Devastatingly, the effects of the COVID-19 virus have forced several K-12, college, university administrations (in conjunction with their state governments) to make the very difficult decision to move much of the Spring 2020 academic year to an "online" structure. While this makes sense for a "normal" class, such as English or Math, it makes performing ensemble incredibly difficult.
However, thanks to the out-of-the-box thinking by Dr. Jay Sconyers of McNeese State University, an opportunity was created!
Dr. Sconyers and Ryan built a Virtual Wind Ensemble allowing band students from across the county to perform in the world premiere of Mandatory Social Distancing in the Spring of 2020.

In the end, the 27 colleges, universities, and high schools listed to the right joined together and 757 students submitted more than 800 videos to create the massed, virtual wind ensemble. 

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The piece is a triumph of "band kids'" ability to overcome adversity - to think outside the box and come together to still accomplish their goal. 

The work unfolds in four (or five, depending how you count) sections - coming from Ryan living through the COVID-19 pandemic as it unfolded. 
The opening section starts at the beginning of pandemic, as schools started to move online, business closed, airlines cancelled flights, and so on. The section is meant to convey the feeling of unease and unknown with the unfolding of the situation.
Into the second section, the frenetic frenzy of everybody stocking their pantries and panic-buying all the toilet paper on the shelves in the store.
The third section is a moment of refection: wishing you could go back to doing what it is we do every day, even the mundane - meetings, 8:00 AM gen eds, and so on.
The fourth and fifth sections are the optimism and hope. We WILL get through this. We WILL be okay and we WILL overcome the hardships. But life will probably end up a little bit differently in the end. We won't know until we get there.

Participating Colleges & Universities:

• McNeese State University, Lake Charles, LA
• University of Wisconsin - LaCrosse, LaCrosse, WI
• ​University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC
• Mount Mercy University, Cedar Rapids, IA
• University of Arkansas at Little Rock, Little Rock, AR
• West Valley College, Saratoga, CA
• Tarleton State University, Stephenville, TX
• University of the Southern Caribbean, Port of Spain, Trinidad
• Gettysburg College, Gettysburg, PA
• ​Ohio University, Athens, OH
• Austin Peay State University, Clarksville, TN
• ​University of Central Florida, Orlanda, FL
• University of West Florida, Pensacola, FL
• Southeastern Louisiana University, Hammond, LA
• ​University of South Alabama, Mobile, AL
• Midland University, Fremont, NE
• North Central Texas College, Gainesville, TX
• ​The University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ
• Los Angeles Valley College, Los Angeles, CA
• ​Gonzaga University, Spokane, WA
• ​California State University, Northridge, Northridge, CA
• ​University of Chicago, Chicago, IL
  

Participating High Schools:

• Providence High School, Charlotte, NC
• Theodore Roosevelt High School, Kent, OH
• ​Lumberton High School, Lumberton, TX
• Silsbee High School, Silsbee, TX
• Calvert Hall College High School, Baltimore, MD

If you wish to perform this work, the score and parts are available for purchase, either digitally or physically.

 

The remaining content on this page is the information that was presented for the consortium members as the work began. It is preserved for posterity.

Here are some details:

• The work will be approximately 5 minutes in duration
• The work will be between Grade 3 & Grade 4, allowing for students to be able to read, practice, and "perform" the work with minimal instruction from their directors
• Each participating ensemble will be given password-protected access to a website containing all parts along with an MP3 click-track and a video of Dr. Sconyers conducting a "silent rendition" of the piece.
• Students will be given approximately two to three weeks to prepare and submit their videos for inclusion in the totality of the "Virtual Wind Ensemble.
• While we understand that directors may each have different ideas of tuning, we ask that all wind players tune their instruments to A=440 for the purposes of this video. This will help us to keep all of our ensemble members in tune with one another.
• We're asking all participating student to wear some kind of shirt that shows off their school identity! Once we combine videos of all participating ensemble, we'll have a wonderful conglomeration of many ensembles, participating from a distance. Maybe your family cat is sitting behind during your video? Or your little puppy walks past? That's all fine! Let's face it - this is less than an ideal situation - but that's no reason we can't join together to make music!
• Percussionists: understanding that  many of you do not have access to standard percussion equipment at home, non-pitched percussion parts will ALL be written for (and considered as) "found percussion." Aside from fixed-pitch percussion (mallets!) - any other parts are all open for any OBJECT you might have at home that could create the sound that fits the bill! Find something - be creative - get outside your (hermetically-sealed) box and come up with a great idea. As the "found percussion" parts come in, we'll filter the video to include phrases from all the timbres provided. While not EVERY sound will be include ALL of the time, the videos will be included!

