Harold Hill might have needed 76 trombones in his marching band to create a magnificent sound but Maniacal 4 only needs four in its ensemble.
Trombone players Matt Jefferson, Nick Laufer, Carl Lundgren and Alex Dubrov of Maniacal 4 worked with Iola band students in a music workshop Thursday morning before their show in the Bowlus Fine Arts auditorium that night.
The quartet played a variety of songs for the Marching Mustangs and answered questions of the student musicians. Some wanted to know how the group arranges music. Lundgren is the arranger of the music for the group but the other musicians share their input.
“I ask myself ‘What can the instrument do?’,” Lundgren said. “I explore different types of sounds when creating songs.”
Lundgren and Jefferson have known each other since 8th grade band camp. They met Laufer and Dubrov in college.
“When Carl first started creating music when we were younger he’d create two notes for 80 bars,” Jefferson said. “It was kind of boring.”
Lundgren told students there are a lot of rules in music and it is good to know music theory but encouraged them to take some latitude.
“Don’t worry about the rules when creating music,” he said. “Start putting parts in a song and layering them on top of each other and you’ll have a cool ‘soundwich.’”
The musicians admitted it’s hard to play by ear, even for them. Lundgren said to keep practicing. When Lundgren was younger he started out on the flute.
“My dad would call out songs he wanted me to play in the car and I’d keep trying until I got the sound I wanted,” he said.
After the workshop the quartet performed at 7 p.m. on the Bowlus stage with the help of the Iola students and Pittsburg State University musicians.
The concert and the workshop were sponsored by the Sleeper Family Trust.
Maniacal 4 teaches Iola students
