LHS Wind Symphony prepared special tribute to Rosa Parks for event
Loveland High School (LHS) student-musicians with the LHS Wind Symphony had a special performance opportunity Wednesday, Feb. 22, when the group traveled to Cincinnati’s National Underground Railroad Freedom Center for a private tour and public show. Under the direction of LHS Music Teacher and Conductor Geoffrey Miller, the students played a piece entitled “A Movement for Rosa” – a piece dedicated to Rosa Parks.
“The band had been working on this special piece for the Ohio Music Educator’s Association Concert and Sight Reading Festival (March 10),” said Miller. “The piece is organized into three sections which are supposed to represent the early, middle, and late years of the life of Rosa Parks. The beginning of the piece is beautiful and simple and the ‘Rosa theme’ is introduced by a flute solo. The middle of the piece is filled with strife and struggle representing her protest and outcry for equal rights. The end of the piece uses her favorite hymn ‘We Shall Overcome’ as the source material and it is framed in an angelic light although the piece ends un-resolved to represent the social injustices that are still relevant in today’s society.
“Performing the piece at the Freedom Center was timely not only because it was Black History Month but the Freedom Center currently has a feature on Mrs. Parks called the ‘Rosa Parks Experience’ which is a virtual reality re-imagining of her bus ride the day she refused to give up her seat.”
