Musical composers of the past have often been forgotten because their music has been placed behind shelves or antique stores. But the EC symphony orchestra paid tribute to the first African American to conduct a major symphony orchestra, William Grant Still.
Still was the first to have a symphony of his own (his first symphony) performed by a leading orchestra, the first to have an opera performed by a major opera company, and the first to have an opera performed on national television. He is often referred to as “the dean” of African-American composers.
Dr. Dane Teter, coordinator of the applied music program in EC, said that Still was a great man with many historical and beautiful pieces that are not well known and he would like to share it with everyone through the orchestra. The concert was on Saturday Nov. 15 at the Marsee Auditorium.
“Because of segregation, and many racial differences at the time, Still wasn’t as known or wasn’t as mainstream as the other composers,” Teter said. “We want to pay tribute to Mr. Still by playing some of the pieces that he composed so that we can show how beautiful is work was. To this day, nobody really knows who Grant still is.”
With the limited amount of technology and resources in the past, Teter said that Still’s work wasn’t exposed to the public even though his work was phenomenal. And also because of racism and segregation in the South, Still’s work wasn’t as exposed.
“It’s very unfortunate,” Teter said. “Mr Still’s work was off the charts-type stuff and I wish that many of the young kid’s in this generation can truly realize how gifted he was.”
Judith Anne Still, the daughter of Grant Still was also on hand to speak about her father’s career in music and to also share some of her experiences managing Grant Still’s work since her father passed away in December 1978. Judith Still now dedicates herself to getting her father’s music recorded and played by orchestras.
“His daughter will be at the show,” Teter said. “We are very fortunate and blessed to have the daughter of Grant Still at the show. So for those that attend the concert will have a chance to hear and learn more from the career and life of Mr. Still.”
The toughest challenge that faced the orchestra was that some of the musicians weren’t too familiar with Still’s work. They had to learn the piece from scratch and adapt to Still’s style. Hanibal Seminario, a flutist, music major and saxophone player said that the toughest part about playing the music was that he wasn’t quite familiar with Still’s work.
“I didn’t even know who Grant (Still) was until we started playing his music,” Seminario said. “But he has very beautiful pieces that was great for us to play and it also expanded my knowledge about music.”
Even though it was a challenge for some of the musicians to play Still’s musical pieces, Manuel Arellano, a pianist, music major said that playing Still’s pieces was fun because it gave him a chance to be creative.
“I wasn’t quite familiar with Still’s work so it gave me a chance to put my own creative twist to it,” Arellano said. “It gave me a chance to put my own style into Grant Still’s work which was already great itself. It was fun.”
One of the aspects of his music that Arellano got really creative with were the dynamics. In music, the artist can express how loud or soft the music will be through crescendo and decrescendo, the art of playing the music soft or loud. Arellano said that was the fun part.
“Still had great pieces were the dynamics were great to mess around with,” Arellano said. “I definitely got creative with that.”
With the concert already finished, Teter said it would be great for this generation of musicians to know more about Grant Still’s work and also about lesser known musicians of the past.
“I’m hoping that this is a great opportunity for past musicians who were less known to get more publicity,” Teter said. “The work that they did need to be exposed more to the public and it is sad that not enough people know who these musicians are.”
