JSU Wind Ensemble has concert By: Kevin Brant

Music sounds good when you have a variety of different types of put together in a concert form. This music may include songs that make people want to get off your feet while other songs may resemble that of a haunted house or sounds of war. This kind of performance took place on Feb. 21 at Mason hall on the campus of JSU. More than 200 people gathered there to hear a concert by the JSU Wind Ensemble.
The concert started with a song called “Overture in Five Flat” which was written by Julie Giroux. This song from start to finish was exactly five minutes long. After this energetic piece, the music that followed was softer and reminded one of naptime or getting ready to go to sleep. This song performed next was “The Seal Lullaby.” Eric Whitacre wrote this piece. Eric McClendon played on piano with this piece.
The next piece the wind ensemble performed is titled “Ghost Train.” This musical selection was a medley of three songs. In that medley were “Ghost Train”, “At The Station” and “The Motive Revolution.” The music at first resembled what you would hear at a haunted house or Horror flick. The music was intense since it sounded like an actual train approaching, passing by and finally slowing to a stop. The tempo then changed to a much calmer one before changing to what sounded like soldiers going to war. Dr. Andy Nevala was the featured pianist for this piece.
After this, the wind Ensemble played a song called Autumn Soliloquy written by James Barnes. Dr. Jeremy Benson, professor of Flute at JSU was the soloist for the piece. The performance ended with a song written by David R. Holsinger called “Abram’s Pursuit.”
Clint Gillespie, Director of the JSU Wind Ensemble was pleased with the performance.” I thought they did well,” Gillespie said. “It was a tough program and they put a lot of hard work into it.
Dr. Jeremy Benson, Professor of flute at JSU was a soloist tonight. He expressed his enjoyment of the performance. “I had a great time playing with the wind ensemble,” Benson said. “It’s always great to interact with the students.”