Nico Rivera
Features Editor
On Saturday, Nov. 9, the Wooster Symphonic Band held their “Songs For a Burgeoning Nation” concert in the Scheide Music Center. The band, under the direction of conductor Jeffrey Gershman, performed five songs written by American artists, including the first-ever performance of “Contemplation,” written by Wooster graduate Sitara True ’25.
Jeffrey Gershman is the Director of Bands, Chair of the Music Department and the conductor for the Symphonic Band. He spoke in depth about the themes that the “Songs For a Burgeoning Nation” program explored and how he decided on the thematic focus of the on-going concert series. He explained, “With next year being our [national] 250-year anniversary, I wanted to create this picture of an evolution of American music from our inception until now, how history influenced music and vice versa. The spring programming will be everything from the Revolutionary War up through civil rights movements and even today. So for this first program, I wanted to take the first half of that … snapshots of what American life would be like during [the 18th and 19th centuries.]”
The band began the concert with “The Girl I Left Behind Me,” an English folk song traced back to the mid-1700’s. Connecting the piece to the central theme, Gershman explained, “I wanted to do something for the Revolutionary War, and this song and ‘Yankee Doodle’ are kind of the two signature tunes that still exist today.” The band followed this up with “Cosmopolitan America,” written by composer Helen May Butler to commemorate the 1907 World Fair held in St. Louis. Gershman continued, “I wanted to feature a work by a female composer, one that we have forgotten about. It’s this great snapshot of the 20th century and the big influx of European Americans … this march [is] actually quoting some of the music that these immigrants would have known and brought with them.” The third song of the concert was the very first performance of Sitara True’s original piece, “Contemplation.” Noting the departure from the historic pieces of the set so far, Gershman explained “I wanted to feature Sitara’s music as this parallel: ‘Here’s someone who lived 100 years ago, and here’s a composer that is not your traditional white male composer’, and just how different the musical styles have evolved over a century.”
Following Sitara’s composition, the band performed “Galop,” written by Arthur Bird in the early 1900’s. Gershman described the American cultural and musical developments that this piece reflects. He explained, “This was when America first started to try to get its own classical image, and how that was borrowed from European immigrants and the music they brought with them.” The band finished the concert with the classic “Battle Hymn of the Republic,” written by the abolitionist Julia Ward Howe during the Civil War. Gershman spoke about the song’s connections with social movements beyond its patriotic roots. He said, “It wasn’t just a pro-equality message, it resonated with women’s suffrage and the rise of labor unions and the civil rights movement. [The song] looks back but also looks forward even farther from when we do the concert in the spring. So, everything is tightly intertwined.”
Looking towards the spring schedule, Gershman concluded by speaking about the next historical era the band plans to explore through their next concerts. “What begins to happen is that America finds its own voice in the early twentieth century with the advent of jazz. It’s the music of freed slaves, along with the music of Cuba that gets involved. You get this unique synthesis of, for the first time, a true American voice which then spread throughout the world. From jazz that evolved to blues, which evolved into rock and popular music, into rap. There’s this long lineage of how America found its voice in that synthesis, and it really encapsulates who we are as this pluralistic society, and how that is reflected in the music that identifies us now.”
Liam Donovan ’26, an alto saxophonist in the band, talked about the relevance of the concert’s theme today. He said, “I feel that especially in today’s political climate, a theme like this … can serve as an excellent vehicle for conveying an important message.” He also spoke about the enjoyment that he gains from performing with the band, explaining that “I really like the satisfaction that I get by putting something together over the semester and having the opportunity to show it to my peers.”