Hours spent poring over sheet music, practicing rhythms at home, time spent in sections honing melodies, and finally putting everything together and working a song with the full band. It takes a lot of time and skill for the musicians in the Western Michigan University Bands to put on their concerts.
After months of practice, the soaring sounds are ready to be released into the world at the concert. But can you imagine the heartbreak of someone not able to attend their student’s, their friend’s, or their grandkid’s concert? Maybe they were stuck out of state for work. Maybe they had a medical emergency. Maybe they couldn’t afford to take the night off. Whatever the reason, it can be incredibly disappointing when someone you love can’t be there to witness the culmination of all that hard work.
Luckily for the students in the WMU Concert Bands, that live performance is recorded for anyone to watch after the fact on Public Media Network. While it’s certainly not the same as attending the live event, it gives people who may have missed the performance or even just want to re-live it a chance to do so. Personally, I love listening to the concerts while I work!
“I’m always proud of my students’ accomplishments,” said Scott Boerma, director of bands at Western Michigan University. “I’m happy to know that there are opportunities through Public Media Network for people to see and hear their great work if their family or friends are unable to attend our concerts in person.”
PMN broadcasts and streams the WMU concerts online, which can also expose new audiences to the musicality of the students and open eyes to the artistic opportunities in Kalamazoo.
Scott also mentioned that this is a big season for the WMU Bands, who will get the chance to perform in Chicago next March at the American Bandmaster’s Association convention. Because of this, Scott pointed out another bonus to having recordings: “Since each piece at that Chicago performance will have guest conductors, [PMN’s] videos will help those guest conductors to prepare for conducting them in March.”
I’m excited for the students. What a wonderful opportunity for them! And a great byproduct of the videos that I never even considered. Check out the bands’ upcoming performance schedule here, and to watch past recordings of WMU Concert Bands and other performing arts, click the link here!
