THE WINNERS OF THE THIRD INTERNATIONAL FRANK TICHELI COMPOSITION CONTEST
ROGER ZARE LIFT-OFF
JEFFREY HAYMAN LUDVIK
JOSEPH EIDSON FRENETICO
BENJAMIN DEAN TAYLOR
WHIZ-BANG
IVAN BO Ž I Č EVI Ć SPIRALING
JONI GREENE CAMERON’S DREAM
ANDREW MELTON GAME TIME
MAKING MUSIC MATTER
BEGINNING BAND METHOD
INTERMEDIATE BAND METHOD BY FRANK TICHELI and GREGORY B. RUDGERS
BEN HJERTMANN CATCLAW MIMOSA
MATTHEW PETERSON REFLECTIONS ON THE DEATH OF THE BELOVED
JEFFREY HASS ALL THE BELLS AND WHISTLES
FRANK TICHELI
KOREAN FOLKSONGS FROM JEJU ISLAND
FRANK TICHELI Peace
FRANK TICHELI Korean Folksongs From Jeju Island
ROGER ZARE Lift-Off
JEFFREY HAYMAN Ludvik
JOSEPH EIDSON Frenetico
BENJAMIN DEAN TAYLOR Whiz-Bang
IVAN BOŽI Č EVIĆ Spiraling JONI
Cameron’s Dream
Game
Catclaw
Reflections
EDITOR’S VIEW
Editor-in-Chief,
Neil Ruddy
Reviewing the Winners of the Third International
Frank Ticheli
Composition
Contest
I like to believe that every issue of MBM Times is going to be the best thing since sliced bread, what with the colorful graphics and shiny paper and let's not for get the feel of the magazine itself, like no other magazine out there. And yet, after all the joy of seeing it printed, looking all spiffy, I begin to analyze, rethink and doubt, and before you know it, a Monday morning quarterback thinking sets in. ‘We should have done this, we should have done that, we should focus more on beginning band, let's make the music examples larger next time’ ... all of these things begin to take hold and that's when I start to shape the next issue. Through the doubt, and the Monday morning quarterbacking, one thing remains constant, which is the effort we put into every issue, to find, to publish and to bring to the forefront the best music out there.
And this brings us to the MBM Times issue you are currently holding in your hand. Or, dig itally viewing online. Yes, I do once again believe that this is the most important issue we have done to date, and in part because this issue is more of a celebration. It celebrates fantastic new beginning and intermediate band methods that are the talk of the town, written by the most influential com poser in the industry.
Also in this issue is a wonderful interview by Bob Margolis that first appeared in a recent issue of SBO magazine. Bob interviews both Frank Ticheli and Gregory B. Rudgers about their groundbreaking new band method, Making Music Matter,
So a special thanks go out to our friends at
MBM TIMES
Photo by Robert Bennett
thank them for all the important work they do throughout the year.
Lastly, we are celebrating the Winners of the Third International Frank Ticheli Composition Contest, presenting here for the first time analysis and reviews and score examples of the 10 winning pieces. With over 300 submissions from all over the world, we were not only impressed by the number of entries, we were also impressed by the quality and originality of compositions, making this a very difficult and important task for Frank Ticheli and the judges.
Especially important, both Bob and I give our warm thanks and appreciation to Frank Ticheli for everything he does for us and everything he does for this industry.
These are the signal goals of Manhattan Beach Music:
To make excellence commonplace.
To make excellence the rule rather than the exception.
To publish the best music.
62
Making Music Matter
Bob Margolis interviews Frank Ticheli and Gregory B. Rudgers
� an � a �an �e��� �usic is �rou�t�� resen � PEACE
.FrankTicheli. com
.ManhattanBeachMusic. com
Standards of the Band and Bands the World
Frank Ticheli’s Peace is a gift to beginning band students, and perhaps even more so to beginning band teachers. Ticheli wrote this piece in response to a challenge from a friend who is a middle school band director in Texas, the challenge being to write a piece for beginning band students who have completed just one semester of study on their instruments. The result: a very satisfying, aesthetically pleasing piece of music that will wear well over weeks of rehearsal, and over years of one’s career.
by MARC DICKEY
FRANK TICHELI
Manhattan Beach Music
Ticheli’s program note reveals that the largest range required in any instrument is an octave, and that most of the instruments use less than that to play Peace. Rhythmically, the piece consists of quarter notes, half notes, dotted half notes, and whole notes, with some ties. And, there are quarter rests, half rests, and whole rests. Peace is written in a legato style, mostly requiring legato tonguing, with occasional slurs. Teaching the legato style to your young students will be worth the effort! (See the sidebar at the end of this article for some suggestions as to how to teach legato tonguing to beginners.)
Beyond these spare materials, Ticheli uses an Ab (concert) here and there in this piece that is otherwise written in the key of Bb concert, adding a mixolydian flavor. Given the relatively limited resources, there is a surprisingly rich
harmonic vocabulary in Peace, all within the confines of the Bb concert key signature, plus this one addition. Peace also contains a range of dynamic levels from piano to forte, with crescendos and diminuendos. And, there are a few ritardandos and at tempos that seem natural to the music, yet give you an additional opportunity to engender true musicality in your young ensemble. In regard to percussion, Ticheli utilizes glockenspiel, chimes, triangle, small tom tom, bass drum, and optional timpani (two drums).
Peace begins with an elegantly simple four-measure melody [Ex. 1, quarter note theme, mm. 1-9] consisting of conjunct motion, mostly in quarter notes. This melody appears only in the flutes at first, with harmony in contrary motion in the clarinets, this all over an Eb pedal in the alto saxophones, glockenspiel, and chimes. Very similar materials are utilized at m. 5, this time with the melody in the trumpets, and the contrary motion in the low brass and woodwinds, while the tenor saxes and horns add to the drone. In this second phrase, the original four-bar phrase is elongated to five, ending in a V-I cadence to Bb Major, and with a slight rit. The low brass need to perform a lip slur from F to Bb at the
cadence. From mm. 10-18 these same materials are reworked so that the rate of motion in moving from one instrument grouping to another is now every two measures rather than four.
PEACE
A series of ascending tones functioning as pick-up notes leads to a second theme, this one consisting largely of gently tongued repeated eighth notes that add rhythmic vitality, while at the same time suggesting a chant-like quality [See Ex. 2., eighth note theme, mm. 19-27.] There is also a richer harmonic palette here. The eighth-note theme at m. 20 appears in a trio of parts assigned amongst the flute, oboe, clarinet, tenor saxophone, and horn in ascending lines, while the low brass and woodwind parts have rhythmically identical lines, once again in contrary motion. At first the percussion are at rest. Then, in answer to this four-bar phrase, Ticheli adds the trumpets, and brings in the timpani, small tom, and bass drum in accompaniment roles. This is a welcome early opportunity to teach your timpani and tom
players to listen to who has their part in the winds, and to match and balance what they hear. The V-I cadence in mm. 26-27 contains quarter note passing tones in the tenor saxophone and horn parts that should be “brought out,” perhaps by rehearsing these two measures slowly so all can hear the dissonance and resolution.
Dickey - Music Examples for Ticheli Peace
A third theme that focuses more on half notes, marked mp, begins at the end of m. 27 with a quarter note pick-up [See Ex. 3, half note theme, mm. 27-37]. This melody, five measures long, is first heard in just the flute, clarinet, and alto saxophone parts, in thirds and tenths. The triangle part duplicates the rhythm of the melody, while a Bb is struck and allowed to “let ring” in the chimes on the static second beat of each half note. While the sustained style is important throughout Peace, it is perhaps most important of all here, as the rhythms are relatively passive in this brief center section. As this melody comes back at m. 33, the character of it changes from sweet to firm as it is now marked forte. Trumpets and horns are added here, while the low brass
FRANK TICHELI
and woodwinds play a new counter-line, again borrowing the contrary motion device from the first theme. At the beginning of this phrase, the low brass and most of the low reeds enter with their pick-up note on beat 3, while the instruments with the melody come in on beat 4, creating an aurally interesting sequence of events from the chime on beat 2. To reinforce this forte sustained phrase, the percussion parts are fuller here than anywhere else in the piece.
