The Last Two Days

The last two days have been very busy for the band. Wednesday morning we had a 7 am wake up and a 9 am departure to Tianan, a city about a one hour bus ride south of Chiayi City. Tianan is an ancient city and an important one in the history of Tiawan. The Dutch had a trading post there (the Dutch East India Company). Our first stop was the 1665 Confucian Temple. This was the first in Taiwan and was established in 1665. Confucius (traditionally 28 September 551 BCE – 479 BCE) was a philosopher and teacher in what is now part of Shandong Province of mainland China. The philosophy of Confucius emphasized personal and governmental morality, correctness of social relationships, justice and sincerity. Many still read his works and try to follow his moral and ethical model.


We then went to the National University of Tianan to spend the day presenting masterclasses and sharing rehearsals with the band from NUT as well as the Symphonic Winds of Macau. Dr. Chih-Cheng Hou was our host...and what a magnificent host he was. Drs. Hinson and Korak and Professor Smithiger presented masterclasses to students from Taiwan and Macau, and Drs. Bell and Hinson presented a seminar on the new clarinet concerto, Concerto Scion, by Kevin Walczyk. We will be presenting the work in a world premiere on Friday at WASBE. Here is a picture of Drs. Bell and Hinson with the Wind Symphony in the National University of Tianan concert hall at the seminar.
Following the seminar, all conductors as well as Drs. Hinson and Korak and Professor Smithiger had a meeting with the President of the University, Dr. Hsiu-Shuang Huang. She was obviously proud of her institution and was pleased to have us on her campus. She mentioned the possibility of a collaboration between SIUE and NUT.....We will forward that information to Dean Romero. After dinner all three bands performed for each other. It was a great treat to hear some fine music being performed by our colleagues from Asia. Here are a couple of pictures. One of Korak, Bell and Hinson with a bunch of new friends from Macau, and one of Collin Galvin one of our trumpet players also with several new friends.

Thursday, was a late start for the band as we met at 1:30 pm to attend the concert by the Tiawan Wind Ensemble, a band made up of professors and band directors from across Taiwan. This was a very interesting concert as it featured a new violin and wind band concerto. Following the concert we had a two hour rehearsal with guest conductor Dennis Johnson, Director of Bands from Murray State University and the Immediate Past President of WASBE, participating. Here's a pic of Maestro Johnson conducting the band in rehearsal.
All is well. The band had a terrific rehearsal and hopefully that will translate to an amazing performance. Our time slot is 1:30 am Edwardsville time....so think of us as you head to bed this evening (Thursday). More tomorrow!