The SAU Symphonic Band has been hard at work preparing for their annual Homecoming concert. This year, the band is bringing back a favorite nontraditional instrument: wine glasses filled with water. The technique they use to make sound from the wine glass filled with water is called a glass harp. Sophomore band member Sam Lundvall tells us how it works.
“The friction between your finger and the rim of the glass creates resonance that echoes between the water and the glass itself, creating a toned pitch. So depending on how full the water is is the pitch that you use. Right now they’re at B flat.”
This is the third year in a row the band is using a water glass type instrument. The wine glasses are not only resonating in sound, but also in the meaning they provide to the piece. The piece is a tribute to the events that occurred on September 11th, 2001. Band Director Dr. Nicholas Enz tells us more about how the wine glasses add to the piece.
“The piece is essentially a tribute if not a musical prayer for those that were affected, whether they died in nine-eleven or the aftermath. Andy Moisen, with that particular sound as well as the others sounds that he’s creating, it kind of creates this very ethereal sound because that tone is so pure. Yeah it just kind of creates almost this heavenly sound, so it’s used at the end of the fourth and fifth movements.”
Another interesting message behind the piece is that it is a St. Ambrose original. It was commissioned for the university, created locally and premiered to the whole world right here at SAU. Dr. Enz tells us that he likes to bring this one back every once in a while to let alumni and current students enjoy it, which is especially fitting for homecoming.
Given the meaning and importance of the piece, you might think there is a lot of pressure on the performer in this moment of the piece. One of the performers, freshman Sara Ward, tells us how she feels getting to perform this untraditional instrument. “It’s a lot of pressure, but it’s a lot easier than I thought it would be to play. That’s the fun thing about percussion, there’s a lot of really obscure instruments and I don’t think I’ve played a lot of them.”
Be sure to catch the band play this piece and more at the homecoming concert on October 18th in Allaert Auditorium.
