- So, are they ready for this?

- Oh, yeah.
Oh, yeah.

We're all ready for this!

♪ ♪

- It's an amazing experience!

- I do this for fun
and it's really fun.

- I love it so much and I would
not trade it for the world.
- Yeah!

- It's really cool
to be able to sing

with a whole bunch of kids

from all over the state

that are super talented
and super passionate.

- Some of them
may be at the top,

they may be the best musician
in their ensemble

and they're wanting more.

and this
is their more.

- Stop my heart!
That is so beautiful.

- The music is
so much more challenging,

and you're challenging yourself.

- I'm completely convinced

that the interrelationship

between the performers
and the conductor:

the better that relationship is,
the better the music will be.

- My school doesn't
have an orchestra,

so it's-- it's really nice to
be able to play in an orchestra

with a lot of people who have
the same interests

and who all want
to do their best.

- I love this program.

I'm really proud of it, and I'm
really proud of the students.

- I feel like
I've learned a lot.

I wouldn't trade being here
for the world.

- I think it's going
to be a great concert.

- Funding for
the 2017 State Honors Concerts

is provided, in part, by

A. Paul Jones Charitable Trust,

and Friends
of Wisconsin Public Television.

[applause]

[triumphant orchestral music]

♪ ♪

[cheers and applause]

- Students are coming
from all different backgrounds,

small towns, the big city.

- My name is Noah Struby.
I'm from Mount Horeb.

- Weyauwega, Wisconsin.
- Reedsburg.

- Rice Lake.
- Stevens Point.

- Oconomowoc.
- Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

- They come together
and they're able to

have this wonderful
experience of a lifetime

working together
with other students

just as passionate
and gifted as they are

to make this wonderful music

under the direction
of a nationally-known conductor.

- Students come together

in the summer
for about three or four days

with the clinician--
with the guest conductor--

and prepare the music
from scratch

with that conductor.

And then we go
our separate ways

and then we come back together
in October

here in Madison,

and we rehearse, really,
about a good solid day,

and then present
an evening performance.

- There are many, many schools
throughout Wisconsin

that have
fabulous music programs,

but when you
bring them together,

it's amazing what they can do.

It just makes me
very proud of the students

and watching them do
what they love to do,

and at such a high level.

♪ ♪

♪ Tis you that are the music,
not your song

♪ The song is but a door which,
opening wide

♪ Lets forth
the pent-up melody inside

♪ Your spirit's harmony,
which clear and strong

♪ Sings but of you

♪ Tis you that are the music,
not your song

♪ The song is but a door
which, opening wide

♪ Lets forth
the pent-up melody inside

♪ Your spirit's harmony,
which clear and strong

♪ Sings but of you

♪ Throughout
your whole life long

♪ Your songs, your thoughts,
your doings, each divide

♪ This perfect beauty,
this perfect beauty

♪ Waves within a tide,
waves within a tide

♪ Or single notes

♪ Or single notes
amid a glorious throng

♪ The song of earth
has many different chords

♪ Ocean has many moods
and many tones

♪ Yet always ocean

♪ So this is my music,
so this is my music

♪ With a thousand cadences,
a thousand cadences

♪ A thousand cadences

♪ Tis you that are the music,
not your song

♪ The song is but a door
which, opening wide

♪ Lets forth the pent-up melody

♪ Tis you that are the music

♪ Lets forth
the pent-up melody inside

♪ Your spirit's harmony,
which clear and strong

♪ Sings but of you

[applause]

- The great thing
about wonderful music

is that it's elastic.

Pieces can go
at different tempos,

pieces can have different
dynamic levels,

pieces can have different
interpretations.

There' a lot of freedom
for ideas.

♪ If I ever
had to choose between

- Oh, my God!
That was so perfect.

Could you hear it?

And ultimately it doesn't
matter to the music,

as long as they're convicted
about their belief.

And once they're convicted,

there is an energy level
that comes through the music

that is much more powerful

than if I simply prescribe it
for them.

And I would venture
that ten years from now

they won't all remember
what the notes or words were

but they'll remember
how they felt when they did it.

They'll have an emotional
or even a spiritual memory

of what making that music
was like

and how special it was.

That process, to me,

is what this entire endeavor
is about.

