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News
MCC band to premiere a commissioned work at spring
concert this evening
Ludington Daily News, May 21, 2004
BY KATIE KRIEGER
Daily News Staff Writer
SCOTTVILLE — The Mason County Central High School band
will premiere a piece of music it commissioned at its concert
at 7:30 tonight in the A.O. Carlson Gymnasium. The concert
is free and a reception will follow.
The composer, Ryan Fraley of FJH Publications, is a friend
of MCC Director of Bands Tom Thomas, and Fraley will be in
attendance.
“I meet Ryan seven years ago when I started
playing in the Radiant Brass Quintet,” Thomas said. “Two
years ago we were in rehearsal and Ryan said, ‘I would
like to write a piece for your group. I’ll charge you
one dollar.’”
Thomas said the two bounced different ideas around
before he decided what exactly he wanted.
“I bought a reprint of Robert Louis Stevenson’s
works that I enjoyed hearing as a child. My mother read me
a lot of the poems and I decided to set my favorite to music,”
Thomas said.
The story of Wynken, Blynken and Nod was Thomas’
favorite and it soon came to life before his eyes and Ryan’s.
“I gave Ryan a copy of the book and told
him I wanted Wynken, Blynken and Nod, but he could choose
two other pieces from the book as well,” Thomas said.
The pieces Ryan chose were Butterfly’s Ball
and Summer Sun. Along with Wynken, Blynken and Nod, the three
movement piece started arriving at Thomas’ office.
“We had the first movement, Butterfly’s Ball, on
Nov. 3, 2003 and we used it for districts on March 3, 2004,”
Thomas said. “Ryan then sent parts for Wynken, Blynken
and Nod in the end of March and we performed Butterfly’s
Ball and Wynken, Blynken and Nod for state on April 23. The
judges received the pieces very well and asked when the concert
was because they wanted to come see it,” Thomas said.
Just last week, the final parts of Summer Sun
arrived at Mason County Central High School and the students
have been eagerly working to tie up any loose ends for tonight’s
concert.
Fraley will be arriving later today to practice
with the band and to perform with the jazz band, soloing on
his latest jazz work, “Midnight in Little Chicago.”
Only a small fraction of bands will ever commission
a work, due to the cost and time involved, Thomas noted.
“A normal commission – even a shorter
work – would cost thousands of dollars,” Thomas
said. “Our piece is 11 minutes long, so you can imagine
what it would have cost.”
Thomas will present Fraley with the dollar he
promised him at the beginning of this project, but it won’t
be any normal dollar bill.
“I have a silver dollar dating back to the
time when the poems were first written, from around 1879,
that I’m going to give to Ryan tonight. My son is having
it framed this afternoon, so I can present it to him this
evening,” Thomas said.
Fraley’s “A Child’s Garden of
Verses” has 3 movements: Butterfly’s Ball, Wynken
Blynken and Nod and Summer Sun. All three poems are from the
late 1800s.
“Each movement has a different flavor to
it,” Thomas said. “All commissioned parts will have
MCC’s name on it. Our name could show up all over the
world.”
Fraley and Thomas are very excited to premiere
the work tonight.
“This has been great for us,” Thomas
said. “I can’t express how important we feel that
he has taken the time for us. This piece is going to be well-received
and people have been asking already when they can get a copy.
Ryan has really taken the time to make it a labor of love.”
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