My name is Rob Coatsworth. This is my third year at Nazareth, and I am an Adolescent Education and History major. I have played trumpet all three years here, and am one of the few non-music majors in the Wind Symphony. Music has always been an important part of my life and Nazareth has allowed me to continue that passion here even though I am not a music major. This will regrettably be my sixth and final semester in the band as I student teach this Fall, but it has been a memorable one.
This year, the Nazareth College Wind Symphony was given one of the most exciting yet humbling privileges possible for a musician: the opportunity to formulate music that has never been played before. It is creation in the purest sense. Steve Danyew was a student at Sandy Hook Elementary School. After several years of reflection on the tragedy that occured there, Mr. Danyew crafted his own music to to express his experiences with anger, suffering, and grief, composing the piece Into the Silent Land.
Before Mr. Danyew came to our rehearsal to hear his finished work, it was nothing more than two-dimensional ink on a page, the emotional strains of melody in his brain. When the script landed on our stands, we were each given a unique key to unlock the moving story that only all of us working together could. Under the direction of the composer and our director, Dr. Chase, we all worked together to formulate the emotional story of the Sandy Hook Elementary shooting though music.
Into the Silent Land came to us around November of 2017 as a draft. As the lead ensemble in the consortium to commission this piece, we were given the honor to work with Steve Danyew in rehearsal to perfect the piece. For months, up until February, 2018, Mr. Danyew helped us understand the structure and emotion behind the piece that made it special and powerful. In return, we all helped him make changes and add life to the music to make it speak even more. Witnessing the inception of this music was quite special because of what it meant to the composer and to us. Into the Silent Land became a work that all of us were invested in and passionate about because of what the piece signifies in our lives as human beings.
This piece is more than Mr. Danyew’s story at Sandy Hook, though. As Americans, and people of the entire planet, we all now share this tragedy; it has become a common narrative that impacts every one of us. We all share some level of the composer’s pain. Now, more than ever, music transcends what cannot be communicated in words. This piece imbues the grief, the anger, and the hollow sorrow which are the result of the violence on our soil. Into the Silent Land truly made us connect on a personal level in a way only music can.
Playing this piece at Yale’s Woolsey Hall was the ultimate gift, not only for us musicians, but also for the audience. Finally, a moment where all of us, from all walks of life, from across the nation, could unify together through the music. I will always remember this concert, and more importantly, I will always feel that wrenching tug in my chest when I think of this piece’s overtones echoing in the rafters of that historic space.
Thank you to Nazareth for this opportunity, to Steve Danyew for his authenticity, and to my fellow student-musicians for their diligence.