Program Notes
Overture from Dancer in the Dark
(Grade 4 - 3:30)
Björk Gudmundsóttir
arr. by Henry L. Dorn
Kobalt Songs Music Publishing
Winner of Cannes Film Festival’s Palm d’Or in 2000, Dancer in the Dark is a genre-defying cinematic creation, incorporating elements of melodrama, documentary, musical, and experimental film, shot in the manner of cinema vérité. The audience is made to feel as though they are a participant, rather than an observer, in the tumultuous and descending trajectory of the main character, Selma.
The Overture from Dancer in the Dark begins by rising from the stasis of the opening pedal. As the music develops, layers of the brass chorale establish a haunting, shimmering, melancholic mood upon which a main theme emerges. This motif, indicative of Selma, is restated and elaborated, each time becoming simultaneously more urgent and inexorably entwined in the darkening complexity of the work’s underlying harmonic web. As quickly as the work crests, it dissolves back to a more stable form of the stasis from which it grew.
Vanity Fair
(Grade 5 - 6:30)
Percy Fletcher
ed. by Brant Karrick
Boosey & Hawkes / Hal Leonard
Vanity Fair is a concise and refreshing overture that is a wonderful example of Fletcher’s light melodic style and first-rate scoring. Described by the composer as “a comedy overture in which several characters from Thackeray’s novel are portrayed,” the fast-slow-fast, single movement form includes three main thematic ideas. The opening vivace A section features a vigorously energetic melody that is permeated with scales, sequences, repeated motives, and a variety of color. The second theme, in the dominant key of F, is somewhat slower and delightfully pompous in character. The highly romantic middle section, now in D-flat Major, showcases a beautiful melody complimented by exquisite scoring and is to be played “with sentimental expression.” A transition leads to the return of the opening vivace theme with some variety of harmony and scoring. The stately second theme, now in tonic, leads to an extended and electrifying coda that gains tempo and places the highest technical demands upon musicians, particularly the upper woodwinds.
Vanity Fair, one of those uniquely remarkable pieces that is immediately revered by audiences and musicians alike, was first published by Hawkes and Son in London in 1924, and was later transcribed for orchestra. The aim of this edition is to not only make this decidedly precious work available to modern concert bands, but also to elevate it to its rightful position among the standard wind repertoire.
Sky Bound
(Grade 1 - 1:45)
Jon Bubbett
Excelcia Music Publishing
Imagine soaring… twisting and turning as you plunge through clouds into the bright azure blue…Sky Bound! Capture the feeling and exhilaration of flight, and imagine what it would sound like in the music you make! Encourage students to close their eyes, unleash their imaginations and re-create those visual images into sound! With a high energy, captivating opening Sky Bound is a great way to start your concert!
Red Giant
(Grade 2 - 3:00)
Jorge L. Vargas
Alfred Music
This work depicts a dying star in its final stages of existence, when it expands and engulfs everything in its path. With accidentals, dissonances, and unique chord structures, this is a fast-paced musical ride that is perfect for developing bands!
The Nutcracker Suite
2a. March (3:00)
2b. Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy (2:45)
2c. Russian Dance: Trépak (1:15)
(Grade 5)
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
trans. by Jacco Nefs
Manuscript
Tchaikovsky made a selection of eight of the numbers from the ballet before the ballet's December 1892 première, forming The Nutcracker Suite, Op. 71a, intended for concert performance. The suite was first performed, under the composer's direction, on 19 March 1892 at an assembly of the St. Petersburg branch of the Musical Society. The suite became instantly popular, with almost every number encored at its premiere, while the complete ballet did not begin to achieve its great popularity until after the George Balanchine staging became a hit in New York City. The suite became very popular on the concert stage, and was featured in Disney's Fantasia. The Nutcracker Suite should not be mistaken for the complete ballet. The outline below represents the selection and sequence of the Nutcracker Suite culled by the composer.
The Cave You Fear
(Grade 2 - 4:00)
Michael Markowski
Michael Markowski
I’ve been thinking a lot lately about all the opportunities we’re given day-to-day to try something new or to go somewhere we’ve never been before—the opportunity to take a spontaneous road trip, to go see a concert by a band we’ve never heard of at a venue we’ve never been to, to try that new restaurant down the street where the menu is in a language we don’t quite understand. Some people have an innate sense of adventure, who go-with-the-flow, who live life for the unexplored, and I couldn’t be more inspired by them.
