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Brown Bag Concerts

Forrest Tobey, Director

The Earlham College Orchestra is a large ensemble dedicated to the performance of both standard and unusual orchestral repertoire. It is comprised of both music majors and non-majors who seek an opportunity to continue playing on their instrument of choice, even as they pursue other academic interests. Standards are of the highest level. Recent performances have included a performance with the Ahn Trio of Kenji Bunch's Hardware Concerto, the premiere of a new work by the Tamil film composer Illaiyaraaja, composed specifically for the Earlham College Orchestra, Beethoven's Symphony No. 1 and the complete Pictures at an Exhibition by Mussorgsky.

The orchestra program has a dedicated website. Please go to Earlham Orchestra for more details and some recordings of past concerts.

Here is a list of
recent concert programs.

Jazz Ensemble

Pavel Polanco-Safadit, Director

The Earlham Jazz Ensemble is a
24-member big band that performs classics from the Swing, Be-bop and Cool Jazz era in addition to more contemporary expressions. Emphasis is on honoring the jazz tradition and jazz improvisation is taught within the context of the rehearsal, with outside coaching available. Performances include concerts in Goddard Auditorium in addition to the popular Swingsation dance, which draws in jazz lovers from the Richmond community and raises funds for the local United Way.

This year a Latin Jazz Combo is also being formed.

Javanese Gamelan Ensemble

Marc Benamou, Director

A gamelan is a large set of Indonesian instruments consisting mostly of melodic percussion, which are tuned to non-Western intervals, and which are used for traditional ritual music in Java and Bali. Our gamelan is from central Java, which is known for its highly refined music and dance (the moods range from solemn to exuberant, but always within a fairly controlled register). Pieces in the repertoire may be extremely simple or exceedingly difficult and complex (we begin with the simpler ones, of course, since this is really just an introduction to the tradition) and the instruments within the ensemble also range from quickly learned parts to ones that require much skill. The ensemble can thus accommodate people of widely varying backgrounds and innate musical ability. No previous musical training is assumed: knowledge of Western staff notation and music theory is irrelevent. Typically a single public concert will be given towards the end of the semester. Offered Semester II.

Hand Drum Ensemble

Keith Cozart, Director

Open to all students, this ensemble encourages both the musical novice and the master drummer. No previous musical knowledge is necessary. Concerts twice each semester in addition to impromptu events, jam sessions, and collaboration with student dance groups.

Keith Cozart, Director

Open to all students by audition. This mobile version of the percussion ensemble focuses on more advanced percussion literature.

Flute Choir

Elaine Bergman, Coach

The Flute Choir, pictured here, assembles flute players from around the campus to rehearse and perform unique flute repertoire. In the spring semester, five players from the orchestra will be forming a woodwind quintet to rehearse and perform masterpieces from the genre.

Brass Ensemble

Rich Begel, Coach

The Brass Ensemble rehearses and performs representative works from the literature for brass.