Editor’s Note: Lee, always on time with his writing, submitted this article ahead of all the current virus issues. While his writing is excellent and contains much interesting and helpful information many of the performances he references may have been canceled or rescheduled. Please double check an event to be sure it is still going to happen before making plans to attend.
“TO OPEN”
Welcome to April, the month named after a Greek goddess named “Eostre,” according to Bede the Venerable. Saint Bede, born in 673, was an English Benedictine Monk, historian and scholar who lived in the Kingdom of Northumbria.
The traditional etymology is quite different. “April” comes from the verb aperire, meaning “to open” – like what many flowers and tree buds try to do this time of year.
Saint Bede the Venerable also held that April (eastre or eostre) is the root of the word Easter, this year falling on Sunday, April 12 – the Sunday after the full moon following March 21.
Looking for some good music to listen to for Easter? You might try Bach’s stirring “St. Matthew Passion” and “Lamentations of Jeremiah” by the notable Renaissance composer Thomas Tallis. The “Russian Easter Overture” by Nicolai Rimsky-Korsakov is brilliant, joyful and colorful to listen to. Also consider Gustav Mahler’s Symphony No. 2 “Resurrection”. Just four pieces from a glittering trove of music, all of it particularly awesome for Easter.
Following are eight events chosen from scores of music happenings scheduled for April in Southern Kentucky. There seems to be a thread or two of commonality that help us group these eight events together – nostalgic, reaching back to another time and its calmer(?) music; reaching out, inclusion; blending old with new. See if you agree.
YOU GAVE ME A SONG
Alice Gerrard is an old-time music pioneer. “You Gave Me a Song” is an intimate portrait of Gerrard’s remarkable, unpredictable journey – collecting, preserving and creating traditional tunes. We follow 84-year-old Gerrard as she holds living room rehearsals, recording sessions, songwriting and rare field recordings. Much of the story is told in Alice’s voice and others. Chasing that high and lonesome sound.
“You Gave Me a Song” plays Tuesday, April 21 at 7 p.m. at the Capitol Arts Center, as part of the South Arts Film Series.
LOOKING BACK
The music of Motown, the Beatles and the ’70’s have one common link – the Rewinders, a popular group founded nearly 20 years ago. Since then, they have performed “record copies” of classic hits dating back 50 to 60 years.
Orchestra Kentucky Music Director Jeffrey A. Reed hand-picked the Rewinders members in preparation for the orchestra’s first concert of Beatles music. “I asked around until I found out who was the best drummer, bass player, and so forth, in Bowling Green,” Jeff recalls. “When I called them to join the group, some of them couldn’t quite understand the concept of an orchestra playing the music of the Beatles. They were afraid I was going for a Boston Pops type of sound.”
Rather, the group’s mission is to “rewind” in tone and style to the “good ol’ days” of American rock n’ roll, country, blues and swing. The Rewinders will present their favorite songs from their Retro concert series, to celebrate their, and Orchestra Kentucky’s, 20th anniversary. The music starts at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, April 18 at SKyPAC.
HOTEL CALIFORNIA
The Eagles are an American rock band, formed in 1971. At their peak in the 1970s, the group earned five number one singles, six number one albums, six Grammies, and five American Music Awards – altogether one of the most successful American musical acts of that decade. In fact, today the Eagles rank among the world’s best-selling bands.
For more than two decades, the film “Hotel California” has touched the hearts of fans worldwide by faithfully and accurately presenting the blended rock, country and folk style of the Eagles in its tribute. The instrumentation in this movie is said to be authentic, the experience “masterful-retro”. Check into “Hotel California: A Salute to the Eagles” at 7:30 p.m. Friday, April 10 at the Capitol Arts Center.
OLD CROW MEDICINE SHOW
This retro band started busking on street corners in 1998 in New York state, up through Canada, and winding up in Boone, North Carolina, where they caught the attention of folk icon Doc Watson while playing in front of a pharmacy. Soon the Medicine Show was standing on Nashville’s Ryman Auditorium stage, entertaining the crowds between Grand Ole Opry shows.
Grammy award winning Old Crow Medicine Show has toured the world playing renowned festivals and venues. The band brings its unique sound and presence to SKyPAC at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, April 22.
OLD, NEW, BORROWED, BLUE
What we call jazz gradually emerged from a blend of ragtime, marches, blues, spirituals and folk, becoming what is now commonly referred to as “America’s classical music.” Jazz provides an enormous recorded legacy. Performing jazz requires almost continuous improvisation.
The WKU jazz program, directed by Dr. Marshall Scott, consists of two Big Bands and an improv class. Both bands perform traditional standard repertoire and explore contemporary literature. The WKU Jazz Bands will “show their stuff” as they play in concert at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, April 18, in Van Meter Hall.
A MUSICAL SPACE FOR EVERYONE
The WKU Campus Community Concert Band is what it says it is – a gown and town band made up of WKU students, alumni and members of the community, looking for a space to play their instrument in an environment suited for all ages. Dr. Gary Schallert, director of bands at WKU, says the ages of the members range from 18 to 80, and the semester’s first rehearsal held back in January brought 43 people to sight-read music to pick for the concert they share with the Symphonic Band.
The repertoire embraces old and new, including movie, marching and orchestral scores (arranged for symphonic band). Their concert begins at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, April 25 in Van Meter Hall.
MUSIC AMBASSADORS
The Wind Ensemble at WKU is among the premier groups on campus. They have performed numerous times over the years at the Kentucky Music Educators Convention, and the College Band Directors National Association. The Wind Ensemble also traveled to Russia in 2005 to participate in the 60th annual “Victory Day” celebration. Membership in the ensemble is determined by competitive audition.
Dr. Schallert will conduct the WKU Wind Ensemble in concert Friday, April 24 at 7:30 p.m. also at Van Meter.
ALL THINGS CHORAL
When Paul Hondorp enters the Van Meter Hall stage, or any stage for that matter, I think of Harry Langsford leading the Wayne State University Men’s Glee Club. It was Detroit in the early 1950s, the time of Roger Wagner, Robert Shaw and Fred Waring. My music space was in the Glee Club bass section. We sang songs like “Where E’er You Walk” from Handel’s opera “Semele”, “Shenandoah” and “You’ll Never Walk Alone” from Rodgers and Hammerstein’s “Carousel”. It was precision, sensitivity and enthusiasm. It was bliss. Grateful alumni gathered from around the world to wish Dr. Harry well on his retirement.
Cheers to Dr. Hondorp as well for WKU Choirs, which include the WKU Chorale, University Singers, a cappella groups Treblemakers and Redshirts, and the Southern Kentucky Choral Society, the latter another campus-community organization of music-makers. Their concert, also embracing old and new, is slated for 3 p.m. Sunday, April 26 at Van Meter Hall.
-by Lee Stott
About the Author: Lee Stott is retired from WKU Public Radio, lives near Franklin with his daughter Cindy Wade’s family and has 30 grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren.