After a quick hiatus from our tour to ensure that as many members as possible would be able to participate in tour, we hit the ground running today with perhaps the most important day of this tour. On May 13, 2022, the Wind Ensemble had the honor of playing at the Iowa Bandmasters Association Annual Conference. While it was difficult to return to tour today being down ten members from around the ensemble, we still gave it all we had, and in my opinion, we had one of the best performances of tour. Because we played for each other and played for those that couldn't, and we played with as much heart and soul we possibly could. We were able to show band directors from across the state just who exactly the Wartburg College Wind Ensemble is.
The Iowa Bandmasters Association (IBA) has been around since March of 1928, created entirely by municipal band directors, partially due to threatened legislative action against the Band Law. Since its beginning, IBA has become one of the largest and most active of all state bandmasters organizations around the country. Each year at their annual conference, now held in downtown Des Moines, IA, the committee selects bands from across the state to be featured throughout the conference. The opportunity of a lifetime is presented to bands and directors when their band is extended an offer to perform at the conference, as they get to perform in front of a room made up almost entirely of band directors. In this their 95th Annual IBA Conference, the Wartburg College Wind Ensemble was selected to represent small colleges from across the state.
Often times at IBA, bands choose to have guest conductors featured as part of their concerts. For our concert, there were two very special people that were able to take the podium. First, was Mr. Leon Kuehner, who conducted the Wind Ensemble when Dr. Hancock was on sabbatical in the fall of 2020. Having him in front of this band again meant a lot to each of us in this ensemble. The second guest conductor was Dr. Myron Welch. Dr. Welch was Dr. Hancock's mentor throughout his time at the University of Iowa, and is very well known and respected in the band community in Iowa. What an honor it was to play under his direction.
But what made this performance the most special for me, and what I am reflecting on with this performance, is my personal history with IBA. If you scroll through the pictures above, you will find four pictures, two from the performance with the Wind Ensemble, where I as a senior had one of my last performances of my career, and two from a performance at IBA with the Cedar Rapids Kennedy Wind Symphony from May of 2015. I was a freshman in high school that year and I had the honor of performing under Jared Wacker and have a once in a lifetime opportunity then, that I was so lucky to have a second time. Starting my high school band career at an IBA performance, and ending my college career at an IBA performance is something I never dreamed of in a million years, but will hold a special place in my heart forever. But what made it even more special for me, was that high school band director of mine was able to be there for this performance. I was able to talk to him after where he told me just how proud he was of me, and I was able to tell him just how much his passion for music fueled mine. It's these full circle events that make everything on this tour worth it. The cherry on top of the whole day wasn't getting the standing ovation from a group of band directors, it wasn't having a successful concert even though we were down quite a few people, and it wasn't the thunderous applause we were given after singing our closing blessing. But it was the smile on each and every person's face, and the tears in everyone's eyes as we were leaving the ballroom that was proof that what we did was change lives and instill an even greater appreciation and love for the music you can make with a group, no matter how big or how small.
Alexis Green '22
Clarinetist