PEACE PEACE
This sustained section ends on a whole note F Major chord that calls for a diminuendo. You may want to isolate and practice diminuendos with your students. Have them say “FOUR–THREE–Two–One” out loud, starting with “FOUR” loudly and speaking progressively softer with each beat. Then try the diminuendo again with instruments. This is also an opportunity for students to watch and listen to end the whole note together, and to then breathe together to prepare for the next entrance. Speaking of breathing, when you play the source recording at www.frankticheli.com for your students, you’ll want to point out the first thing that they will hear on the recording: You can hear the entire group inhale together, one beat before the first note. Just like you have been teaching them to do!
The whole note diminuendo at m. 37 leads to the return of the eighth note theme from m. 20. Here, at m. 38, the melody and its contrary motion partner are fully orchestrated, including tympani, all at a friendly mf level. The small tom and bass drum are added in the four-measure answer, which ends in another whole note with diminuendo. But this one is a little tricky: the upper instruments take a breath as they did eight measures before, but the lower instruments tie their pitch over for four more beats to create a striking elision in which the elongated pitches facilitate a V-I transition (from Bb to Eb Major). The flutes, clarinets, and glockenspiel bring us back to the quarter note theme first heard at the very beginning of Peace. There is also a rit. and an A Tempo here, to call a little more attention to this very musical moment.
Dickey - Music Examples for Ticheli Peace
In this return of the first theme (m. 46), the original nineteen measures are neatly truncated into just ten. Much as before, a series of ascending pitches leads to the second theme (m. 56), the chanting repeated eighth notes. The ritard here is a bit more important, because at m. 56 Ticheli marks “Slightly Slower” rather than “A Tempo.” This tells your students and your audience that Peace is coming towards its end.
FRANK TICHELI
TICHELI
Fl. Cl. Alto Sax.
Tri. Chi.
Ten. Sax. Low Br. & Low Ww's. Tba.
To reach that end, Ticheli simply repurposes the eight measures from this theme’s first appearance (mm. 2027), with one unexpected difference: between the sixth and seventh measure, he has inserted a 2-beat tutti rest. Once your students get used to this, they will agree: this rest feels just right. It puts our performance of Peace at peace.
Peace is assuredly a Grade 1 composition. Although Peace was written with students who have completed one semester of study on their instruments in mind, you’ll have to decide for yourself when your students are ready to encounter this very engaging composition. Not all programs are created equal from district-to-district and state-to-state when it comes to rehearsal time and other resources. You’ll want to teach Peace when it is right for your students and for you. When you do, you’ll find the experience to be musically rewarding, and the piece brimming with musical concepts to share with your young instrumentalists.
Can you remember the excitement and curiosity you felt back when you were in beginning band, and your teacher passed out the group’s first separate sheet of music apart from your method book for the very first time? It’s exciting to know that our students’ first “separate sheet experience” can be a deeply musical one, playing music by one of America’s greatest living composers.
An EXTREME Method for Teaching Legato to Young Wind Musicians
Young wind students are quite capable of learning that there are two styles of articulation, one smooth and connected (“du”), and the other separated (“tu”). “Hot Cross Buns” and “Mary Had a Little Lamb” are truly songs, and they should sound like songs when we play them, thus calling for the smooth and connected style of articulation.
But how can we get younger students to play this way? One very efficient, effective way is to play in this style for our students on your instrument, and have them imitate. Model short phrases of the songs on your instrument, and have the students play them back. Students will be much more likely to match the style they hear than if you try to describe what you want in words that may at first seem terribly abstract to your players.
Beyond that, it will help to break down the technique of legato playing in a manner something like this:
1. Review the difference between the “du” and “tu” tonguing styles. Without their instruments, ask students to say “dudu-du” and notice where the tips of their tongues touch the rooves of their mouths. Now have them do the same for “tu-tutu,” and ask them to compare. What is the difference? Remind reed students that when they use their instruments they will be doing this at the tips of their reeds.
2. Now comes the EXTREME part: Ask one student you have confidence in to play one note and to hold it for as long as one can, a long tone, on his or her favorite note. Or, have a little contest to see who can hold the longest long tone. The point is to get students playing long tones…and then: Point out that when it comes to the
legato (smooth) style or articulation, a long tone is as smooth as smooth can be! As smooth as a frozen lake on a windless day in the deep of winter (or insert your own metaphor here).
3. Next, briefly explain to the students that one way to achieve legato style is to play that long tone, and then lightly touch the tip of the tongue to the roof of the mouth or the tip of the reed to lightly and quickly interrupt the air, and KEEP THE AIR GOING; KEEP THE LONG TONE GOING while you do so. If necessary, remind the students not to use the tongue like a hammer, but just as a brief, gentle interruption to the air flow.
You might go back to the one student you have confidence in and have him or her try this while the others observe. Then set everyone loose to try this on their own, “du–du–du–du.” Thirty seconds of longtone-chaos — time well spent!
4. Now have everyone play one long tone on a single concert pitch, to bring back that concept of “as legato as legato can be.” And finally, ask students to practice “du” tonguing all together, following your gentle conducting gestures, first in half notes, then in quarter notes, and then in eighth notes as called for in “Peace’s” second theme.
Using this approach in incrementally smaller doses over a few rehearsals will lead to a more legato legato in your ensemble in general, and especially in their approach to “Peace.”
Marc Dickey
FOR CONCERT BAND
KOREAN FOLKSONGS FROM JEJU ISLAND FRANK TICHELI
by MARC DICKEY
Holst’s Second Suite; Vaughn Williams’ English Folk Song Suite; Grainger’s Lincolnshire Posy; John Barnes Chance’s Variations on a Korean Folk Song; Alfred Reed’s Armenian Dances; Ticheli’s own Cajun Folk Songs. Folk songs resonate deeply within us. They are an undeniably robust and infectious presence in our wind band repertoire. And when we and our students learn these works, we carry the tunes they are based on within us forever.
Frank Ticheli’s new three-movement work, Korean Folksongs from Jeju Island, contains these qualities from its first ethereal moments to its final joyful outburst some ten minutes later.
Jeju Province is South Korea’s largest island, situated in the Korean Strait southwest of the mainland. Because the island is geographically and historically isolated from the Korean mainland, Jeju Island has its own language and culture, and a rich history of local legends and customs. Ticheli provides a brief note in his score regarding the island and its folksong tradition. He notes that the beat in almost all Jeju folksongs is divided into threes, and that the pentatonic scale is predominant. You can already imagine that these songs will make us feel like dancing. He also thoughtfully provides us with the text for each of the three
movements (translated into English), with footnotes for each that help clarify meaning and geographical and legendary context. A little internet research on your part will yield a great deal more information about the fascinating history of this island and the people who inhabit it.
As the first movement, “Country Song (‘Iyahong’),” begins, in a brisk 9/8 meter, the very first texture transports you from your rehearsal room to a faraway and exotic place. A very brief two-measure introduction yields to the first entrance of the tune [ex. 1], the first two notes of which are marked staccato. While the tune is simple, there is an industriousness about it, and Ticheli treats it with joy and respect. Nearly everyone gets to play it over the course of the movement, which is marked “Bouncy, somewhat detached.”
In order to maintain interest given this simple melodic material, Ticheli employs a number of techniques: the length of time that any instrument has the melody before another voice takes it over is constantly shifting, the accompaniments are greatly varied, utilizing major seconds at one point, and open fifths moments later. Question and answer is employed, as at m. 10 [ex. 2]. With all of these
Frank Ticheli
Photo by Charlie Grosso
devices aligned to present the tune in this initial section, Ticheli is comfortable keeping the tune in one key, the tune consistently beginning on F throughout.
