MHS Band To Perform With Famous Composer

It started with an email three years ago from Mehlville High School Director of Bands Tony Brown, to Frank Ticheli, a world-renowned composer. 

The email simply asked if Ticheli would come work with the band before performing his work in a concert. 

After extensive planning and fundraising, Ticheli came to Mehlville High School Monday to rehearse his music with the Symphonic Band. 

"If you can't tell you're in the room with a musical giant...then you're not really alive," Brown said to his students. 

Ticheli, who has composed more than 80 pieces and performed from Italy to Japan, currently teaches music at the University of Southern California's Thornton School of Music. 

He worked with the band Monday morning on his piece, "Angels in the Architecture," an inspiration from the Sydney Opera House in Australia. 

"I wanted to change the room immediately," Ticheli said about the piece. "I wanted the audience to transcend their normal lives and jobs and say, 'What was that?'"

The score incorporated several non-traditional techniques and instruments and introduced a soprano voice into the band. 

Students played the rims of water-filled wine glasses and swung around plastic tubes called Whirlies to create new sounds that paired with the band's regular instruments. 

"There's no end to what we can do," Ticheli said. "It's just sound and we can use our imaginations."

Ticheli drilled the students on pitch and perfection in their practice session, but joked along the way.

"Real men certainly aren't afraid to sing falsetto," he said during a humming exercise.

After the class, students questioned the composer on his work and experiences with music, asking advice and requesting autographs.

"You've got a great support system here, with parents and the community," he said about the band. 

The band will be performing with the University of Missouri-St. Louis Symphonic Band Tuesday at 7:30 p.m. at the Touhill Performing Arts Center on the UMSL campus.