[bright piano music]
♪ Inflammatus et accensus
(Aflame and on fire)

♪ Per te Virgo sim defensus
(May I be defended by you
Virgin)

♪ In die judicii
(On the day of judgement)

♪ Inflammatus et accensus
(Aflame and on fire)

♪ Per te Virgo sim defensus
(May I be defended by you
Virgin)

♪ In die judicii
(On the day of judgement)

♪ Fac me Cruce custodiri
(Let me be guarded by the cross)

♪ Morte Christi praemuniri
(Fortified by Christ's death)

♪ Confoveri
(Cherished)

♪ Confoveri gratia
(Cherished by grace)

♪ Confoveri
(Cherished)

♪ Confoveri gratia
(Cherished by grace)

♪ Confoveri
(Cherished)

♪ Confoveri gratia
(Cherished by grace)

♪ Confoveri
(Cherished)

♪ Confoveri gratia
(Cherished by grace)

[bright piano music]

♪ ♪

[melancholic piano music]

♪ Quando corpus morietur
(When my body dies)

♪ Fac ut animae donetur
(May my soul be granted)

♪ Paradisi gloria
(The glory of paradise)

♪ Quando corpus morietur
(When my body dies)

♪ Fac ut animae donetur
(May my soul be granted)

♪ Paradisi gloria
(The glory of paradise)

♪ ♪

♪ Amen

♪ Amen, amen

♪ Amen

♪ Amen, amen, amen

♪ Amen

♪ Amen, amen, amen

♪ Amen

[applause]

- Band, choir, orchestra...

Those programs
create this safe haven

for a student
to be who they are

and to experience
importance and individualism.

There's no classicism in Band.

This piece doesn't work unless
we have great second clarinets.

This kid who plays
second clarinet

can come into your band room

and feel important
because they are contributing

to the whole

and they feel like they
have an important job

and without them,
that ensemble would be less.

Nice try.
[students laugh]

Here we go.

Two before 19.

With everyone in the room
playing.

So you have this mixture;

multi-cultural,
multi-everything.

And all those barriers
break down

and everybody works
to the common good

and again
feels important in that.

♪ ♪

[applause]

- Music is about human emotion.

Composers pour their hearts
and souls into the music

and now we are recreating that.

And the students are living that
in a way that is truly unusual

and we are so fortunate that we
get to do something like this.

I preach gratitude.

And I tell these students,
"How lucky are we

to be able to share
this experience together?"

And they're responding
really, really well.

They get it."

Can you guys really commit now
at the end?

Really commit.
Big!

Fabulous!

So we had a rehearsal moment
this summer

when we were working
on this next piece,

and it just wasn't
hanging together.

And a bright light bulb
went off and I said,

"You're going to do this
without a conductor."

And they looked at me like,
"What?!?

No way."
Right?

Well what you're about to
witness is a pretty tough piece

where it doesn't even stay
in the same tempo.

And they're going to play it
without conductor

by using their ears, their eyes,

and their good
orchestral sensibilities.

So I'm going to go back
and listen.

Here's Dvorak's
"Slavonic Dance, No. 8."

[upbeat orchestral music]

♪ ♪

[cheers and applause]

- People who aren't musicians
see conductors

and they sort of perceive that
it's a one-way conversation,

and that the conductor is
constantly giving information,

whether that's through gesture
or through speaking to them.

But nothing could be
further from the truth.

A great conductor is one
who is in constant conversation,

receiving as much information

as they are giving information.

Good.

If you sing it through
an 'oosh face'

it will be beautiful.

So I have a passionate
conviction about how I believe

the music should be sung,

but they come
with their own preparation.

And so as I'm listening, I'm
melding what they bring to it,

to what I conceive
the music to be.

And so
there's this marvelous dialogue

of collaboration.

How can we conceive
of this music together

and make a powerful statement
through it?

[ethereal music]

♪ Alone

♪ Alone in the night

♪ On a dark hill

♪ With pines around me

♪ Spicy and still

♪ And still

♪ And a heaven

♪ A heaven
full of stars over my head

♪ Topaz and misty red

♪ Myriads with
beating hearts of fire

♪ The aeons cannot vex or tire

♪ And a heaven full
of stars over my head

♪ And myriads with
beating hearts of fire

♪ Heaven full of stars

♪ Ah Ah

♪ Oh Mm

♪ I know

♪ I am honored

♪ To be witness

♪ Of so much majesty

♪ Majesty

♪ ♪

[applause]

- I've always said,

"You ever sit next to somebody
that's better than you?

