Wayland Pioneer Band’s Russia trip beyond imagination

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Posted: 6/09/06

Wayland Baptist University band students wait for a tour of the WWII war memorial in Moscow. (Photos by Hayley Cox)

Wayland Pioneer Band’s
Russia trip beyond imagination

By Jonathan Petty

Wayland Baptist University

MOSCOW—Wayland Baptist University’s Pioneer Band recently traveled to Russia, performing indoor and outdoor concerts in conjunction with the country’s Victory Day celebrations.

The band spent four days in Moscow and four in St. Petersburg, performing in three of Europe’s top concert halls—the Moscow Conservatory, Tchaikovsky Conservatory and the A Capella Concert Hall in St. Petersburg.

The band’s packed schedule found them in Gorky Park May 9, Russia’s Victory Day, celebrating the end of World War II.

Wayland Baptist University band director Tim Kelley points out the Wayland band listing near the top of a program poster outside of the Moscow Conservatory.

“We were the group that performed on either side of the minute of silence that they observe,” Wayland band director Tim Kelley said.

“For a group from America to be the group that was there to share that with them was incredible.”

While students enjoyed the outdoor performances, Kelley said the indoor concerts were unforgettable—playing in venues specifically designed for concert bands for audiences composed of the nation’s intellectual elite.

But it was the sound that most impressed the group.

“The acoustics in the Moscow Conservatory—when you play those first few notes, you’re thinking, ‘I don’t know what happened, but we have all just died and gone to heaven,’” Kelley said.

At the Moscow Conservatory, the band premiered Victory Day for Symphonic Band, which Gary Belshaw, assistant professor of music at Wayland, composed specifically for the trip.

“As soon as the piece was done and I recognized him and the crowd realized the composer was in the audience with them, everybody was on their feet clapping,” Kelley said. “They were so appreciative.”

The band students developed a newfound appreciation for Belshaw’s work after playing it in that setting.

“To a lot of people, when we were practicing it and playing it here, it didn’t make a lot of sense. I heard a lot of students say we just didn’t really get it,” said Jared McCarthick, a senior music education major from Lovington, N.M. “But once we got over there and played it in that setting, I got it. It made sense. It was unreal, and the crowd just loved it.”

Wayland Baptist University band students saw ornate architecture, such as the golden copulas on this cathedral within the Kremlin walls, throughout their eight days in Russia.

Back in the Wayland band hall, Kelley reflected on the whirlwind trip.

“It’s not until you’ve taken a trip like this that you realize how important and how meaningful it is,” he said.

“The minister of culture traveled with us while we were in Moscow. They had world leaders from 40 or 50 countries at that thing, and security in the central part of the city where all these events were held was intense.

“To have someone sitting on the bus with you and you pull up to a barricade and he just shows his face and waves his hand and the barricade opens and they let us through … . When it’s that kind of person who is traveling with you, all of a sudden you realize how important this really is to the Russian people. They had their highest-ranking government official in the area traveling with us to give us the passage that we needed.

“This was beyond anything we could have imagined beforehand, and we have a lot of imagination around here.”

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