Tears, Chills, and Whoas: Musical Stories of Awe

Awe feels intrinsically good. So says Dr. Dacher Keltner in his book “Awe: The New Science of Everyday Wonder and How It Can Transform Your Life.” Now, Solano Winds Community Concert Band has adapted Keltner’s work into a unique performance event. “Tears, Chills, and Whoas: Musical Stories of Awe” will be presented at the Vacaville Performing Arts Theatre on Friday, March 1, 2024. The “Tears, Chills, and Whoas” are three of the ways that the human physiology expresses awe. These expressions are common to cultures across the world and throughout time. The “Musical Stories of Awe” represent each of the eight “wonders of life” that Keltner’s studies found are common to people’s experiences of awe. His team collected thousands of stories of awe from countries around the world and found that they could catalog each story as one or more of these “wonders of life.” Solano Winds will present one piece of music for each. The wonder of “Life and Death” is exemplified by the recognition that that which is born and grows also ages and dies. To represent “Life and Death,” Solano Winds will open their performance with the soaring melodies of Rossano Galante’s “Afterlife.” “Religious and Spiritual Awe” is the second wonder represented in the program. The Solano Winds Woodwind Quintet will evoke the indigenous peoples of Hawaii as they perform Tim Rumsey’s “The Sacred Pools of Hana.” Sometimes known as “The Seven Sacred Pools,” this beautiful spot is where legend says the demigod Maui would take water from the pools and distribute it to farmers in the region to keep their people fed. The wonder of life that most commonly led people around the world to feel awe is “Moral Beauty,” or other people’s courage, kindness, strength, or overcoming. When we see moral beauty in someone, their life can bring us to tears. Sherrill Honeychurch will provide the flute solo as the Solano Winds accompany her in “Theme from ‘Schindler’s List’” from the Steven Spielberg film. The feeling of awe expressed in art or architecture is captured as the wonder called “Visual Design.” Russian composer Modest Moussorgsky visited an exhibit of his artist friend Viktor Hartmann and was inspired to write “Pictures at an Exhibition.” Solano Winds will perform two movements from this work based on Hartmann’s “The Hut on Fowl’s Legs” and “The Great Gate of Kiev.” “Collective Effervescence” is the name Keltner gives to the wonder of life found when individual people are merged into a collective self. Few examples are more descriptive of this than the story of Ahab and his crew hunting the white whale in Herman Melville’s “Moby Dick.” Composer W. Francis McBeth captures the awesome power and violence of the hunt in his piece, “Of Sailors and Whales.” The individual musicians in Solano Winds will collectively relive that hunt through McBeth’s music. Composer Mark Camphouse was supposed to be enjoying a family vacation in his first trip to Yosemite National Park. But he found that he couldn’t resist sketching out what became “Yosemite Autumn” while on vacation. Solano Winds captures the beauty of Yosemite in this tribute to the next wonder of life, “Nature.” Keltner writes “In noting how a song might bring us the chills, we sense how the notes relate to one another in dynamic, unfolding patterns.” To represent the wonder of life that Keltner dubs “Epiphanies,” Solano Winds has collaborated with Bay Area musician and engineer Stephen Malinowsky to present a unique look at Gustav Holst’s “Venus: The Bringer of Peace” from “The Planets.” Malinowsky created an animated graphical score so that audience members can visualize those dynamic, unfolding patterns. The performance event concludes with the band’s favorite wonder of life: “Music.” For this, Solano Winds presents Pietr Tchaikovsky’s “Overture 1812,” complete with cannons and church bells. Audience members are also in for some awesome surprises as they experience this special piece of music. Tickets for the performance are $20 for adults and $15 for students and seniors. They are available at the Vacaville Performing Arts Theatre Box Office or at solanowinds.org. The performance begins at 7:30 PM.

Event Links

Tickets: https://go.evvnt.com/2244929-0

Website: https://go.evvnt.com/2244929-2

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