Fresh from their trip to Kauai, The BYUH Brass Ensemble joined forces with the BYUH Chorale to provide a night of classical and contemporary music, including pieces composed and arranged by members of the performing body on Feb. 16.
The two musical assemblies were made one by husband and wife duo, David and Elizabeth Kammerer.
David Kammerer is the director of the Brass Ensemble and said, “I’m particularly pleased with the student creative work on this concert. We had arrangements and original compositions by students tonight, and that to me makes it real special.”
A senior in vocal performance from Hong Kong named Tom Lam arranged one of the night’s medleys which he titled “Star Trek Wars.”The piece, which Lam said is “very difficult to play,” took him 30 hours to arrange and is a mix of trademark melodies from both “Star Trek” and “Star Wars.”
“I feel a satisfaction and an appreciation for the capability of the ensemble as a whole when I get to hear them play this piece. We were able to play this in Kauai and I feel like it helped us prepare to play so well tonight,” Lam said.
The second song of student origin was “End of The Line,” a fast paced jazzy tune with a New Orleans flavor written by Christopher Wiley, a junior from Oregon studying music composition.
When he was writing his song, Wiley said, “I was inspired by the second line music of New Orleans. I wanted to make some really rhythmically complicated stuff that would feel funky.”
“I was first exposed to the Old Dixie Land and New Orleans style of music in high school when I started looking it up and learning about it. It’s been one of the most powerful genres of music for me.”
Wiley continued, “The roots of jazz have become something that’s very much a part of me despite my lack of ethnical relations to it or even having a lot of education on it.”The remainder of the night’s performances were a mixture of hymns and folk songs derived from Latin, Scottish, and Caribbean culture.
The crowd favorite of the night was the grand finale piece, a unique arrangement of the hymn, “All Hail the Power of Jesus Name” by the Kammerers.
Lam said, “That last piece we played that the Kammerers arranged was one of the most powerful pieces I have ever heard that’s not sung by the Mormon Tabernacle Choir.”
After the show, David Kammerer said, “This is probably the biggest finale we have conceived so far. I was very, very happy with the result.”
Kammerer credited a portion of the unity between the performers to the time they had spent bonding during their trip to Kauai.
“I think that really prepared them for a very polished performance tonight,” Kammerer said. The Kammerers have done collaborations between the Chorale and the Brass Ensemble every semester for years, but they strived to make this performance something truly memorable, as it will be their final one together.
Kammerer said the couple plans on retiring this year and hope to serve a mission for the church from home, then go one to serve several missions after that.
Alpha Harper from Alberta, Canada said, “It was all in fun and it was great music. Tonight was nostalgic and there was a bit of an electricity in the air since we know it’s the Kammerer’s last concert together so it was really important for me to be here for that.”