The public is cordially invited to attend the Fan-Tastic Concert, presented by the Oklahoma Federation of Music Club concert Friday night, June 23rd at 7:30 p.m. at the PoHi Concert Hall. The concert will feature three different groups and 3 separate individuals. This article focuses on the String Trio: Jaryd Hinch, Cassidy Broome and Suzanne Sumpter and the Mike Seals Jazz trio: Mike Seals, jazz piano, Don Long, percussion and Kinnamon Clark, bass.

Bios for the String Trio A Ponca City native, Jaryd Hinch received his BS and MS in Geography from Oklahoma State University in 2017 and 2021, respectively. Jaryd has maintained his musical involvement through the Federated Music Club’s Silver Tea, various performances at Northern Oklahoma College, Oklahoma State University, numerous local church and wedding performances, as well as the Evans Children’s Academy musicals. Since receiving his master’s degree, he has worked for various higher education institutions, as well as instructed fitness classes and been a personal trainer. He will pursue his PhD in Geosciences and Atmospheric Chemistry at the University of South Florida starting August 2023.

Cassidy Broome is a Ponca City native and a 2018 Federated Music Club Scholarship recipient. She completed her BS from Oklahoma State University in May of 2022 and began serving as Ponca City’s Middle and Elementary School Orchestra Director in the Fall of 2022. Cassidy has been supporting Ponca’s various music programs since 2015 when she began performing for Evans Academy theater productions, various events with the Ponca City String Quartet, performing at the Federated Music Club’s Silver Tea, and teaching private lessons. Cassidy plans to pursue her MBA at OSU in the near future.

Suzanne Sumpter is a graduate of Oklahoma State University with a BME in K-12 Music Education. She is a retired 28-yr public school music teacher and private piano teacher. Over the years, she has accompanied many middle and high school students at OSSAA and PCFMC contests. She has also played many musicals for the Ponca Playhouse and Evans Children’s Academy. Currently Suzanne works in the music department of Northern Oklahoma College Tonkawa where she accompanies private vocal and instrumental students, plays in the orchestra for musicals, and performs with the Roustabouts.

String Trio Music to be performed on the June 23rd concert.

Tico-Tico no fubá is a Brazilian choro composition by Zequinha de Abreu. Choro music, or chorinho, has been a staple of Brazilian culture since the late 19th century when the Portuguese Royal Family fled to Rio de Janeiro from Napoleon’s European conquests; consequently, choro music was birthed when European influences collided with Brazilian instruments and music. Literally translating to “a cry” or “a lament,” choro music is anything but solemn, boasting upbeat tempos, quick scaling melodies, and plentiful syncopation to keep listeners engaged and moving. Tico-Tico no fubá is perhaps one of the most prominent and long-lasting examples of choro music, reaching its peak popularity in the 1940s, but persisting even today in modern Brazilian culture.

First composed for violin and piano duet, Edward Elgar’s Salut d’Amour was a dedicated as an engagement present to his fiancée, author Caroline Alice Roberts. The piece’s original title, Liebesgruß, hailed from Roberts’s fluency in German, but when Elgar realized it would reach a wider audience and thus sell better, he translated the title to the French name which has remained ever since. Rarely the piece appears in Elgar’s native English as “Love’s Greeting,” and even more rarely has lyrics for vocal arrangements. This particular arrangement, however, is without lyrics, instead conversationally passing the melody between violin and cello.

A signature instrumental piece from the Hayao Miyazaki animated film Howl’s Moving Castle (2004), “Merry-Go-Round of Life” is famed as composer Joe Hisaishi’s most famous work. This playful yet majestic waltz begins with a gentle piano melody, gradually building with the addition of the other instruments. Reminiscent of the music one hears on the merry-goround, it is a metaphor of the journey of life: from childhood, to youth, to adulthood, to the climax and apex of our lives and careers, all the way to a soft and harmonious closure, which ends with a final crescendo. Life must crescendo, a growth that leaves us in a better place, even if we are not doing much more than circling around the sun on this merry-go-round of life, until it’s time for us to step off. These are the themes explored in Howl’s Moving Castle, and perfectly wrapped up in this composition.