Ticheli’s scoring is quite light until the second iteration of Question and Answer; the “Answer” at m. 37 is subito
are played as squarely as they look, and with a good degree of punched separation (note the accents) so that they are heard clearly. These duplets recur several times in the movement, so take heed.
All that being said, the fortes and accents should all
forte, unexpectedly bringing in nearly the entire band. M. 43 brings a brief dramatic departure in that eighth note duplets interrupt the constant triplet feel of the piece for the first time, amidst shifting accents in the trombones eighth note triplets, and abrupt crescendos in the saxophones and
be played in the stylistic context of this lovely, lilting movement. Please don’t hurt the folk tune!
Several things change all at once as the middle section begins (m. 60). The little tune, now beginning on Eb, is expanded both vertically and horizontally at once. Vertically, the tune is written in fifths (and twelfths), starting on Eb in some instruments and Ab in others. You’ve heard this timbre before, in Ravel’s Bolero and Hindemith’s Symphonic Metamorphosis. And horizontally, the tune is presented canonically. This happens again at m. 68, this time in three voices, one of which is in augmentation [ex. 4, overleaf]. Keep an ear out for these contrapuntal entrances, and be sure all the voices are equally balanced. Through this contrasting middle section, the battery is nearly silent.
horns [ex. 3]. You’ll want to make sure that these duplets
Another series of duplets and a crescendo signal a grand statement of the melody at m. 80 once again beginning on F accompanied by woodwind flourishes, while percussionists occupy themselves with broad gestures in the vibes, glockenspiel, and chimes. The tune is marched (if one can march in 9/8 time) through renditions beginning on C (signaled by a lone bar of 12/8), then G, and back to F as things descrescendo to a moment of repose of open Bb and F’s in the lower clarinets and bassoons.
from it) is on nearly every beat. You will likely need to ask your players to “get out of the way” for the next entrance just after they’ve started; be sure that each entrance (each of which is still marked staccato by the way) is clearly audible. A clave ostinato begins, mp, in the midst of these canonic entrances. As the canonic voices dissipate, the clave is the only sound left. Effervescent woodwinds take over in an eighth-note line that ascends in pitch and descends in volume, leading to a colorful sustained Bb chord in muted horns and trombone, and then a satisfying final staccato eighth note on a low Bb.
Musical composition is by definition a type of problem solving, and in creating a three-movement work all with meters containing triple divisions, Ticheli created a problem for himself: how to keep them from sounding too much the same.
KOREAN FOLKSONGS FROM
At m. 112, the tune reappears in the piccolo and oboe, while the tune from the upcoming second movement, “Kyehwa,” is foreshadowed as a countermelody in the horn. Both of these melodies should be played gently and sweetly here. “Kyehwa” subsequently appears in the lower clarinets and then low brass in this role. Ticheli has the appearances of this melody clearly marked, so be sure to treat this tune as a melody of equal importance to “Iyahong.”
Ticheli leaves the second movement behind (or ahead?) for the time being, and uses now familiar first-movement materials in familiar ways as the first movement begins to wind down.
At m. 157, counterpoint returns with a vengeance, at the rate of a new entrance of the tune (or at least a motive
JEJU ISLAND
The second movement, “The Forest Nymph and the Woodcutter (‘Kyehwa’)” is notated in 6/4 meter. It could have just as easily been notated in 6/8 time, but Ticheli notated it in 6/4 to make it look slower, to make sure that we perform it that way. And that is the bottom line: the second movement needs to be slower than the first.
This is also one of those wonderful pieces of music that presents a special conducting challenge in that it seems just a bit too slow to conduct in two, and a bit too fast to conduct in six. In his rehearsal notes Ticheli makes some suggestions about this based on his experience conducting the work. I would emphasize that it makes sense to go back and forth between conducting in 2 and in 6 as you feel it is called for. And I would add that, in all likelihood, you won’t need or want to conduct this movement the same way in the week of the concert as you may need to in the first few rehearsals. You and your group will find a tempo that is slower than the first movement, and serves to express the lovely music of this movement. This is an unhurried, wistful
FRANK TICHELI
CONCERT BAND
MANHATTAN BEACH MUSIC
waltz; in Ticheli’s words, it should be played with “a gentle, quiet lyricism.” Do what you need to do to keep the tempo under control!
Beyond tempo, there is another important reason that this movement works in clear contrast to the first: in the first movement, Ticheli took a simple tune and worked with it and around it in myriad complex and interesting ways. In this movement, he takes a very lyrical melody
married to the “Kyehwa” folk melody. The folk tune is first heard in an alto saxophone solo at m. 6 [ex. 6 below, left], with a simple waltz-like accompaniment. This is followed by a secondary melody in the clarinets (m. 14) that evolves into impressionistic cascading layers of ascending and accelerating woodwinds [ex. 7 below].
As the woodwinds begin to descend and decelerate, a gentle yet mysterious Ab Major chord is revealed in the low brass. Rehearse this section slowly so that your ensemble can get its ears around it!
that is not quite so simple, and treats it ever so simply by comparison.
This movement provides welcome opportunities for expressive playing in sections and in several solo passages. And it contains what may be some of the loveliest countermelodies Ticheli has written. Notated tempo fluctuations (tenutos, accelerandos, ritardandi) are fairly frequent to the extent that the ensemble that performs it must be confident and comfortable enough with itself to play in essence rubato with some ease.
The second movement begins with a flute solo [ex. 5, above] that serves as an introduction, and in a sense foreshadows the countermelody that will soon be
The introduction returns somewhat truncated as a clarinet solo to introduce the second verse of the folk tune, which sounds handsomely this time from the horn and euphonium (m. 28). A meandering countermelody in the flute is added this time, reminiscent but not identical to the introductory materials. The secondary melody returns in all of the upper woodwinds, at m. 36. It is soon taken over by ascending chromatic triads in the trumpets, and everyone crescendos to the climax of the movement. A pentatonic hunting horn call enters at m. 42, in the clarinets as well as the horns, and though this tune seems to fit here perfectly, it doesn’t belong there at all; although the audience won’t know it until later, Ticheli has cleverly and effectively borrowed the melody from the upcoming third movement to create the grandest point of the second. Madness!
From this climactic point the ensemble devolves to a point of repose in f minor. A variation of the opening flute line returns, but this time the flute continues in countermelody as the folk tune comes in at m. 49. Halfway through this third iteration of the folk tune, it moves back to the alto saxophone and the simple waltz-like accompaniment. The work seems to come to be coming to a final cadence in b-flat minor as the cascading layers of ascending and descending, accelerating and decelerating woodwinds return to assure us that we have indeed ever so graciously and sweetly ended in that key. There is a quiet genius to this three and a half minute gem, as the materials Ticheli has found and created come and go, and
is, make sure you balance your ensemble
to give us the fun of hearing all three entrances!
The low brass fifths return, but this time they signal an episode (m. 25) that begins with a pastoral clarinet line crafted from the pentatonic scale [ex. 10, recto]. After the alto saxophones join in it is taken over by a series of fanfarelike brass entrances (plus flute and piccolo) that crescendo into a bravado statement of the tune [ex. 11]. In this fourth verse (m. 33) the tune is invigorated by its use of harmonized thirds, still accompanied by drones in fifths and octaves.
9 Dickey - Music Examples for Ticheli Korean Folksongs
return in ever evolving yet seemingly familiar ways.
“Celebration on Halla Mountain (‘Nuhyoung Nahyoung’),” the third and final movement, has no introduction at all. This is the most overtly strophic of the three movements. The tempo is set the same as the second movement, but the affect could not be more different. Ticheli marks the movement “Bouncy and cheerful.”