What happens?"

And they say,
"It makes me a better player."

Absolutely.
It's like a magnet,
it pulls you along.

So I say to the student, "Well,
why don't you be the magnet
in this piece?

You be the magnet
that pulls everybody."

It doesn't just change
their perspective on music.

It changes
their perspective on life.

And what
they may be able to achieve.

♪ ♪

[cheers and applause]

- I hope that they
always remember the experience.

The dedication and commitment
to their passion,

and to their instrument
or their voice.

I hope that they keep that
with them

and that they see
that they can always be one--

one step better than
maybe where they were before,

and that they can
always reach that higher level.

♪ ♪

♪ Ain't no grave
can hold my body down

♪ There ain't no grave
can keep a sista underground

♪ Oh, I will listen
for the trumpet sound

♪ Ain't no grave
can hold my body down

♪ Ain't no grave can
hold my body down

♪ There ain't no grave can
keep a sista underground

♪ I will listen for
the trumpet sound

♪ Ain't no grave
can hold my body down

♪ You know they rolled
a stone on Jesus

♪ And then they tried to bury
me, they tried to bury me

♪ But then the Holy
Ghost, he freed us

♪ Came and freed us

♪ So we could live eternally

♪ Sista, you betta
get your ticket

♪ If you wanna ride

♪ In the morning, when
Jesus calls my number

♪ I'll be on the other side

♪ Ain't no grave
can hold my body down

♪ There ain't no grave
can keep a sista underground

♪ Oh, I will listen
for the trumpet sound

♪ Ain't no grave
can hold my body down

♪ Ain't no grave
is gonna hold me

♪ Ain't no man is gonna bury me

♪ Ain't no serpent
gonna trick me

♪ Ain't no grave
can hold my body down

♪ I will
[stomping and clapping on beat]

♪ Fly to Jesus

[stomping and clapping on beat]

♪ In the morning

[stomping and clapping on beat]

♪ When I die

[clapping on beat]

♪ I know

[stomping and clapping on beat]

♪ He will take me

[stomping and clapping on beat]

♪ Home to live with

[stomping and clapping on beat]

♪ Him on high
[clapping on beat]

♪ I will fly with
Jesus in the morning

♪ Don't look here,
I'll be way up in the sky

♪ Soon one day,
He's gonna call me up to heaven

♪ For a chariot ride

♪ Ain't no grave
can hold my body down

♪ There ain't no grave
can keep a sista underground

♪ Oh, I will listen
for the trumpet sound

♪ Ain't no grave
can hold my body down

♪ There ain't no grave
can keep a sista underground

♪ I will listen for
the trumpet sound

♪ Ain't no grave
can hold my body down

♪ Ain't no grave

♪ I said no, no,
no, no, no, no, no

♪ Ain't no grave

♪ Ain't playin',
no grave could hold me

♪ Ain't no grave

♪ No grave could hold my body

♪ Ain't nobody can hold me

♪ Ain't no grave

♪ Ain't no grave dug
deep enough to hold me

♪ Ain't no devil that's
slick enough to trick me

♪ Ain't no grave digga
man enough to bury me

♪ You can't hold me down

♪ Ain't no grave
can hold me down

♪ You can't keep me underground

♪ When the silver trumpet sounds

♪ Ain't no grave
can hold me down

♪ No grave, no grave
ever been dug, dug so low

♪ No grave digga ever
been born so, so strong

♪ No grave, no grave
ever been dug, dug so low

♪ No grave digga ever
been born so, so strong

♪ No grave, no grave
ever been dug, dug so low

♪ No grave digga ever
been born so, so strong

♪ Ain't no man that can

♪ Ain't no devil can

♪ Ain't no grave

♪ Can hold

♪ Me

♪ Ain't no grave

♪ That goes so

♪ Low

♪ Ain't no grave dug low enough

♪ Down

[choir vocalizing]

[cheers and applause]

- Funding for
the 2017 State Honors Concerts

is provided, in part, by

A. Paul Jones Charitable Trust,

and Friends of
Wisconsin Public Television.