Moody Music will be hosting the Honor Band Spectrum Concert in the Concert Hall at Moody Music Building Friday, Feb. 1 at 7:30 p.m. Spectrum is usually a free, biannual concert that brings together a collection of student and faculty ensembles at the School of Music for a night of “Best Of” performances. This spring Spectrum event will be kicking off a weekend full of band concerts targeted for attendees of the Honor Band Festival.
“The Honor Band Festival is our largest on-campus recruiting event for high school musicians,” Dr. Kenneth Ozzello, director of bands and professor of music at the University, said.
The Festival will be held this weekend. High school participants are seated into four different bands and work with UA music faculty and guest clinicians throughout the weekend. These high school musicians also will have the opportunity to be awarded Alabama Concert Ensemble Participation and Million Dollar Band Participation scholarships.
The event will be comprised of several different band concerts, starting with the Alabama Symphonic Band Concert on Thursday night and Spectrum on Friday night. The Alabama Wind Ensemble will perform Saturday night, and the high school honor bands will perform Sunday afternoon.
Mary Young, a junior majoring in music therapy, is no stranger to performing in bands, both in high school and in college. Young will be performing in her fifth Spectrum concert this Friday with the Trombone Choir. She also hopes to join her friends in the Million Dollar Band again to repeat a performance that she has been a part of for the past three years.
“It’s really exciting,” Young said. “It’s so much fun to see the look on the audiences’ faces when they turn on the lights. They black out the hall when we enter to give a bit of an element of surprise while the MDB is filling all the balconies and the stage.”
Spectrum will also include additional individuals and ensembles other than Alabama’s bands.
“Spectrum features tons of ensembles from all over the school of music,” Young said. “There’s everything from string quartets to African drumming to jazz ensembles.”
Jennifer Haselden, a senior majoring in music therapy, has been a member of the University Singers and is currently in her third semester playing with the UA West African Drumming Ensemble. They will be performing a Ghanaian piece called “Kpanlogo” on Friday night that includes drumming, singing and movement.
“Each year brings new exciting repertoire,” Haselden said. “You won’t be disappointed.”
Spectrum is often a chance for those unfamiliar with Moody’s ensembles to experience something new. This concert serves to highlight all the School of Music offers, not only for the incoming high school visitors but also for current students and members of the Tuscaloosa community.
“It is really a musical sampler of all of the many different types of music that occurs in the School of Music,” Ozello said. “The students attending get a taste of diverse musical culture in one concert.”