This energetic folk tune is (re-)introduced in the muted trumpet, and we are off [ex. 8, above]. In its first statement it is simply accompanied by alternating long tone octaves in the flutes and vibraphone. In the second verse (m. 9), the melody is taken over by the clarinets and horns, and the accompaniment is expanded slightly into droning fifths. The third verse (m. 17) is announced by vibrant yet soft open fifths in the low brass. The melody is in the flutes and oboe, in nearly but not quite literal canonic imitation at the unison one beat later in the alto saxophones, while a witty third entrance on beat three in the low reeds turns out to be a false start [ex. 9]. The point
Things quiet down a bit as the low brass fifths again assist in eliding from verse to verse. In the fifth iteration of the tune (m. 41) it appears in the clarinets, and the alto saxophones imitate at the unison one beat later, quite literally this time. A charming countermelody with hints of hemiola sings in the flute and oboe. The sixth verse (m. 49) sets up a canon in three voices a beat apart, flute, followed by muted trumpet, and then bassoon, with long tone open fifths in the brass coming and going as accompaniment.
The episode returns at m. 57, a little fuller and higher in tessitura this time. The fanfare figure returns as well, leading to a seventh verse in which the alto saxophones and horns have the melody, forte for the first time [ex. 12, overleaf].
Ticheli is beginning to pull out all of the wind band’s stops, a few at a time. The melody is imitated vigorously a beat later by the clarinets. Here the tune is harmonized for the first time. Duplets are utilized in a new countermelody to create a new, square rhythmic tension–bring these out!
The eighth time this rollicking melody occurs (m. 72) we take things down a notch. Back to basics: a straight-ahead forte presentation of the tune in the lower saxophones, horns, and euphonium, with long-tone alternations between the fifth and the root in the brass, and woodwind flourishes leading us to every new downbeat. Many of the lowest voices are tacit
here. The ninth verse (m. 80) continues in this vein, but with the addition of the melody in the lower octave, the tuba and string bass bringing gravitas while the trumpets fill in with passing tones.
The tenth verse (m. 88) continues to build. The trumpets toot the melody in close position triads, while the low brass explode in a fuller harmonic accompaniment. While the bass drum and cymbal crashes should not
Dickey - Music Examples for Ticheli Korean Folksongs
towards each other into one unified composition. By now we’ve heard 11 different versions of “Nuhyoung Nahyoung,” and here Ticheli inserts the episodic material once again, the pastorale pentatonic woodwind lines and fanfare figures, more thickly scored this time. It is a welcome break from the tenacious melody, but what could Ticheli possibly do now with this melody that he hasn’t already done?
What he does is genius, but be careful here. Be sure to play what he wrote! As the woodwinds start their cascading sixteenths again, he has notated the tune in augmentation, in 4/4–2/4 time (m. 112). But the tempo does not change. And after hearing the tune whipped around so many times, hearing it in augmentation is extremely dramatic. Ticheli makes it clear in his Rehearsal Notes that the augmentation is enough, there is no need to slow down any further.
predominate here, you’ll want to hear and feel them. In the eleventh verse (m. 96), Ticheli gives the trumpets a well deserved rest. The horns take over the melody, reinforced by the low brass. And the woodwinds? … after three verses of being held back at the starting line with their occasional flourishes, the woodwinds explode onto the scene, spilling cascades of 16th note scales in their wake. They flow down and climb up again, and morph into a little bit of the tune “Iyahong” from the first movement as a countermelody to “Nuhyoung Nahyoung.” The transition from four verses of woodwind flurrying about to hearing “Iyahong” suddenly partnered with “Nuhyoung Nahyoung” is an unexpectedly powerful musical moment that serves to pull the three movements
As the brass state the melody for the twelfth time in this dramatic augmentation, the chime player is instructed to “Strike any notes in wild, random fashion, evoking the sound of celebratory church bells.” The overall effect is euphoric.
The euphoria melts away into nostalgia at the end of this verse, as the horns reiterate the last few measures softly (m. 128). After a brief breath, the piece ends briskly, with a few measures of the fanfare figure, one last flourish, and one final bravado reminder of the tune. (Marked 132+, how brisk your tempo is should be informed by how cleanly your brass players can articulate the fanfare figure!)
There is a sincerity about Korean Folksongs from Jeju Island that emanates from the integrity of the folk tunes themselves, and Ticheli has guardedly and loyally preserved that integrity. Make no mistake, this is a
significant contribution to the Grade 4 repertoire. In it we have a highly unified work of significant length that moves us even further along our evolution from our history of loud heavy military music in duple meter. We don’t have enough Grade 4 pieces that are filled with grace and light.
In this work there are opportunities for both learning and for great musical pleasure, through the overall lightness of the work, through extensive opportunities to play music with beats that divide into threes, and
through percussion writing in which boom and bang are less important than tinkle and ring. With all of the melodies and counterpoint, I have never studied a piece and had “I would love to play that part!” go through my head so many times.
In the last line of his program note in the score, Ticheli writes how he was “delighted and galvanized by these buoyant, optimistic folksongs. I hope the joy I felt comes through to all who perform and hear this work.”
Yes, it does.
III. Celebration on Halla Mountain ("Nuhyoung Nahyoung")
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Frank Ticheli’s
Composition Contest Winners
First Prize Winner
the 3rd International Frank Ticheli Composition Contest
Category Two: Concert Band Music Grade 3 - 4.5
Lift-Off Roger Zare (USA)
by ALAN LOURENS
Roger Zare’s Lift-Off is a kind of moto perpetuto, with sixteenth notes in just about every single bar. Far from a frantic note grab, however, Zare constructs a thoughtful and melodic work of some whimsy. With excellent instrumentation skills (this is a score that demands a full ensemble), Zare conjures up an episodic delight full of color.
The opening feels almost minimalist. We begin with travelling sixteenth notes in the woodwinds, follow by an insistent if somewhat unsettled brass interjection in the horns and trumpets. [See Ex. 1, recto.]
The score has a strong feeling of D (concert pitch) as the tonal center. However, from the beginning Zare keeps the tonality unsettled, offering us simultaneous D and E in both the upper woodwinds (here written at the octave, but in the original in the same octave), and in the high, long notes of the bassoons.
7 we add triplets; the percussion, present in the woodblocks at the opening, begin to layer in more lines. Zare introduces the lower voices, producing a canonic effect between the upper brass and the lower WW and brass, and adding xylophone, suspended cymbals, and ultimately harp. From 17 the main theme moves to the woodwinds. We begin to see Zare’s interesting instrumentation here. Here the 3rd and 4th horns (playing half notes) snarl though a stopped crescendo. Zare cleverly appropriates parts of his theme and the 16th notes into melodic material for the low brass and woodwind.
ROGER ZARE
Photo by Alexandra Dee
If tonal music is the expression of tension and relief, Zare from the very start offers great tension in the dissonance, though he resolves much of the tension in the main theme in thirds and fifths.
As we move forward, Zare increases the complexity. From bar
The work reaches a climax at measure 26, coming to rest on a giant E Minor chord, though with the 16ths still chirping along in the upper WW, and marked at a brief fortissimo before falling to mezzopiano.
Zare gives us the second theme here — a contrasting world of long pitches and careful harmonies. The theme slides from C to B Flat, though a surprising D Major chord to peak at F, before coming back to D minor. This movement through (sometime distantly) related chords is made more unstable by the use of 6/4, as well as root position chords.
The parallel movement of the chords gives this work a further
dimension, projecting motion in both a vertical as well as horizontal manner. Of course accompanying this theme in the Clarinets are 16th notes, two slurred two tongued.
In the manner of the opening theme, Zare works this material by adding voices and layering-in complexity in the accompaniment.
This second theme [Ex. 2, below] is a warm and attractive one, in great contrast to the angular opening idea. The harmonic
2
Lift Off: Bar 64 (Transposed)
3, bar 64, “woodwind cascade”
Ex.
Ex.