The Sondheim classic “Send In the Clowns” from the 1973 musical A Little Night Music has caused listeners to shed a tear for half a century. In the musical, a melancholic and contemplative Desirée serenades Fredrik, in hopes he will leave his recent, much younger fiancée when she realizes she has loved him her entire life and should have reciprocated his love years ago. When he rebuffs her, Desirée is distraught, begging for someone to “send in the clowns,” but realizing with her foolish inaction and consequential loss of Fredrik, admits to herself “don’t bother, they’re here.” The song transitioned from Broadway to mainstream listeners when Frank Sinatra and Judy Collins both covered the piece in 1973 and 1975, respectively.

Another Studio Ghibli classic, “A Town With An Ocean View” is the trademark composition from the 1989 animated film, Kiki’s Delivery Service. This enchanting film explores a 13-year-old girl’s initiation into adulthood through her adventures in a strange city. Like the film, this composition feels understated, yet poignant and comforting, exuding the sense of arriving in a new, unfamiliar place that feels enigmatic, yet charming. Hisaishi does this by exploring several styles through this composition, from traditional classical to jazz in an attempt to convey this curiosity of the unknown while also pushing the listener towards the confidence of taking that first step towards their dreams, no matter how unfamiliar.

Bios for Mike Seals Jazz Trio Mike Seals started piano at the age of 4, taking lessons from Mrs. Dyer in Drumright, OK. He continued lessons with Vickie Stokke after his family moved to Ponca City in 1970. He also played clarinet in the East Junior High School band before moving to Bassoon in high school, playing in the High School orchestra under the baton of A.H. (Pete) Long, and piano in the high school jazz band under the direction of Don Leavitt. After high school, he joined the US Army, and was selected for the US Armed Forces School of Music at Little Creek, VA. After completing the school, he was assigned to various bands in the US Army as a piano player, including a 3-year assignment in Berlin, Germany. He elected to attend Officer’s Candidate School and was commissioned a 2nd Lieutenant in 1987 and attended the Army’s Chemical and Nuclear Weapons Course. He also completed his bachelor’s degree at Jacksonville State University in Jazz Piano Performance. He is a combat veteran of Desert Storm, and after the war stayed in Kuwait for over 25 years. While there, he assembled the Kuwait Jazz Trio which became a very popular group on the embassy circuit in Kuwait, playing at the US and British embassies often, and supporting the Australian and Dutch embassies at various events. With his wife, Kym, he formed a Rock cover band called “Bar None” which also played at the embassies and for various US military events for the US Army and US Air Force. He received his Master’s degree in Jazz Studies with an emphasis in Jazz Piano Performance in 2016 from Rowan University in Glassboro, NJ. He and Kym returned to Ponca City in 2018 after he spent a year teaching in the Music Department at Rowan. He now teaches 8th Grade English at East Middle School.

Kinnamon Clark is a native of Perry, OK, started with a bass guitar in junior high school and briefly studied double bass at Tulsa University. He played jazz with the Tuesday Night Kicks Band, the Great Big Band, and the Bill Rotter Quintet. Kinnamon also plays with a few Country/Americana artists and has played more church bluegrass than he cares to admit.

Don Long began playing drums in 1948 when he joined the Ponca City Jr. High School Band and took lessons from Mr. Wayne Hartman, the band director. In high school, he continued to play drums under the direction of A.H. (Pete) Long in the marching band, the concert band, and the Jazz Band. While in high school, a friend from St. Mary’s High School organized a dance band and asked Don to be the drummer. He played with the dance band until he graduated from high school in 1952.

As a student at Oklahoma A&M (now OSU), he played drums in the R.O. T.C. band and the Ashley Alexander Jr. Dance Band before returning to Ponca City and organizing his own band. Don joined Les Gilliam’s “Silver Lake Band” in 1992, performing in a multi-state region, which included playing the Barn Dance at Silver Dollar City for 16 years. In 2014, Don and each member of the Silver Lake Band were inducted into the Cowtown Society of Western Music in Mineral Wells, Texas. Don continues to play drums for various groups in the Ponca City area, including the Mike Seals Jazz Trio.