Guest Artist

Don Miller has music degrees from Southwestern Oklahoma State University, Wichita State University, and received his Doctor of Musical Arts in Conducting from The University of Iowa. His past experience includes working in public schools and universities in Oklahoma, Kansas, Missouri, Texas and Colorado. In addition to his teaching positions, Dr. Miller has been Conductor and Music Director of the Starlight Symphony Orchestra of Wimberley, Texas, the San Antonio Symphonic Band, the West County (St. Louis) Youth Orchestra and many other ensembles. He is currently Music Director and Conductor of Orchestra Esperanza Park City, a Chamber Orchestra in Park City, Utah. In addition to his conducting and teaching experience, Dr. Miller is author of Rehearsing the Band, Volume 2.
As an advocate of new music, Dr. Miller has been responsible for commissioning over 20 works from composers such as Timothy Mahr, Andrew Boysen, Barry Morse, James Syler and others. He is also an advocate for music education and has served as a clinician for schools and conductor of honor bands across the US. He has made presentations at a number of professional conferences, including the College Band Directors National Association (CBDNA), the Music Educators Associations of Texas, Arkansas, Kentucky, Wyoming, and Missouri, as well as the California and Iowa Bandmasters Associations. In addition to presentations, he has been an adjudicator for Director’s Choice Music Festivals, Festivals of Music, and state and national events.

Program Notes

Reunion (2020)

Reunion is a fanfare inspired by the anticipated return to ensemble rehearsals and performances following the global pandemic shutdown in the spring of 2020. Composer Giovanni Santos gifted the music to And We Were Heard, a non-profit organization dedicated to producing quality recordings of underrepresented composers. And We Were Heard also strives to help conductors/teachers explore the importance of diverse programming.
The work itself starts in a very dark place, a place where students are not able to join together to make music. This is a place of confusion, sadness, with a glimmer of hope for the future. The work develops into a joyous celebration for the day we get to perform music together again. Reunion is dedicated to all who lost their battle with Covid-19 and their families.

Suite Argentine (2020)

The South American country of Argentina was born from Spanish, Italian, French, and other immigrants who started arriving in the coastal city of Buenos Aires in the mid-1500’s. It is a rich and diverse musical culture that spans vernacular traditions to art music. Most famous for the tango, I chose the following four folk musics for this symphonic suite.
I. Chacarera is a type of folk dance that originates in northwest Argentina. The name is derived from the Spanish word “chacra” meaning farm or ranch. This setting is partially based on a recording of an old chacarera for guitar from the Smithsonian Folkways Recordings.
II. Milonga is a precursor to the more popular tango and originates in the Rio de la Plata region near Buenos Aires. Milonga reached its height of popularity in the 19th century. In this setting, I wrote a slow tempo milonga that implies the music that would eventually become the tango.
III. Bombo is a traditional Argentine wooden drum with an animal skin head that is the basic rhythm instrument for most Argentine folk music. Its sound is similar to a muffled bass drum and features a drumming technique that alternates between striking the drum head and the rim or shell. This movement is an extended solo featuring four drummers playing traditional bombo patterns that accentuate its unique sound and drama.
IV. Malambo may be Argentina’s most exciting dance. It originated on the country ranches where gauchos (cowboys) used to pantomime a fight. The music is a IV-V-I chord progression in a repeating four-bar phrase used to accompany gaucho dancers performing intricate foot dances. In this setting, I combined the opening chacarera melody with the traditional malambo progression. The music harmonically modulates upward and culminates with the full ensemble at full volume.
Suite Argentine was commissioned by a consortium of twenty high schools and colleges organized by Dr. John Zarco, conductor.

Children’s March (1918/95)

Children’s March is the first composition of Grainger’s maturity originally composed and scored for wind band and, indeed, one of his few compositions that does not exist in any full-length version suitable for performances by symphony orchestra. In contrast to many of Grainger’s other compositions, the march was provided with no program notes. The score bears the dedication “For my playmate beyond the hills,” which is understood by many Grainger scholars to reference Karen Holton, who shared a lengthy relationship with him during the first decade of the twentieth century. With instrumental demands unlike any band work before its time and with matching technical challenges made to the entire performing ensemble, Percy Grainger’s Children’s March remains one of the most original and satisfying parts of the wind band essential repertoire.

Symphony No. 2 (2019)

The foundation of this music is an ascending three-note motive of C-Ab-B. This motive is the basis for the primary 12-tone theme heard at the beginning. Because there is no narrative, the structure of the work is held together by using three traditional forms.
Movement I is a modified sonata form with a mood of foreboding. It may feel nervous, alarming, comical at times, and militaristic. Movement II is an ABA form built on an excerpt of the original theme from movement I. The zenith of the movement is a quiet chorale. This movement may feel like it is traveling and looking back with nostalgia. Movement III is a passacaglia and eight variations followed by a double fugue featuring two simultaneous subjects. The themes of the previous two movements reappear as the music develops into a dissonant texture that transitions to the opening bass ostinato. As the brass build tension, the music pushes towards its new tonic of G major.
The composer was commissioned by a consortium of 15 universities organized by Dr. Timothy Shade, Director of Bands, Wichita State University, Kansas.