Sunflower Woodwind Quintet Will Debut Commissioned Piece at UVMC’s November Concert
It’s a treat to hear music, but it’s even more special when you’re hearing an original piece of music for the first time. At UVMC’s November concert, the Sunflower Woodwind Quintet will debut a commissioned piece on Sunday, November 10 at 1 pm at the First Congregational Church of Lebanon.
“Having music commissioned is an opportunity to highlight not just the skill of our group but the strengths of the individual instruments in the ensemble,” said Faith Goodness, who teaches flute, clarinet, and saxophone at UVMC. “In this specific piece, there are references to our region, our group name, and even members of our group!”
The Sunflower Woodwind Quintet performs a wide variety of music, ranging from classical showpieces to dance tunes from around the world. Group members include Faith Goodness, flute; Steve Jordan, oboe; Tom Norton, clarinet; Dwight “Sandy” Campbell, horn; and Emma Waste, bassoon. Joe Henderson, piano, will accompany the quintet during November’s program of eclectic chamber music for wind.
Sandy Campbell commissioned a one-minute composition, titled “Turning Toward”, for the group. The composer, Dr. Barbara White, is a Professor of Music at Princeton University.
“I was first thinking about doing something related to the strathspey, which is a genre I love and am working on in my study and performance of Cape Breton (Nova Scotia Scottish-heritage) music,” Dr. White said. “After Tom Norton and I spoke, I realized there was a serendipity that one of the best-known strathspeys is called…Captain Campbell. So I had this snazzy idea to work that in, in honor of Sandy as commissioner, with an equally snazzy title.”
Dr. White’s initial idea of a strathspey didn’t work as a one-minute piece, but the opening horn material turned into a “micro-parade of references to classical music history. Something like this: modal melody, adding a drone, and then a progression through different kinds of part writing: organum to fauxbourdon. The funky material at B (bassoon and piano) actually has a remnant of the strathspey in the ‘Scotch snap’.”
The name of the quintet — sunflower — shaped the title — a sunflower “turning toward” the light.
“It also relates some to the turning figures in the piece: the horn opening, but also the directionality in other places and the ascents at the end,” Dr. White said.
The November concert is open to the public. A donation is suggested, and proceeds will support the UVMC Tuition Assistance Fund. For directions, please go to: https://uvmusic.org/event/sunflower-wind-quintet
About the Sunflower Woodwind Quintet Musicians
Flautist Faith Goodness, MBA, holds a Bachelor of Music degree (summa cum laude) in Music Education from the University of Rhode Island. She has also studied at the Julius Baker Master Classes at Western Connecticut State University, and had the honor of playing for Mr. Baker. Faith lives in Enfield, NH, with her husband and sons.
Oboist Steve Jordan is a mostly retired internist, having practiced for more than 40 years in Newport and New London. He graduated from Dartmouth with a degree in biology and obtained his M.D. from Tufts University. He played in the Dartmouth Community Symphony and the Amherst (NY) Symphony. Steve lives in Sunapee, NH, with his wife Marianne.
Clarinetist Tom Norton has degrees in astronomy, physics, and engineering from Haverford College and Princeton University, and spent 18 years working at ANSYS in Lebanon, NH. He has pursued music as an avocation throughout his life, playing with a wide variety of wind ensembles, community orchestras, and chamber music groups.
Hornist Sandy Campbell is a retired surgeon. He started trumpet in grade school. In college, he played in the Barbary Coast, later in groups as diverse as Dudley Laufman’s Contra Dance Orchestra, the Old Dogs Dixieland Band, and the Vermont Bicentennial Band under Gene Childers. He studied horn with Michael Brubaker of the Savannah and Asheville Symphony Orchestras, and later with Ginger Culpepper. Sandy and wife Jean live in Lebanon, NH and play in the Upper Valley Symphony Orchestra.
Bassoonist Emma Waste received her degree in Music Education from the University of New Hampshire, studying under Janet Polk. After teaching general music and band for a few years, she now teaches private lessons. She lives in Sunapee, NH, with her husband David, son Oliver, and daughter Luna.
Pianist Joe Henderson majored in music at the School of Music at Florida State University. His music studies were interrupted by a Navy enlistment and a career in medical research in the Navy and, later, at Dartmouth’s Geisel School of Medicine. Now retired from Dartmouth as Professor Emeritus, Joe has returned to his roots as a pianist.