By Boyd-Alan Brown | Guest Contributor
The Baylor Trombone Society wants to give students an experience they won’t soon forget through its production “Baylor Trombones at the Movies.”
The concert will take place at 6 p.m. on Saturday in Jones Concert Hall. The production will feature a wide variety of music from movies such as “Star Wars,” “Indiana Jones” and “Superman Returns,” as well as a few other notable films, according to the Baylor Trombones website. The concert will last an hour and a half and will be conducted by Dr. Jon Whitaker, a guest from the University of Alabama.
Trombone professor Brent Phillips organized this event and will be performing in the ensemble with his students. He has spent the past couple months working diligently with the ensemble to bring this production to life.
“This music pushes these players,” Phillips said. “There is some duress. They’ve been working on this for a number of weeks, and it is involved.”
Spring senior and trombone player Nathan Stanfield and Phillips both said they hope to see as many students in the audience as possible. Stanfield said it would be an entertaining concert for Baylor students.
“It’s a really fun way to expose yourself to this kind of music,” Stanfield said. “The energy on stage is always a lot of fun, and we’re having a lot of fun with the program too. We’re really hoping that comes across to the audience as well.”
The concert will bring in trombone players from across the country, bringing together graduate students, alumni, undergraduate students and a few professors from other universities. The ensemble itself will be made up of four alto trombones, 18 tenor trombones, six bass trombones and a contrabass — a special six-foot-long trombone that can achieve lower notes than a regular bass trombone. Standfield will be playing the ensemble’s contrabass trombone. This conglomeration of trombones is a sight to behold.
“I don’t think the average Baylor student has any idea the level of virtuosity and power and sound that a trombone choir can make,” Phillips said. “If they sit up close, that’s the splash zone, that’s where we really get an effect. Those that come, even if they’re just squeezing it into their Saturday afternoon, I promise you they will not go away dissatisfied. They will really be amazed. When they leave they will be thrilled, surprised and glad they attended.”
