best overall
Story By Mike Overall, Photo By Ashley Slayton

The evocative powers inherent in music of an exceptional caliber will be on conspicuous display next month when Dr. Timothy Oliver, now in his first year as conductor of the Arkansas State University Wind Ensemble, leads his talented young musicians through a thematic concert entitled “Reflections and Remembrances.” The Feb. 25 concert, which is free and open to the public, will be held in the Fowler’s Center’s acoustically rich Riceland Hall.

Oliver, who also serves as ASU’s director of bands and coordinator of wind and percussion studies, said he has long had a penchant for attaching themes to his concerts. “The creative spark for ‘Reflections and Remembrances’ came from the piece ‘Desert Roads’ by David Maslanka, a relatively new work from 2005. I knew immediately...that I wanted to perform this clarinet concerto with the ASU Wind Ensemble and our (College of Fine Arts’) outstanding clarinet professor, Ken Hatch.” The title of the piece, the composer has written, “suggests an interior journey, a time of inner searching, of not knowing, of creative incubation.”

A Missouri native whose previous job was a four-year stint as associate director of bands and director of athletic bands at Temple University in Philadelphia, Penn., Oliver said in a recent interview that “each of the works selected for this (February) concert evoke similar feelings of introspective reflections or remembrances...

The opening work, Ron Nelson’s ‘Lauds’, was written to express feelings of praise and glorification. ‘Symphonic Movement’ by Vaclav Nelhybel has an extremely angular contour suggesting great turmoil or even anger and rage. ‘Blessed are They’ is a transcription of the first movement of the Brahms ‘Requiem,’ or a musical mass for the deceased. And finally, ‘Semper Fidelis’ by Sousa is the official march of the U.S. Marine Corps, written to honor their service to our country.”

Oliver is an impassioned, articulate spokesman for all good music, whether it is “classical,” as the word has been traditionally perceived by lay music lovers, or contemporary material that does in fact encompass a rather wide stylistic gamut. “We try to balance our programs with established works and new material,” the conductor said. “When I’m looking for material for the ensemble to play, I always opt for quality instead of quantity. I like to think that we play ‘art music,’ whether its compositions that were written for wind consorts hundreds of years ago or contemporary material that we find challenging, stylistically interesting and of course very musical.”

The wind ensemble at A-State differs from other more traditional groups, such as the concert or marching bands, because its configuration is unique in that one or two musicians play each individual part written by the composer, Oliver said. He said this defining characteristic makes the ensemble quite flexible and ideal for exploring a wide variety of instrumental combinations and musical styles.

“Fewer than fifty instrumentalists is typical for our group,” which Oliver said is “the premier wind-percussion ensemble at Arkansas State.” He also noted that although a preponderance of the group’s members are music majors, some are talented musicians whose scholastic pursuits lie in other colleges and departments on the campus.

When asked to comment on the never-ending debate that still separates some devotees of the orchestral and operatic classical past from those who prefer 20th and 21st century modernism, Oliver is ever the pragmatist. “Every piece of music written was new at some point,” he said, whether it was in the Renaissance, Baroque, Classical and Romantic eras or what New Yorker classical music critic Alex Ross has called “the now equally venerable practices of modernism.” Regardless of just to what extent their music now transcends time and space, Mozart, Bach, Beethoven and Wagner in their time were just as contemporary as Stravinsky and Richard Strauss were in theirs. And as for today’s “modernists,” there is the minimalism of Philip Glass and Steve Reich, and music by even younger composers whose work may encompass or be influenced by film music, jazz, American pop music, the revolution in digital technology, and indigenous music from throughout the world.

“My musical passion is our wind ensemble repertoire,” Oliver said. “As music educators, the music we select to study and perform with our students is in many ways theapplication of a music curriculum for our young players.... Students do not purchase textbooks for this class as they would in other classes; the music serves as the text. It is our duty as music educators to select music that offers students the opportunity to learn how to play a variety of styles,” as well as in a manner that is highly musical and emotionally expressive.

“I want to see our students exposed to a wide variety of material,” Oliver said. “Since most of our instrumentalists are pursuing degrees in music education, they need to know standard or established classics as well as more contemporary material.... And of equal importance is that our individual players learn how to express themselves in the context of a larger group.”
The small-town Missourian received two master’s degrees in his home state, one in music education and the other in instrumental conducting, at Truman State University in Kirksville. He later earned his Doctorate in Music Education at Florida State University.

Oliver and wife Rebecca, who is also employed at ASU, have two children, Benjamin, 6, and one-year-old Gwendolyn. “We feel very at home here in Jonesboro and the ASU community,” Oliver said. “It’s a great place to live, work and raise a family.”

local music

• The Edge Coffee House, 1900 Aggie Road, Rob Alley Trio, jazz/contemporary, 7-9 p.m., 8th, 15th, 22nd and 29th;
• KASU’s Blue Monday in Paragould, Jan. 21, 7 p.m., Davis Coen, Brittny’s Steakhouse, 120 North Pruett Street;
• KASU’s Bluegrass Monday in Paragould, Jan. 28, Monroe Crossing, 7 p.m., Atkins Celebration Hall, 101 South Pruett;
• 501 Club & Restaurant, 2628 Phillips Drive, Grant Garland and Derek Doyle, TBA;
• Electric Cowboy, just north of 501 Club, entertainment TBA;
• All other venues are TBA: Back Beat Music on Southwest Drive; Guit-Down, Brickhouse Bar & Grille, Piero’s, all on South Main; Mallard Club in Holiday Inn, South Caraway; and Caffe Buono on Highland Drive.