by Marcella Ortega
Daily Lobo
Being a member of the UNM Wind Symphony is kind of like taking a literature course.
"You want to have literature from different authors, different periods of time, different subjects - that type of thing," said Eric Rombach-Kendall, wind symphony conductor.
Rombach-Kendall has conducted the wind symphony since 1993.
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"It's a music class," he said. "So like every other professor in this campus, I'm responsible for the curriculum for my class."
Rombach-Kendall said he wanted to develop a full year of programming that would be meaningful and challenging to students and cover a lot of different styles and eras.
Tonight, the UNM Wind Symphony will have its first concert of the semester. It will present the program "Hail Britannia!"
"I just started looking at works that would make a good combination together," Rombach-Kendall said. "In the process of that, I thought, 'Wow. We could do an all British-themed concert. There is a lot of variety of repertoire that could make a good program from just that.'"
Rombach-Kendall said the only piece in the program not written by a British composer is "Huntingtower Ballad," by Italian composer Ottorino Respighi. He said Huntingtower is a Scottish castle that inspired the composer.
"It still has that British theme to it," he said.
Chase Ellison is a percussionist in the wind symphony. It is his first year assigned to the ensemble. Ellison said the group rehearses three days a week for two hours. He spends at least 10 hours every week practicing outside of class.
"This ensemble is more like a professional ensemble," he said. "You can't not know your part. You kind of waste everyone's time if you are not ready. You have to be really prepared when you go in there (to rehearsals)."
Ellison said making his part work in the group is challenging. Rombach-Kendall said the class is meant to push the students' playing level.
"It's not like being a sculptor, where it is you and your material," he said. "In music, you can't really practice like that. You have to have other musicians. It gives them a great lab experience in what they are going to be doing."
Rombach-Kendall said earning a seat in the symphony is competitive, because it holds auditions each semester. He said it helps prepare the students to become professional musicians.
"First, it gives them the experience of taking an audition and the pressure involved with taking an audition," he said. "Secondly, it rewards people who are working hard, who are trying to get better and move up the ladder."
Student Anthony Thompson is a member of the symphony and plays the clarinet. It is Thompson's second year in the symphony.
"I feel that we are just as prepared, if not more prepared, as a group as we were last year," he said. "It seems like everybody gets their job done."
Thompson said the symphony has many returning members and has improved.
"I think we are definitely playing more difficult music at an earlier time in the year," he said. "That shows we have a possibly greater potential than last year."
Rombach-Kendall, who conducted at other universities before UNM, said the ensemble compares to most in the country.
"This is always a pretty advanced ensemble, but I would say this could be the strongest wind symphony we've had at UNM since I've been here," he said. "It's something really for UNM campus to be proud of."