 

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A message from Dr. Jay Sconyers, the primary member of the consortium:
Colleagues,
I hope you are doing well, and I hope that everyone is remaining safe and healthy at your universities. Considering the news of many university closings, and the need for unique approaches for wind ensemble rehearsals, I am working on assembling a consortium to commission a work for virtual wind ensemble.  The resulting performance would be similar to Eric Whitacre’s Virtual Choir.  Our goal is to produce a premiere “performance” with each university as well as a combined virtual premiere with a combined band.  Long term, this provides or ensemble medium with access to a work that can be performed remotely as a result of school closures, as a means of distance learning, as an outreach method, or as an innovative ensemble teaching incentive.  I have spoken with Ryan J. Williams about doing this project.  He is uniquely equipped for this task, and I am excited to say I will be doing a premiere of a concerto of his in November.  You can check out his music at www.ryanjwilliams.net.  

Below are the details of this consortium:
Performance venue: YouTube posting for the public.  Your school and students could share a YouTube link on social media of the “virtual wind ensemble.”
Length: Approximately 5 Minutes.  This is an appropriate viewing length for most YouTube audiences.
Grade Level: This is a grade 3-4.  This should make the work easily accessible to a variety of ensembles and easy to “rehearse” in an online format.
Buy in: The buy in for each school is $300.
Premiere: All consortium members will be given the opportunity to submit their student videos and will be combined into a combined virtual premiere.  Ryan will also provide a link to a school specific performance for each consortium member.  Both videos will be shareable via social media so that we may reach our typical audience and hopefully new audiences as well.  We ask that no member post their own copy until the full premiere can be shared.
Music: A link to digital copies of the music and a click track will be included for each consortium member.  Also, a link to a video with a conductor will be included.
Recording: Each student will record to an in ear click track (an audio and video file will be provided).  They may record it on their computer camera, iPhone, etc… and upload the video.  Ryan will combine the files into a virtual wind ensemble.  The recording should be a single take and unedited for the sake of continuity.  The student can have as many single takes an needed, but for the purpose of combining and alignment, it needs be unedited.  The student should be in as quiet a room as possible (should the video have too much noise, the video may be included, but audio omitted).  Students should wear any type of shirt that is clearly representing their university.
Thank you for your consideration of this project, and I hope that this piece of music can help make these uncertain times a bit better for your ensembles.  I look forward to hopefully collaborating very soon on this project.
Thank you, 
Jay Sconyers
Director of Bands, McNeese State University

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From the composer:
As I travel around the Country, working with different groups of so many different levels, I consistently find that band kids are the most resilient and adaptable of everyone in their schools. I am always amazed at how hard these musicians work and the willingness with which they tackle adversity in order to get the job done.
Performing a piece of music by recording a solo video from wherever they call “home?” When it comes to band kids - I have no doubt but to expect the highest of standards. Because of the way we do things in band, we can always trust the performers in our ensembles to do the right thing, regardless of what conductor (or camera phone) is watching.

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Frequently Asked Questions & Recording Tips:
Part Assignments:

• Students may submit as many as two videos (e.g. Trumpet 1, Trumpet 2 - or Alto Sax, Tenor Sax, etc.)
• Students are encouraged to play the "lower" parts to allow for a balanced ensemble!
• Percussionists should be creative (but reasonable) with their use of "found percussion" instruments.

Rehearsal Process:

• You're provided with MIDI files of both the full ensemble and piano reduction. Use the full ensemble score to aid in tuning and to follow your part through the full band. Use the piano playback as a different take on tuning, but more especially to aid in timing.
• The click-track tempo at 59 includes the 8th note subdivision; listen for the higher-pitched click to know where the new bar starts. At measure 104, the "2/2" meter is giving 4 beats to a bar, so it is technically subdivided as well.
• As you start to recording your takes, share them with your peers and offer to critique one another.
• You can use simple, free software like iMovie, Garage Band, or Audacity to start to collect a couple different people's videos together and to hear how well they do or do not line up. This might help you a lot in your own performance!

Recording Tips:

• The final video for submission should be a total take of the full click track, with no edits, breaks, jumps, or otherwise - start from the very beginning of the full click track and count through all the rests - this is going to make the video editing process much smoother.
• Your video should be in standard video formats: M4V, MP4, MOV, etc. Please do not use Windows Media (WMV) formats.
• Videos should be recorded with as little (or zero) background noise and, as possible, with a high-quality microphone. Any videos that have an excess of white noise may have their volume reduced or muted for clarity of the overall piece.
• Videos should be recorded in "landscape" orientation to allow for consistency in layout in the final product.
• Turn off any fans in the room (including ceiling fans) and do not have any lamps or overhead lights in view of the camera. If your air conditioning is running, try to keep your microphone away from the air vents.
• Record your videos in a room with as minimal echo/reverb as possible - the more acoustically "dead" your recording, the better the overall product will be.
• Check your sound/audio properties on your computer and be sure that the playback and the recording speeds are at 44.1KHz and not 48KHz  - this will affect the duration of your video and your pitch.
• Don't use "marching band" dynamics - think of double- or triple-forte in terms of playing a solo recital in a small recital hall, rather than big full ensemble dynamics.
• Bell-front brass players (trumpets and trombones) - be sure that your bell is NOT pointing directly at the microphone/recording device, but rather 30° to 45° to the side. This will give you a much better quality of sound.

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