With finals approaching, attending tonight’s performance by the Penn State Concert Band can be a good way to relax, conductor Gregory Drane said.

“Oftentimes I invite my classes, and they have always found these concerts to be a stress reliever. They can just sit down and just enjoy some good music,” said Drane, who will also be conducting the concert. “All of my students have always commented that they were studying for an exam and it helps them relax when they go back to study.”

Drane is also the assistant director for the Blue Band. While many may be familiar with the marching band, at 8:30 tonight in Eisenhower Auditorium, the university’s concert band will put on a show to give band fans a taste of student music off the field.

The band is principally made up of Penn State students who want to continue their music careers without becoming music majors. “There are a couple of music majors in the concert, but they’re playing instruments that are not their primary instrument. The majority of students are not music majors,” said Richard Bundy, professor of music education and Concert Band conductor.

The show is the band’s second of the semester and features traditional concert band pieces and some unusual compositions.

“One of the pieces, ‘First Suite,’ is a landmark piece for concert bands. I’m looking forward to doing that,” Bundy said.

Drane will conduct Clifton Williams’ “Dedicatory Overture,” a piece he has performed in the past.

“This tune is one of the older standards that I enjoy. It’s a little different for me being on the other side as conductor,” Drane said.

One of the less traditional pieces, “Crystals,” features an aleatoric section of music, which means there are basic parameters set up but the majority of the sound is left up to chance.

“The thing that is interesting about “Crystals” is that it uses some non-traditional techniques. It uses sound in a way different from what people are used to hearing,” Bundy said.

One way the band will incorporate “non-traditional” sounds is by playing crystal glasses. The musicians run their wet fingers over the rim of the glass, which produces a melodic sound, Bundy said.

Trumpet player Michael Barasch (junior-broadcast journalism) prefers the composition “Stars Above, Shine Brightly.”

“It kind of has a ‘Braveheart, Gladiator’ feel to it. It has that Irish-Scottish, Lord of the Rings warrior feel,” Barasch said. “It’s a nice, refreshing piece that is different from anything else we’re playing in the concert.”

Bundy said the process of choosing the pieces takes several weeks.

“We read through a lot of music and try to identify a level the band can play,” he said. “We try to select pieces that will give the students a good, balanced diet of music and also music that we hope will be an enjoyable listening experience.”