculty soloist first during the concert Thursday.

Physical and Life Sciences Associate Professor and department chair Wendy Jamison helped the Campus and Community Band begin the night as the solo trombonist for “Morceau Symphonique” by Alexandre Guilmant. The piece was originally composed for trombone and organs, and with its allegro tempo it was a great piece to begin the concert with.

The second piece for the band was by James Swearingen, “The Light Eternal.” Each instrument captured the emotion of the song through tragedy and triumph. Inspired by four U.S. Army chaplains who sacrificed their lives during World War II, this piece starts quick and triumphant but after the cowbell sounds a shift in mood for the song takes the audience on the journey of the lost lives.

After finishing three more compositions a brief intermission allowed audience members to stretch their legs as the CSC Wind Symphony rearranged and took the stage for its performance.

Starting off, the Wind Symphony played a second movement to a piece played at an earlier concert, “After A Gentle Rain, 2. Sparkling Air Bursts with Dancing Sunlight,” by Anthony Iannaccone. The clarinets and flutes captured the idea of air bursts and sunlight with quick uplifting sounds and helped set the mood of the piece.

A quick change in mood came with “Cosican Litany,” a piece by Vaclav Nelhybel about those who passed from natural causes and those by murder. These were normally sung but Nelhybel took them and put them with instruments where, in the instance of murder, the murderer was identified and received death as a punishment. The variety of speed and mournful sounds gave the audience a sense of the story line without the words and each change could be understood.

The third piece was in three parts and only 22 performers stayed on stage as the rest of the Wind Symphony exited for the “First Suite in e-flat for Military Band,” by Gustav Holst.

After the entire symphony took the stage and played three more pieces the concert night concluded. The next performance will be Mallets and Ivory at 7 p.m., Thursday, Dec. 17, in Memorial Hall.