empires in the sun

On Tuesday night, Katie's 7th grade band had a really nice concert. It's amazing the music program we have here in River Falls. We are certainly blessed.

The director, Mike Fuller, wrote a grant proposal to have an original piece of music written for the 7th grade band. The composer came to MMS last spring and found the students were studying Mayan culture so wrote a 3 part piece.

this is written by my friend Lisa--photo by her too

This is Mile Fuller and he works hard with all the kids in band and jazz band at MMS. He announced that tonight’s Winter Band Concert featured the world premier performance by our 7th Grade Band of the commissioned work Empires in the Sun by Thomas Root. It was amazing and made possible by a music education grant from the St. Croix Valley Foundation that he wrote. Thank you Mike and to all the MMS staff for all you do to support our children’s musical endeavors.

and this was from Mr. Fuller:

I thought I'd share with you what I'll be saying to the 7th grade band when I see them again tomorrow.

Congratulations on a very successful performance last night.  I felt they played extremely well and know that Dr. Root was extremely pleased with their performance of his composition Empires In The Sun.  One of his concerns after writing it was that it was going to be too difficult of a piece for 7th graders but I assured him that we could handle it and the students pulled through in a big way.  The other two pieces also went very well so the students should feel very good about the evening.  Congratulations as well to the jazz band - students who are experiencing and learning that genre for the first time.  I appreciate the extra time they put in at before school rehearsals as well as the additional work needed on their own for those pieces.  

Finally, thank you also as parents for supporting your child in their band experience.  Your support is a critical part of the success of our program and is very much appreciated.