Lift-Off
movement, though somewhat in lockstep, is very attractive, particularly in the environment of a somewhat opaque harmony created by the motion of the sixteenth notes. The transition from second theme back to theme A is via a “woodwind cascade,” [Ex. 3, verso] supported by the low brass. This passage at bar 64 brings together the harmony of the second theme with the growing moto perpetuo of the (mostly) upper woodwinds.
Lift-Off
The recapitulation that follows is cleverly not a triumphant return of the theme, but rather a statement of quiet confidence, appearing as it does in the Bassoon and a muted trombone. Ensembles with great bass clarinet players will love this theme, with that instrument plus the percussion providing the moving 16th and 8th notes [Ex. 4, below].
This episode is short. At 128 we are very quickly into Theme A again, this time at its most insistent, pushing through all the woodwind, the horns and the trumpets, with only the alto saxophones providing the 16th note accompanying motif, and by bar 147 we are into the coda having provided room for expansiveness by moving from the 2/4 time signature we have been in for most of the piece (a few 3/4 measures provide “hops” as the work develops) into 2/2. Here we have an expansive return of our second theme, in almost all of the ensemble. Only the saxes and piccolo are still providing the flourishes that run throughout this work. A return to 2/4 at bar 157 brings us to an emphatic close, finishing with our ambiguity in D Major. The compositional use of the sixteenth notes throughout the work provide the listener with a rhythmic “hook” upon to to
We build again into bar 102, arriving again at a fortissimo chord, this time a big E Flat major chord. Theme C is a robust oboe solo, [Ex. 5, above] marked by the composer to be played “boldly”. There is a dancing flute response that throws these two colors into a delightful juxtaposition.
base the ideas. It gives the work a sense of direction. Unlike many other works employing this idea, the 16th notes rarely come to the forefront, being truly an accompaniment idea. Whilst Zare gives them a few moments in the sun, or hooks
Roger Zare
Roger Zare
them to a melodic idea, they are generally background figures.
Ensembles performing this work will face the normal difficulty of keep these notes going. However the rich harmonies and strong rondo-esque structure give the listener a great deal to hold on.
The percussion requirements of this score are significant, and Zare uses percussion to great effect, though the parts never become virtuosic, and on very few occasions are all five of the percussion parts playing together. In working through the score, the effect is of a composer who knows the colors he is looking for, and who is writing for all the instruments in a very characteristic way.
Lift-Off is an attractive work. From an audience point of view it has vigor and energy. The structure is clear and concise. The nature of the work creates a great sense of energy.
Zare’s harmonic language is extended, but in this work never jarring. At less than three minutes, it is an excellent opener or addition to a program, without being brash. Zare is clearly a master of instrumentation, and his choices throughput this work make Lift-Off a worthy contest first-prize winner.
SECOND PRIZE WINNER
THE 3RD INTERNATIONAL FRANK TICHELI COMPOSITION CONTEST
CATEGORY 2: CONCERT BAND MUSIC GRADE 3 - 4.5
LUDVIK JEFFREY HAYMAN (USA)
by ALAN LOURENS
To call Ludvig a “cheeky romp” is to sell it far too short. And yet this description fits this work to a tee. There is an adage that “Dying is easy; comedy is hard”. While this work can, I think, be described as humorous, it is neither comedy, nor easy. Ludvig's creation is fun, energetic (sometimes frantic), and wonderfully scored.
Ludvig grows from a simple idea presented first in the clarinet to a straightforward accompaniment of wonderful (mostly) woody sounds [Ex. 1]. (The composer marks this, “With energy, quarter = 152.”)
The central idea here is the opening intervals: Major second, minor third, leading to a major seventh, with the instability emphasized by a trill to the octave. The underlaying simple accompaniment is jovial and regular, a clear juxtaposition to the fractured melody heard above. Hayman gives us four bar phrases, always with this anacrusis feel leaning forward, and finishing with a strong but unstable feel, before adding a codetta to the melody that abruptly finishes the tune with increased energy, and (with the addition of the low brass) a much fuller change of color [Ex.2].
All the way through this piece it is this change of rhythmic and harmonic pace that gives the work its charm. In the music of Mozart, many of his most famous phrases have a similar pattern, starting very seriously, and then galloping towards the end of the phrase. In this way the energy moves forward. Take for example his famous clarinet concerto. This first four bars are very pleasant and simple melody, featuring long notes [Ex. 3a, recto overleaf]. The second half of the phrase, however, picks up energy and vitality with the addition of sixteenth notes [Ex 3b].
Hayman does exactly the same thing, on the micro level, and on the macro level, as the work progresses. Even as he repeats and re-scores the same idea from the beginning of the work onwards, we begin to add complexity and movement. Still playing with these expanding intervals, he scores the woodwinds with increasing sections of sixteenth notes, with mostly stepwise movement and with leaps to open the idea.
Underneath, he continues to lie out the beat, with the low brass at bar 28 playing on 1 & 3, and then later in a standard
Photo by Jeff Hayman
JEFFREY HAYMAN
Bar 14. Picc, Ob, Cl, B Cl, Tn Sax Trom, Tuba Ex. 2, bar 13
1+2+3+4+ pattern building to a climax to bar 36. But in measure 36 we have a contrasting section, rich with a strong horn line, and with rhythmically complex woodwind lines with 3 against 4. The horn writing in this work is sublime, stringlike and having a rich melodic vein though written in only 2 parts. The approach is
very orchestral, with flowing melodies in the horn punctured by woodwind interjections. [Ex. 4, overleaf]. Hayman reinforces this idea with his terrific scoring. Not only is he frequently emphasising the wonderful sound of the low woodwind, he carefully scores compound sounds across the ensemble: We have solos from Clarinet,
Clarinet in B b Tutti (Concert pitch)
from Soprano Sax, Alto Sax, Trombone and from numerous tuned percussion lines. In between we have a light hand with the scoring for brass, again almost orchestral in nature. There is frequent use of mutes, and the articulations are well considered and appropriate. In short, there is a wealth of considered sounds here.
Hayman plays with his material, almost episodically, building through numerous closely related sections.
However the slow section lasts a mere 6 bars before our frantic tempo re-emerges, again defying our ability to put this work into a box. A kind of recapitulation, this time featuring the horns, greets us at m. 111, though this time with increased vehemence, with sixteenth notes appearing in the score mostly in the woodwind lines, to add decoration to this melody.
When the climax arrives after 111 we have a kind of raucous
Always we have this unbalanced phrase idea a gentle opening followed by an almost frantic ending. It is like a great magical show, calm, almost debonair on the surface and always moving and ticking away in the background.
There is multi-metre here too, but well placed and infrequent. Hayman extends the meter into 3/2, as well as contracting it to 3/4. The slower section which feels like it will settle into a friendly and all too predictable ABA form, occurs at m. 86, and features a beautiful clarinet line.
“It is like a great magical show, calm, almost debonair on the surface — and always moving and ticking away in the background.”
party. The low brass supply the basis of a straightforward rhythm as the trumpets play the end of the phrase; the woodwinds firing through the sixteenth notes, often in hocket, with similar instruments until after m. 148 he almost deconstructs the rhythm, moving us across one beat and destabilizing the piece before a very brief coda.
The work finishes with as much humour as it started, but this time emphatically returning us to opening idea.
Hayman’s Ludvik is extremely good craft. He demonstrates
to us the qualities of a man in control of his scoring, in that he has the confidence not to score every instrument in every bar. The colors of this work are delicious, and extremely well considered. The first entry of (for example) the Tuba, occurring in bar 14, is a moment of great note for its absence before that point (and because we won’t hear it again until bar 28).
The thematic material is memorable, because of its simplicity. It holds the work together precisely because it is easy to hear. It is also the kind of material that can be well worked. Inverted, made retrograde, it is material with which one can craft excellent music.
It is also profoundly good natured. This is a work that will make the musicians work, and make an audience smile. Though not easy, the music is well designed to be both complex and accessible. Audiences will enjoy its energy, and the quirks of phrasing and instrumentation give it a life and
vitality. This music is easy to love.
