Big stuff is happening. After a major chamber winds concert that I played in last Sunday, two upcoming events have been large in my life. They have proven time- and thought-intensive. They have been, and will be, fulfilling. Big stuff for this little person! The first is an Atchison Jazz Express concert, and the second is a Benedictine College/Atchison Community Orchestra concert.
In both cases, I am pleased to have been solely responsible for the programming, the planning, and the rehearsing. I am the primary musical leader, but that doesn’t mean I worked in a vacuum. I collaborated with soloists and colleagues in certain respects, but at points I deemed some things better than others and made some decisions unilaterally.
I believe that ensemble programming is an art in itself, and I take the responsibility seriously. By “ensemble programming,” I mean not only the act of selecting certain pieces for rehearsal and performance, but also the work of pondering and sequencing the individual works, all the while considering the program as a whole, as an over-arching artistic expression. (This document, written some years ago, provides more of my thinking in this area.) I consider such factors as style, era of composition, difficulty level, perceived energy level, key/tonality, player stamina, texture (sometimes including chamber groups in a large-ensemble program), and overall “shape.”
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I. Jazz Other than jazz ensembles at three two-year colleges, I have not been responsible for much jazz programming. At two of those institutions, I founded and led small combos, so there was no particular tradition or performance precedent to uphold. At the other school, there was a big band, and I think I programmed satisfactorily, if not perfectly.
For tomorrow’s AJE program, I had more talent at my disposal, and more leeway. I’m pleased to have been 
directing rehearsals for three months. A couple of programming decisions were made as late as a week ago. I’ve worked all along to enhance the variety and audience appeal of this concert, of course also considering the players’ interests. I’ve added auxiliary percussion, had a multi-talented player move from bass trombone to electric bass while our regular upright bassist sits out, and added guitar for four tunes. Having substitute players can also affect the constitution and shape of the program.
Certain other aspects have made this concert a bigger deal, at least for me, than one might expect—namely, the inclusion of a young vocalist, Daysia Reneau. She’s a freshman in college but has already had some significant experience. Using a vocalist in a jazz program means there are extra issues, at least in our world. We have only one chart that’s arranged for a vocalist, so some tunes we’re doing with Daysia have required significant adaptation. We had to (1) change the form and (2) keep the melodic instruments from playing the melody at times.
In addition to Daysia’s songs, we will also perform styles such as “up” swing, gentle swing, a Dixie-ish rock march, Latin-influenced jazz, jazz-rock, and pop. Our “home” style is medium swing in this ensemble, but I think we’re doing well with the other styles, too. Here’s the program:
With composers and arrangers such as Count Basie, the Gershwins, Henry Mancini, Benny Goodman, Duke Ellington, Sammy Nestico, and Johnny Carson, we probably can’t go wrong.
II. Orchestra Actually, wind band music, including chamber winds, constitutes my first choice of ensemble, repertoire, and sonic possibilities, but my largest responsibility as a 
professional musician lately has been orchestral leadership. (My secondary doctoral study area was orchestral conducting.) For a total of six seasons, I have been conductor of the Benedictine College/Atchison Community Orchestra, and the final spring concert is in a week. I cannot come close to communicating how significant an event this concert will be in my personal life. I am going big and then going home, basically, with this group. Here’s the program:
The 1.5-minute opener, my transcription, centers on fanfare elements, but it also requires complex rhythmic capacities and evokes deep contemplation in spots.
Today’s concertmaster, and violin soloist for the second piece, took lessons with the concertmaster I first worked with, back in 2003-5.
I’ve invited two musicians back who performed with us in 2005, and there are several other supplemental musicians, making it the largest-ever orchestra to fill the stage here.
The largest pieces are the Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra, a true orchestral “tour de force,” three of the four Malcolm Arnold English Dances, and the finale. The James Bond music that ends the first half is also pretty “big” in spots. All great music!
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I look forward to both these programs, for different but overlapping reasons. The variety of the repertoire is a particular joy to consider, program, and “make work” (a reference to necessary adaptations). The jazz repertoire comes from about a 50-year time period, and the orchestral selections were composed over about 125 years. All in all, there is some terrific music, and I intend to enjoy playing piano tomorrow, working with soloists, the final orchestral rehearsal on Thursday, pre-concert pep talks and spot checks, sharing some personal thoughts with the second audience—and of course conducting, which is my first musical love.
Someone recently asked me where God was in what I’d said. That was a reasonable question in that context, and the same question could be asked here, too . . . so let me just say this, here and now. Whether I express it or not, God is in all of it. Thank you, Lord God, for music.
Earnestly Speaking 