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For a long time, I was the opposite. I used to prefer to stay at home, working on my computer because it was the safe and responsible thing to be doing, listening to the same albums on my iPod, ordering the same meal at the same, familiar restaurants. And while there’s nothing necessarily wrong with having a routine or knowing what you like, I eventually realized that my life was starting to have a certain predictability to it. It was a few years ago, while I was still living in the same state that I was born and raised in, that I had the most terrifying epiphany that I think I’ve ever had. I was becoming increasingly bored and incredibly boring.
In film schools around the world, Joseph Campbell’s book The Hero With A Thousand Faces is required reading for filmmakers, screenwriters, and storytellers because Campbell has single-handedly identified what we refer to as “The Hero’s Journey” — the series of events and conflicts that arise along a character’s path as he or she fights their way to some ultimate goal. After studying Campbell, it’s easy to question where we are on our own paths. What is our own story? What are we fighting for? What does it mean to be a ‘hero’ and how can we be more ‘heroic’ ourselves? When we hear our own call-to-adventure, will we jump up, prepared, or will we ignore it, sit idly and take the easy way out because we would rather life be quiet and comfortable? According to Campbell, each of our adventures are already out there, waiting for us. That’s not the problem. For him, “the big question is whether you are going to be able to say a hearty ‘yes’ to your adventure.”
So for the next four minutes, let’s take a chance, let’s venture into the dark unknown, let’s fight whatever monsters we find in there. And although we might not always prevail, at least we’ll have a story to tell by the end.
Clarinet Candy
(Grade 3 - 2:45)
Leroy Anderson
Hal Leonard
In a 1962 interview, Anderson said: "In writing Clarinet Candy I made full use of the clarinet technique.
"The clarinet is a very versatile instrument. It can do so many things. It has a low register that is completely different from its high register. If you play a note in the low register and one in the high register, it sounds as though they were played by two entirely different instruments. At the same time it is a very flexible instrument. It plays arpeggios very well and runs and trills. Usually an orchestra has two clarinets, first and second. But for this recording I double the number of clarinets - two on first and two on second. In the middle section you will notice that they play a melody - a low note - and then they play a little figure - a high note - and then they go on to the melody. The melody is staccato down below and the fill-ins are taken by the same people who are playing the bottom note. It's an interesting effect."
Zigzag
(Grade 2 - 2:45)
Elena Specht
Specht Music
Zigzag uses playful rhythmic and melodic patterns to create a lively and unpredictable texture. A core motive of two eighth notes is introduced, developed, and passed between low- and high-voiced instruments, while a contrasting lyrical melody twists and turns up and down the scale. Surprising rhythmic accents and syncopation combine with registral displacement and abrupt changes in direction to result in music that zigs and zags in unexpected ways.
Zigzag is available both in a traditional concert band instrumentation as well as arranged for flexible ensemble. Choose “Score and parts” for the concert band version and “Flexible ensemble score and parts” for the version for flexible ensemble.
La Procession du Rocio
(Grade 5 - 9:00)
Joaquin Turina
trans. by Alfred Reed
Hal Leonard
La Procession du Rocio was given its premiere in Madrid in 1913. Every year in Seville, during the month of June, there takes place in a section of the city known as Triana, a festival called the Procession of the Dew in which the best families participate. They make their entry in their coaches following an image of the Virgin Mary on a golden cart drawn by oxen and accompanying by music. The people dance the soleare and the seguidilla. A drunkard sets off firecrackers, adding to the confusion. At the sound of the flutes and drums, which announce the procession, all dancing ceases. A religious theme is heard and breaks forth mingling with the pealing of the church bells and the strains of the royal march. The procession passes and as it recedes, the festivities resume, but at length they fade away.
Composer Joaquin Turina (1882-1949) was a native of Spain, but was influenced early in his career by the impressionistic harmonies of Debussy and Ravel while studying in Paris. Upon returning to Spain, he drew inspiration from Spanish folk music with La Procession du Rocio becoming one of his best-known works. The music portrays a festival and procession that takes place in the Triana neighborhood of Seville, and is filled with wonderful idiomatic Spanish musical elements. Alfred Reed’s marvelous transcription created in 1962 remains an enduring staple in the repertoire for wind bands.
Battle Royal
(Grade 4 - 2:00)
Fred Jewell
ed. by Timothy Rhea
RBC Publications
Most marches reserve the instrumental “fireworks” for the trio interlude – also known as the “break-up” or “dog-fight” strain. In Battle Royal – composed in 1909 when Jewell’s euphonium playing skill was near its peak – the lower and upper brass begin their melody-countermelody “battle” at the introduction and never let up. Battle Royal is the obvious work of a circus musician who knew how to generate circus crowd excitement.