There are only so many ways to work melodic material. Jeffrey Hayman has a unique voice, and an important understanding of structure, even as he seeks to subvert the nature of band works. We have an standard ABA form, when actually we do not. We have significant areas of contrast, but an episodic and well considered structure.
LUDVIK JEFFREY HAYMAN
In short this is a work that is not like many others in the band world. Although it feels fun and humorous, Hayman has delivered a work that is also serious and considered. It is well crafted, but more than that it is excellent art, bringing together disparate ideas into a well crafted whole, and creating an outstanding work in the process.
THIRD PRIZE WINNER (TIE)
JOSEPH EIDSON (USA) PRESENTING
THE THIRD INTERNATIONAL FRANK TICHELI COMPOSITION CONTEST
CATEGORY 2: CONCERT BAND MUSIC GRADE 3 - 4.5
FRENETICO
by MARC DICKEY
Even before you look at the first measure, you’ll know something is up; a glance at the bottom of the score shows the initial timpani tuning as from the bottom up G, Bb, C, and F#. Frenetico seems harmless enough for about three seconds, with a pedal C in the bass clarinet, bassoons, xylophone, and timpani [Ex. 1, mm. 1-2].
The pedal C keeps going, but the tympani shifts to the G below and then to the F# above before anything else can happen. Expect the unexpected.
Frenetico is in 6/8 and 9/8 meters throughout, with a designated tempo of 112 per dotted quarter, and marked “Bristling with energy” for its six and one half minute duration. Hang on tight!
JOSEPH EIDSON
The piece is fanfarish at the beginning, moving from trombones to trumpets with a brief woodwind flourish eliding the two. The trumpets vacillate between parallel 2nd inversion C Major and D Major triads briefly, while the low brass punctuate the fanfare with the first of many-to-come eighth note hemiola figures, descending in rich sustained bell tones in this case (Ex. 2, mm. 8-13). The trumpets ascend to Eb Major for a bit, and then land squarely back in C Major. The crack of a whip and a low brass section signals a brief legato upper woodwind tune (m. 19), moving from C Major to Ab Major, and answered by the horns who assist a shift to Bb Major.
At m. 27 the upper woodwinds take over the fanfarish figures, now piano and shifting between d minor and f minor. The bass
clarinet, bassoon, and baritone saxophone play a quarter note hemiola figure that leads back to Ab Major, and a lovely oscillation of crossed voices of eighth notes in the flutes and quarter notes in the clarinets [Ex. 3, mm. 3436]. As the harmony shifts to a-flat minor, the trumpets come in (m. 38) with a melody that seems similar to the woodwind tune from m. 19, but they trick us by leading us back into fanfarish figures at m. 40. Shifting from G Major to g minor, the staccato euphonium and tuba and pizzicato string bass emphatically press their hemiola eighth notes against the cylindrical brass’s driving 6/8 patterns. These materials rub against each other through a return to C Major at m. 55, as a horn rip propels the phrase from C Major to a shocking F# Major (as you recall, the timpani foreshadowed this at the beginning of the piece). From the F# Major chord, the score rapidly and unpredictably cycles through D, Bb, Eb, and then back to C Major and a change of affect at m. 61.
Structurally, Frenetico has certain allusions to minimalism, with its ever changing ostinato figures, ongoing parallel harmonic shifts, and hemiola figures fighting for but never achieving dominance. Aesthetically, the piece is a rapid fire conversation amongst a group of friends, the kind in which frequent interruptions are expected and understood. This is a challenging piece, and there is a lot that players who are
Photo by Julia Gallagher
phone trio, a brief trumpet solo, and especially two more extended euphonium solos.
Stylistically, Eidson marks some of the fanfarish patterns legato, while others are very carefully marked with staccato, tenuto, and accent symbols. Depending on your ensemble and the acoustic you are rehearsing and performing in, you may end up interpreting the passages marked legato as non staccato, with just a bit of space to assure clarity.
Dickey - Music Examples for Eidson Frenetico
The conversation shifts beginning at m. 61. The texture is lighter, and more elongated thoughts are expressed, begin-
ready for it can learn from it. There are myriad variations on 6/8 rhythmic patterns to be learned here, as well as lots of accidentals to maneuver in the harmonically active, key signatureless work. The recurring use of hemiola will strengthen players rhythmic independence. (Resist the temptation to “help” players by conducting the hemiola passages; the whole idea is to learn to revel in 2 against 3.)
With respect to range, the first trumpet part hovers around
Dickey - Music Examples for Eidson Frenetico
A above the staff from time to time, with two trips to Bb and one to B-natural. The trumpet solo goes up to Bb. The clarinet range extends to the Eb above the staff. Speaking of solos, there are a number of opportunities here, pleasantly virtuosic within the context of the piece. You’ll want to have assertive soloists for a piccolo, bass clarinet, and alto saxo-
ning with the piccolo, bass clarinet, and alto saxophone soli accompanied by muted horn and piccolo snare drum at m. 64 [Ex. 4, mm. 64-70, overleaf.]. Following a brief chromatic interlude in hemiola in the trombones and euphonium, a similar (but always evolving) line comes from the solo euphonium in m. 83, this time accompanied by straight-muted trumpets. (Harmon mutes are required a few measures later, with adequate time for the transition.) Consensus in the conversation seems to take hold at m. 104, as a third similar melodic line is played by the entire clarinet and alto saxophone sections, this time accompanied by unmuted horns. The melodies themselves have a clever demonic quality about them, fun to play and to hear. The harmonic language of shifting parallel chords, the fanfarish figures (now used as accompaniment and transition), and the occasional bouts of hemiola create cohesion between this and the first section of Frenetico. Be sure that the instrumentalists serving as accompanists are playing the articulations that Eidson wrote, and doing so precisely together.
The trumpets wrest the melody from the clarinets and saxophones at m. 111, and aim the conversation toward a climatic point at m. 119, once again cycling through rapidly and unexpectedly shifting harmonies. The band lands squarely in Bb Major at m. 119 and then ominously and explosively in E Major one beat later. In mm. 120-122 the upper woodwinds, trumpets, and horns fanfare away on Bb triads while the low brass and reeds pile through E, F, G, and Ab to meet at Bb. This tri-tone conflict foreshadows a creepy, jagged tune that now appears in the low reeds, euphonium and tuba, and string bass [Ex. 5, mm. 124-132 recto]. (If Tim Burton is looking for the score for his next movie, here it is.)
FRENETICO
the rhythmic material from the very first measure of the piece–originally in the tympani and xylophone–returns in stretto, strewn about the band to snap us out of legato melody and back to the previous staccato melodic material. At m. 183, the tune appears in the piccolo, flutes, oboes, and xylophone, countered with an ostinato of opposing rhythms in the horns and piccolo snare drum. The same tune is extended in a rendition in the clarinets and xylophone, with the ostinato in the saxophones and maracas (m. 188).
Dickey - Music Examples for Eidson Frenetico
An ascending line of stabby eighth notes roller coasters from the very bottom to the very top of the band in just three measures, reaching a second highly climactic point at m. 198. Here, C Major and Gb Major duke it out in big sustained fortissimo chords heretofore unheard in Frenetico, along with some swashbuck-
A chromatic transition that appeared in the trombones and euphonium at m. 77 appears in diminution in m. 132, as four measures later the trumpets join in contrary motion. Pedal tones in the bass instruments add tension, as maracas eerily punctuate (in a part that requires independence of hands). A second version of the creepy, jagged tune from m. 124 appears in the upper woodwinds and xylophone at m. 141.
