Professor Douglas Perkins stood looming over his xylophone.
"I can go faster," he said. He wasn't lying. With hands fast as lightning, Perkins pounded out the notes to George Hamilton Green's "Log Cabin Blues," in preparation for his guest performance with the Dartmouth Wind Symphony's winter concert entitled "There's No Place Like Home."
"Green is nothing if not fun," said Perkins, and if that is any indication, the concert should be equally entertaining.
Through its exploration of the idea of home, the Wind Symphony plans to feature a collection of compositions spotlighting homes ranging from log cabins to the afterlife.
"I feel it unifies the program, because wind symphony music is very eclectic," Dartmouth Wind Symphony conductor Max Culpepper said of his selected theme for the concert. "I come up with a theme that allows me to pick music of various types."
The winter concert, however, serves not only as a showcase for the talent of the Dartmouth Wind Symphony but also as an exchange program with Columbia University. The Columbia University Wind Symphony and its conductor, Dartmouth alumnus Andrew Pease '01, will be featured in the first half of the concert before returning to the stage for the grand finale.
Incidentally, the theme of home is particularly pertinent to Pease, former Dartmouth Wind Symphony member and former conductor and arranger for the Dartmouth College Marching Band.
"It certainly resonates with me because, ironically, I have not been to Homecoming since the first year after my graduation," Pease said. "It's my own special Homecoming."
With a combination of passionate professors, alumni and students, a spirit of anticipation and excitement filled the air in the rehearsal room.
Conquering the Winter term chaos is a challenge with students coming and going, making dress rehearsal often the only time the entire symphony practices together.
For Culpepper, however, the mayhem is a small price to pay for to the zeal of the students.
"The thing I like about working with college students is that they play with more compassion," Culpepper said. "They put their heart and soul into it."
"College students are fun because they work on a very high intellectual level," Pease added.
From "American Salute," an intricate composition with the tune of "When Johnny Comes Marching Home," to "Amazing Grace," the Dartmouth Wind Symphony plans to convey a broad range of moods on Friday night. With a stirring rendition of Karl L. King's "The Home Town Boy," dedicated to Pease, and the grand closing of "Legacy of Home and State," the concert will aim to affect the audience on both a personal and a collective level.
"[Culpepper] doesn't so much have a baton as a magic wand," said Steve Langley, the Ensemble's assistant and narrator for the upcoming concert.
Those words rang true, quite literally, in the anticipation-filled rehearsal room the week of the performance.
With Dvorak's "Largo" resonating through the classrooms, enormous instruments being wheeled through narrow corridors and a sense of passion and focus in the air, a reason to attend the Dartmouth Wind Symphony's concert became obvious -- it truly is a labor of love.
"They do it because they want to do it," Culpepper said of the students.
The passion they bring is certain to provide the Dartmouth community with a stirring and entertaining performance.
The Dartmouth Wind Symphony will perform "There's No Place Like Home" in Spaulding Auditorium on Friday, Feb. 15 at 8 p.m.
