A week after being told it could not play an instrumental music piece with LGBTQ ties, the Watertown High School wind symphony ended up playing a different option instead at its May 18 evening concert.
But there will still be opportunities for the community to hear “A Mother of a Revolution,” composed by Omar Thomas. Thomas plans to visit Watertown to conduct a free performance of the piece at 7:30 p.m. May 20 at Immanuel Evangelical Lutheran Church, 209 N. Ninth St.
A sold-out concert is planned for May 23 in Madison, at the Minocqua Brewing Co. Madison Tap Room.
Thomas wrote the piece in 2019, inspired by Marsha Johnson, a trans woman who was part of the 1969 Stonewall uprising, a pivotal event of the LGBTQ liberation movement, Thomas’ website said. The students had planned to play the piece at the May 18 concert.
Instead, wind symphony students played “Esprit de Corps” by Robert Jager. It is a march-like piece commissioned in 1983 and inspired by “The Marines’ Hymn.”
The switch came after the Watertown School Board voted, 7-1, on May 12 to prohibit the group from performing the piece.
The high school wind symphony also played three other pieces that were part of the concert’s original playlist: “Spain” by Paul Murtha, “Incantation and Dance” by John Barnes Chance and “Symphony No. 1 – Lord of the Rings – Movement 5 Hobbits” by Johan de Meij.
The group Social Justice Watertown held a rally outside the school before the concert to show support for the student musicians.
Concert goes on without piece that drew controversy
Wendy Pliska, a parent with a child in the school’s wind symphony and a leader of Social Justice Watertown, said she was proud of the students for their commitment and love of the music program and also praised the band directors.
“I think this might be the best show I’ve ever heard. My kid has been in band for four years here. I also think they appreciate all the support. They seemed really energized by the audience,” Pliska said after the concert.
Sandra Hinrichs, a parent of students attending Watertown High School, also praised the music the students played and the support they received.
“It was beautiful. All the music that they played tonight was really good. Lots of solos. Definitely the support was there. There were a lot of people there to support that. That was nice to see. Of course, it’s sad that they couldn’t play the one (‘A Mother of a Revolution’), but they played a lot of other beautiful music tonight, so (that) made up for it,” Hinrichs said.
Hinrichs’ daughter, Reese, a junior at Watertown High School, also shared her thoughts.
“It’s definitely been difficult seeing them struggle after they’ve worked so hard on something,” she said. “Me being in sports, if I had to practice for something that much and then not be able to perform it, that would suck, so obviously just seeing them struggle is something no one wants to see,” she said.
A letter to the school board encouraging the board to allow the piece to be performed ultimately garnered 775 signatures, according to one of the authors of the letter, Watertown High School alumnus Adam Klaus.
The school board responds
In the wake of community backlash against the board’s decision, School Board President Laurie Hoffman said in an emailed statement to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel that it’s a public school’s responsibility “to provide a strong, values-neutral education to all students.”
“As the encouragement of social violence continues to rise across the country, the Watertown Unified School District Board of Education stands firm on the principle that it is not the place of a public school to endorse or celebrate acts of violence,” Hoffman’s statement said.
After hearing parents’ concerns about the musical selection, the board examined the situation to see whether there was any policy violation, she said.
“The district’s controversial issues policy is clear: use of controversial issues is permitted, but only if it does not ‘tend to indoctrinate or persuade students to a particular point of view.’ According to the composer, the piece, ‘A Mother of a Revolution’ was commissioned to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall uprising, a six-day riot which included the beating of police officers and attempting to burn down a building with human beings trapped inside.
“Based on the teachers’ description, the lesson was intended to persuade students toward emotional alignment with the events of the Stonewall riot. Considering these factors, the board decided to remove the song from the concert due to its celebration of violence. The Watertown School Board remains committed to providing academic education free from indoctrination,” she said.
Upcoming events where the song will be played
There are two upcoming opportunities for people to hear “A Mother of a Revolution” being performed.
A public and free concert is planned for 7:30 p.m. May 20 at Immanuel Evangelical Lutheran Church, 209 N. Ninth St., Watertown. The doors will open at 7.
There is limited seating available and the event will also be livestreamed.
Thomas, the composer of the piece, will conduct the performance and will speak to the audience after the performance.
“The purpose of this event is to experience a piece of music that has been prepared by and for people who are rooted in our Watertown community. The performers do not desire to be the center of attention, and we are not gathering for a rally or protest. Instead, the musicians’ hope is for an audience to focus on the work they put into ‘A Mother of a Revolution!’ and for the music to tell its own story,” the event’s website said.
The site added that the performance is not associated with the Watertown Unified School District.
The other event is at 5 p.m. May 23 at Minocqua Brewing Co.’s Madison Tap Room, 2927 E. Washington Ave., Madison.
Kirk Bangstad, the owner of the brewing company and a candidate for Wisconsin governor, posted May 17 on his brewery’s Facebook page offering to allow the students to perform the piece at his establishment.
An updated Facebook post May 18 said that tickets had sold out and the brewery was submitting an application to the City of Madison to use the parking lot in front of the building to accommodate more people. The concert will be livestreamed on the brewery’s Facebook, Substack, YouTube and Twitch channels.
Bangstad emphasized in both Facebook posts that the event is not school-sponsored.
“We’ve also been asked to tell the public that the school’s band director has not been remotely involved in planning this private concert and thus should not face any repercussions from the school district, and that members of the Watertown Wind Symphony and guest artists will be performing jointly as volunteers to ensure that the school board has no jurisdiction,” Bangstad said in the May 18 post.
Contact Alec Johnson at 262-875-9469 or alec.johnson@jrn.com. Follow him on X at @AlecJohnson12.
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Watertown students skip banned piece, but composer will conduct a performance May 20
Reporting by Alec Johnson, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel / Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
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