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Madison County is home to three adult community bands, the Huntsville Concert Band, the Madison Community Band, and the Twickenham Winds. The Twickenham Winds was founded in 1993 by several former Huntsville High School band students in order to continue playing the quality band literature that they enjoyed in high school. This group performs three or four times per year, rehearsing only a few weeks before a scheduled con- cert. From its inception, I have been privileged to conduct this group, now comprised of area music educators, engineers, doc- tors, music ministers, home makers, college students and other like minded musicians. In January, 2005, after a winter concert, several band members broached the subject of a European tour. Having taken my high school band overseas many times, I fully concurred, and suggested a trip to Italy. Thus, our great Italian adventure of summer 2006 began.
Our tour was planned by Roger Berg, a Swede, whose
company, Educational Musical Journeys, specializes in Scandinavian Tours. Roger has had lots of experience traveling with his Swedish youth band, Al Fine, on many European tours, and I felt perfectly comfortable with him planning our trip. With the aide of Claudio Pagnozzi, our Italian guide, who teaches English and Italian in the Stockholm International high school, our trip planning was in good hands. After a year of planning and cajoling fellow musicians to join us, a fully instrumented band was assembled. ABA members on the trip included Kim Bain, Sandra Hill, Drew Miller, William T. Robinson, Theo Vernon, Al Weinberg and me. Our music folders contained over 20 selec- tions ranging from the Beatles, Hoagy Carmichael, and Frank Sinatra, to serious band literature and a healthy dose of marches. Our group of 44 band members and significant others met in Atlanta on Saturday, June 24, for a direct flight to Milan. One glitch occurred right at the start as one of our band members missed the flight. We were unable to reach him on his cell phone, and though we imagined all kinds catastrophes that might have caused his delay, we still could not wait for him. The highlight of the flight for most was flying over the Alps and seeing the Matterhorn in the distance.
Roger and his wife Eva, along with Claudio, met us at the Milan airport where we immediately boarded our bus for Florence. Along the way, we made the first of many stops at an Autogrill, a cross between a food court and a Seven/Eleven, that spanned the entire freeway. The drive introduced us to the beau- tiful Tuscan landscape, with mile after mile of corn, sunflowers, and of course, olive trees and vineyards. Our first scheduled tour was the Uffizi Museum in Florence, formerly the home and offices of the Medici family.
Entering the city, the bus had to
park several blocks from the city center, which was dominated by the Duomo, our introduction to the magnificent architecture of Italy. Thoroughly jet-lagged, we found it difficult to concentrate even on the Botticelli masterworks such as the Birth of Venus and Primavera (Spring). There were far too many paintings and sculptures to take in. One bonus, however, was the special DaVinci exhibit which consisted of original notebooks and scale models of his experiments.
In Florence, I did learn an important difference between student 64
features
VIVA ITALIA! David Spencer
Members of the Twickenham Winds pose after their final concert in Venice
and adult groups. Students tend to stay right with adults in a strange city; adults, even a small group, tend to spread out over several city blocks. The shops were just too enticing. As we left Florence, we were treated to a beautiful panoramic glimpse of the city, and then were off through the beautiful rolling hills of Italy's chianti region. Our first two nights were spent in the Relais Hotel Cassifrassi, a 4-star hotel in a converted villa. Dinner the first night was in the terraced hotel restaurant overlooking the beautiful countryside. Wild boar and chianti were the specialty of the region, and the food was enhanced by the overwhelming smell of jasmine, lavender, and geraniums.
Our second day began with a huge breakfast and a short drive to the medieval college town of Siena. There, we saw the Cathedral San Domenico, which housed the chapel of Siena's patron saint, St. Catherine, and even displayed her severed head. In the center of town, preparations were under way for the Palio, a bareback horse race dating back centuries. Later that evening, we drove to the small mountainside town of Colle val d'Elsa, dat- ing from the 10th century. There we were to play our first of five concerts, but upon arrival found the city is absolutely deserted. Italy was playing Australia in a World Cup match, and the Italians were devout fans. Finding an open restaurant was a chore, but we did find a beautiful terraced cafe and had a truly magnificent meal. Blasting car horns let us all know that Italy had won the match. Our concert in the town square was late, but well-attend- ed by listeners of all generations. We were still missing two play- ers, one of them our only tuba player who was supposed to have met us in Florence. After the concert, the townspeople treated us to refreshments, and then we headed back to Casifrassi, where
October 2006
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