“The
Back in Ab Major at m. 155, the pace of the conversation tightens as a more legato melody with a more optimistic intervallic set appears in the horn and euphonium, and is then taken by the tenor saxophone and solo trumpet at m. 161. A third rendition sounds in the piccolo, flutes, and oboes at m. 172, with an augmented outline of the tune in the bells, and this time with the addition of a very nice contrapuntal line in the clarinets and saxophones [Ex. 6, mm. 172-178, recto]. Beginning at m. 178
ling chromatic contrary motion. The kerfuffle ends in a welcome compromise, in Eb Major at m. 204, where the original rhythmic fanfare material is re-set, and then punched up a bit by accompanying light hemiola eighth notes.
Familiar but always evolving staccato melodic material returns, first as a solo trumpet line at m. 208, and then in the flutes, oboes, and xylophone at m. 214.
An energetic interlude of stretto alternates between fanfare rhythms and chromatic bits (m. 221), and then the jagged, creepy tune from m. 124 makes a comeback, this time in the clarinets and alto saxophones (m. 234). At m. 240 the bass instruments get their crack at a form of the tune, temporally augmented, and including the now familiar raised fourth and chromatic alterations.
At m. 254, the horn rip from m. 55 returns, this time extended and more sparsely accompanied by open F’s and C’s
Dickey - Music Examples for Eidson Frenetico
measure-by-measure as a crescendo drives into the higher instruments walloping out the fanfare rhythms, while the
in the baritone and bass instruments. Be sure to have your players put a little space between these low syncopated gestures so that articulations are audible. The trumpets pick up a melody first dropped by the horns in m. 155, more marcato this time, and the piccolo, flutes, oboes, and xylophone take it over at m. 264, accompanied now by repetitive martial down beats in the low reeds, brass, and tympani. A transition of woodwinds, xylophone and triangle utilizing fanfare rhythms escalates in harmonic energy from Eb Major to F Major to Gb Major at which point a euphonium solo enters (m. 276), very similar
“If Tim Burton is looking for the score for his next movie, here it is.”
bass instruments wallow in low Bb’s and F’s (m. 288). While these players wale away in glorious Bb Major (spoiler alert: this is the key the piece ends in), the horn rip of m. 55 returns (m. 293) and moves the harmony to the this-is-not-the-dominant Gb Major (m. 296). So much for the V-I relationship; this variation on it is shockingly fresh!
Dickey - Music Examples for Eidson Frenetico
Four measures later, the fanfarish waling on Bb Major returns, and remains steadfast to the end but for the pesky e minor (tri-tone) chord set over the Bb in mm. 306-309. The saxophones and horns glissando exuberantly from Bb to
to the melody first heard in m. 64, and previously in the euphonium solo at m. 83. Here, it is first accompanied by sighing clarinets and syncopated horns, and then by syncopated saxophones as lighter textures prevail for a bit, and as the harmony shifts upward another step to Ab Major. Ratcheting up through all of these keys signals that we are going to land on one of them and make an ending worthy of Frenetico, one not unlike the coda of your favorite Beethoven symphony–but with tri-tones! A brief episode in Ab Major borrows a familiar motive of eighth notes played by upper woodwinds (m. 284), a motive that literally shrinks
the octave above to reassure us we are home, but just in case the piece hasn’t been frenetic enough for you Eidson cycles at the rate of one beat per chord from Bb Major to Eb, C, Ab, and Db in mm. 314-315 before returning to Bb for the final five measures.
Even so, the raised fourth appears one last time, melodically, in a powerful ascending line of quarter notes in the trumpets. The final Bb Major tutti eighth note dissipates away as a simultaneous strike of the tam-tam rings on. Frenetically!
See score excerpts on page 47
Bass Cl. Bsns.
Ten. Sax. Bari. Sax.
Euph. Tuba
Str. Bs.
PRESENTING
Third Prize Winner (Tie) of the Third Intentional Frank Ticheli Composition Contest Category 2: Concert Band Music Grade 3 - 4.5
BENJAMIN DEAN TAYLOR BENJAMIN DEAN TAYLOR
Third Prize Winner of the 3rd International Frank Ticheli Composition Contest
(USA)
WHIZ-BANG WHIZWHIZ-BANG WHIZ-
by ALAN LOURENS
BENJAMIN DEAN TAYLOR BENJAMIN DEAN TAYLOR
Fire and light. Taylor says that when he was first approached about the work he was awked for “…. a ‘short, flashy, whizbang opener.’” Taylor continues: “From this prompt, I decided to draw influence from fireworks; specifically the large, professional kind that fly high in the sky and explode in a variety of dazzling colors and shapes. This musical structure of this work follows the procedure of striking a match, waiting for the fuze to burn, seeing the ‘whiz’ of the fireworks launch upward, experiencing the sudden explosions of color, hearing the thunderous ‘bang’ of the grand finale, and lastly, seeing the wispy sparks falling slowly to the ground.”
The work is strong on rhythm, and in using the ensemble in batteries of color. As you would expect from a work modeled after
fireworks, there is drama, affect, and moments of quiet between charges.
MUSIC
BEACH MUSIC CONCERT BAND CONCERT BAND
The development of fireworks shows is itself a fine art. Shows need to pace themselves, to have moments of climax and order, even as explosions are being corralled into a controlled event. Taylor has similarly gathering a series of dramatic events into this composition.
The opening idea is one of displaced and driving rhythm, presented in the upper woodwinds, and tuned and untuned percussion. The chord is a cluster, including as it does E Flat, F, G Flat, G#, A and C# [Ex. 1].
The nature of the rhythm is to hide the bar line; but in contrast to the quick and changing nature of the rhythm, Taylor keeps the harmony relatively stable, changing the chords only every few bars. Thus we have the juxtaposition between the slow change of color, and the quick change of rhythm. The effect is to see the sparkling points of light exploding through the ensemble, reaching a climax, for this section, with an entry by the brass
Benjamin Dean Taylor
Photo by Christine Brandel
Bar
in before bar 20.
This entry is dramatic - cluster chord with numbers dissonance; in the Trombones F against E flat and G Flat, in the horns a tone, and in the trumpets a diminished octave [Ex. 2].
In the next episode, starting at m. 22, the rhythm becomes more constant, with a repetitive sixteenth note idea in the upper woodwinds providing the glue to hold all together. Taylor layers in pointillistic entries in the brass, starting with trumpets, then horns and eventually trombones in a similar, though much more dynamically shaped sixteenth-note passages, all in short interjections. The saxes (including Soprano sax), enter with a quieter injection - initially falling on the beat, and then gaining increasing complexity and heading into a “tongue slap” articulation in 35 [See Ex 3].
DEAN TAYLOR
WHIZ-BANG WHIZ-BANG WHIZWHIZ-BANG WHIZ-BANG WHIZ-
slowly hamonically, even as the rhythm drives us forward.
This builds to a climax at 57, with the memorable note for the two percussions playing suspended cymbals, (complete with explanation marks) “cymbals should bury the entire band!”
At 64 we begin a new episode with a sweeping upward inflection. There is no better way to envision this that with an image of the composer’s original score (it is in C; the published score is transposed). [See Ex. 4, overleaf.] The upward sweep of both the pitch and the timbre is quite evident in this almost “onomatopoeia” version of the score.
This is an idea that finds an echo from the horns. Taylor lays in increasing complexity, finally adding Tuba in it’s very bottom register at , whilst simultaneously adding an upward sweep in the Euphonium Baritone Saxophone and Bassoons that will become the basis for the next episode. Before that arrives, however, Taylor reminds us of the insistent rhythm by returning it in the low brass. Repeated sixteenth notes in the flutes, and complex though rhythms in the bass, both moving very
Lest we believe that this score will be relentlessly loud, Taylor produces some wonderfully interact, driven yet soft sounds in this episode, feature the Tuned percussion and upper woodwind, before returning us to a trio of Flute, Clarinet and Horn giving us their versions of the opening idea, now transformed into 3/4 time [Ex. 5].
