Sawdust Coppice

Sawdust Coppice is a piece for wind ensemble/concert band. This piece, commissioned by the Williamsport Area High School, under the direction of Mr. Ryan Bulgarelli, is a musical exploration of the resilience shown by the students and faculty of the Williamsport Area High School. The title of this piece reflects this resilience while also referencing the history of Williamsport. Coppicing is a woodland management technique which entails cutting trees down to their stumps to encourage rapid growth. By prepending this with the word "sawdust", we can imagine this rapid growth and evolution coming from the scraps of what used to be. In essence, this is what happened to Williamsport. After the mountains around Williamsport were clear cut and the last sawmill closed in 1919, the millionaires and lumber industry left to find new ventures, leaving the inhabitants of Williamsport to figure out how to move on, with only sawdust and a dream. These are the people that made the Williamsport we know today, and many of the students who attend the Williamsport Area High School are a part of this centennial story. It's with this same vigor and perseverance that these students have made it through insurmountable odds over the past few years. This piece seeks to acknowledge and honor them for overcoming these obstacles. Using serial approaches to musical quotations such as "We Three Kings" (which was written at Christ Church in Williamsport) and "We shall overcome", this piece stands as a reminder that, when presented with overwhelming challenges, these students will thrive and grow in the most unlikely scenarios, much like a Sawdust Coppice.