We have always had the band there, and frequently we have done combined pieces with the choir. An annual highlight of the program is when the band plays "Salute To Americas Finest" which is a medley of all the Armed Forces service songs. As each song is played we invite the Veterans and their family members to stand and be recognized with applause. That's always a moving moment, especially to watch the WWII vets exert the energy to stand. But if they stand for only one thing in the program, they always stand up then, and you can just see the pride in their eyes.
This year we performed a piece that I heard the US Coast Guard Band play in a concert I attended at Millennium Park in Chicago this summer. Titled "Liberty for All," it's a work that was composed by James Beckel for the Indianapolis Symphony. It was later transcribed for the Coast Guard Band, and it includes a narrator. The narration features excerpts of famous speeches about liberty, freedom and service. Originally I planned to do this piece with the band on our March concert, as a centerpiece for the community outreach concerts we perform for elementary school children. In fact, we will return to this piece again in the Spring. But the more I thought about the message in the narration, the more I thought it would work beautifully for Veterans Day.
So I pushed up the introduction of the music to my students, and we worked hard over the past three weeks to get the piece ready. Having been personally inspired by a composition/narration called "American Journey" (John Williams/Stephen Spielberg for the Millennium Celebration in Washington D.C.) I found about 100 images and film clips that I thought matched the narration, edited an 11 minute video on my computer, and added a 'click track' to the video so we could play the music live and sync with the film. I invited another good friend and long time colleague - Bob Graham - to be the narrator, and it became another great opportunity to collaborate with a different department in our school.
The whole thing became a 'labor of love.' I probably spent 20 hours putting the video together and syncing in with a click-track (a job that would have probably taken Addison 20 minutes to do!). And the music is really hard (17 key changes in the 11 minutes, and many challenging solos for the students). But the entire band seemed to really enjoy the process, and yesterday's program was - I think - very honoring for the Veterans. We received a standing ovation, not just from the vets in attendance, but also from the entire student body. (That, to me, was quite significant; it takes a lot to get 2000 teenagers to stand up for anything ... especially a piece of music that is essentially a 'classical' or symphonic work.) Many vets approached me, and members of the band, following the program with tears of appreciation in their eyes, and that made all the work worthwhile. As I said to the students, "The work you've put into this music, and getting up at 5:30 AM to report to school for a 6 AM rehearsal this morning is the least we can do to honor the service these men and women have given to our country." The students totally understood this. Some even came at 9 PM the night before to help us set up the gymnasium with all the equipment. They were very invested in making it memorable.
As I've reflected on the entire experience of putting this together, I'm not sure I've ever been more proud of a project, a concert, or a unit of study that I've guided students through. My faith has always caused me to struggle with the notion that 'war' is an appropriate way for humans to resolve conflict. But having said that, I have never struggled with the notion that we need to honor all Americans who serve their country. Be it those who enlist or were called into the Armed Forces, or those who served through the Peace Corps, I think it's really appropriate that we pause to say thanks.
And to that end I want to say thank you to my own father.
