Last Saturday evening I and some of my fellow Clarkston Community Band members, along with a few hundred other people, attended the Southeastern Michigan Wind Ensemble (SEMWE) spring concert. The talent in this group is stunning, it’s members are mostly current and retired music directors. People who have devoted their entire lives to making and teaching music.

I try not to miss any of their concerts, and I’m certainly glad I went to this one.

It turns out they were honoring two of their group who have passed away, Jennifer Ginther who suddenly died last December, and the other our own CCB music director who died in February of this year. Here we go, I thought, sitting out in the audience, time to focus on not crying.

But their choice of music didn’t make me to cry, not outright anyway. It was beautiful, just the kind of music Shelley would program herself. The first piece, Resplendent Glory by Rossano Galante was so very beautiful and, I think, my favorite of the evening. The link above wasn’t from Saturday’s performance, but it gives you an idea of the uplifting piece that made me smile even though I was sad.

I enjoyed all of the music at Saturday night’s concert, but especially a piece played by one of the middle school teachers, Ross Taylor, on the marimba. He was amazing. You’d have enjoyed it too, Concerto No.2 for Marimba and the Wind Orchestra, Movement 3, by David Gillingham. I could only find movement #1 on YouTube, but you’ll enjoy that movement too, and it’s similar to what we heard.

What a treat! We applauded and applauded…and then we applauded some more when he finished. The poor guy had a hard time getting off the stage, we just kept applauding.

In fact the whole concert was a treat. When I left the auditorium after the program I was still missing my friend, our music director, but I was oh so grateful to have spent time in the presence of other people who also loved her, people making music to honor her and Jennifer from a place deep inside each of their hearts.

Then, leaving the building close to 9:00 p.m., we all gasped in awe. The sky was a brilliant pink and gold. I immediately knew, at least for me, that sky was Shelley saying “Good job! I enjoyed it!” I can hear her voice and see her big, beautiful smile.

And so I smiled all the way home.