Again this grows, in the woodwinds, adding complexity and multi-metre to keep the listener unsettled for the
Bar 22, Soprano and Alto Saxophone
unfolding light show, before the low brass finally add a note of stability at 134, with the woodwinds unsettled above sixteenth sextuplets in the flutes, trills in the oboes and tremolo in the clarinets, all creating instability against the long sounds in the low brass, and all roaring at fortissimo
Just as quickly the show winds down, collapsing onto a single
line of sand blocks, and a tremendous bass drum at the close that will have the percussionists salivating.
The work is about 4 minutes of intensity, flashes and color and movement. Taylor has composed a work that pops and fizzles, asking much of the musicians. Rhythmic assurance and complex unisons abound, but the effect is to create a
CONCERT BAND CONCERT BAND
of 64 offers a more deft hand.
BENJAMIN DEAN TAYLOR BANG BANG
blaze of colours. Like any fireworks display it has a range of noise, and much of the work is “in your face”. However the beauty of this work lies in the subtle touches that abound. The percussion can be a battery, or a broad sweep of sounds that match the colors of the band. There are solos at pianissimo to complement the hectic brashness of the loud sections. For a work depicting fireworks, much of piece sees the brass playing a secondary role to the beautiful palette of the woodwinds, with streams of notes from the woodwinds.
Harmonically too, the work has some brutal cluster chords. But light touches abound, and the wonderful upward sweep
This music is as it title may suggest a brash opener. However it is so much more. It offers the ensemble a work that is both brash and reflective, inward and outward. Like a good fireworks show it paces itself, offering up both shattering explosions and wonderful moments to reflect and say “ahhhh.”
Moreover, as the concert opener it was designed to be, the work offers us an alternative. Confident, strong and in many ways brash, it also offers subtlety. As well as the flash of beautiful colors, it gives us the muted pastels and shades that will grab your interest and hold it. In a world in which the subtle is often missed, Whiz-Bang offers us both sides of the coin. It’s a wonderful challenge to the musicians, and another outstanding addition to the works dedicated to fire and light.
MUSIC
BEACH
MANHATTAN
MANHATTAN BEACH MUSIC
DEAN
First Prize Winner
The Third International Frank Ticheli Composition Contest Category 1 Concert Band Music Grade 1 - 2.5
Ivan Božičević (Croatia) SPIRALING
by ALAN LOURENS
Ivan Božičević’s Spiraling brings an Eastern European sensibility to concert band in this Tarantella for band. The dance rhythms defy the audience to sit still, whilst the gently rocking harmonies owe something to the folk-like nature of the work.
Written in 12/8 throughout, the compound rhythm, emphasised in the opening bars by the composer, are what make this work feel like a Mediterranean dance. The main theme, presented in the clarinets, immediately lifts us through the medium of accents and rests at the beginning of each of the phrases, and is immediately followed by a flute answer [Ex. 1].
5 and 6 above only every two bars, giving us a lovely sense of phrase. Each phrase is formed from the main tune, and a consequent response, giving us well balanced 8 bar phrases that have line and direction. In any dance-like piece we would expect great repetition. The form here meets our expectations, with a a short and bright theme (16 bars at with the pulse at 130). It is the handling of these repetitions in which Božičević reveals his great craft.
Photo by Irma Sotirova
Harmonically, we start in a fairly solid F major, with the addition of the seventh (E). The second part of the theme moves us abruptly to A major. The third relationship (from F-A) is of course not uncommon in many styles of music, but is particularly prevalent in the folk styles of Europe. Those familiar with the Aegean Festival Dances of Andreas Makris would have heard similar twists in his mediterranean melodies. The abrupt change of chord lifts the melody, much as the rhythmic emphasis of the accents accentuate the downbeat.
Božičević keeps the rhythm constant in the the percussion (Bass Drum and Snare), but scores the rhythmic figure in bars
As mentioned above, the first iteration of the melody is quite sparse: Clarinet 1 with long notes in the low brass and two bar responses in the saxes. The second iteration leads to a further harmonised version of all clarinets and added trumpets (though written at mp) to emphasize the beginning of each phrase. The flutes again add a codetta to the phrase.
The third iteration of the melody features the clarinet up an octave, and we now add rhythm through the tune. Before the fourth, Božičević riffs on the codetta theme at fortissimo, using it as a way back into the large statement of theme [Ex. 2].
Here at 47 we have a grand statement. The entire ensemble is involved. Shape has been added by the use of dynamics fortissimo in the first bar with a crescendo from mf in the second bar. It is as if the dancers have risen to a crescendo and throw themselves into the dance. By measure 55 the dancers
Ivan Božičević
tire again, and a gentle iteration of our main tune again emerges as we return to a more controlled dance.
Coming as they do in a short burst, Božičević is using the melodic material to provide a fascinating example of instrumentation and harmonic variation. The dancelike nature of the idea is maintained, but the composer gives us interest and variation through the codetta and use of accent and dynamics. It is a excellent example of a long single theme passage that is interesting and well developed. (Another example of the lie that interesting music needs much melodic material; the best example of
Spiraling: Bar 11 (Transposed)
which is the first movement of Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5).
At measure 73, we finally get another theme [Ex. 3, overleaf]. Or do we? This second more expansive idea has already appeared a number times in the link passages and codettas of the main melody. So Božičević cleverly introduces to us as a new idea some material that is actually recycled from the transitions of previous phrases. This level of familiarity, allied with the remaining rhythmic imperative offered by the support in passages, gives the work a strong structure around which the listener can find a way into the work.
Ivan Božičević
Around measure 97 we arrive at the climax of the work. Built into by the rhythmic instance of the work, and a link between the main theme and our secondary idea, the work builds to no less than fff, and giant chord that final settles the insistent rhythm, at least for a few bars [Ex. 4, recto].
Returning to a quieter statement, the work leads back to the first theme in a gentler, though still very rhythmic coda, leading to a relaxed close. This work is a terrific piece for band. Included in the score are parts for Flugel Horn and Soprano Sax, and the percussion parts are insis-
Spiraling: Bar 73 (Transposed) Ex. 3
tent but not overly demanding. Spiraling requires great rhythm to carry that dance forward, but Božičević has also used many differential dynamics to create great color. Works of this nature can descend very quickly into bombast, but this work, notwithstanding an impressive climax, is much more restrained. Though folk-like and modal, there is a great deal of elegance with the writing for this work.
Spiraling will offer great return on effort. It is colorful and rhythmical; it is tonal and melodic; but above all it is well constructed and an excellent example of original and inspiring music.
Ivan Božičević
SECOND
THE THIRD INTERNATIONAL FRANK TICHELI COMPOSITION CONTEST
CATEGORY 1: CONCERT BAND MUSIC GRADE 1 - 2.5
CAMERON’S DREAM JONI GREENE (USA)
by JEFFREY D. GERSHMAN
Since the composition of her first band piece in 2007, the award-winning Moonscape Awakening, Joni Greene has established herself as one of the most compelling composers writing for band today. While the majority of her past works have been composed for advanced ensembles, this new piece demonstrates Greene’s interest in composing for developing bands. Written at a very approachable Grade 3 level of difficulty, Cameron’s Dream has significantly less technical and metric demands, but retains all of the hallmarks of Greene’s signature harmonic language and colorful orchestration.
Inspired by the innocence and imagination of her young son, Cameron, Greene sought to compose a piece that captured the playfulness and adventure of her son’s imagination, in particular, his love of pirates. Using that as a musical impetus, she envisioned the types of dreams her son might have of a pirate’s adventures, and then created a gentle, evocative soundtrack for those dreams.
interludes serve as the formal framework for the three-minute piece.
Sailing to Dreamland
JONI GREENE
Photo by David Neuse
Subtitled “Interludes for Concert Band,” Greene, in her own words, draws “from the practice of intermedi or interludes of the late 16th century…[which introduced] various themes and styles presented in between the acts of a play.” The five
Sailing to Dreamland serves as the work’s introduction and represents the child as he begins to drift off to sleep. Its music creates a slow, gentle rocking motion in the Flute 1 and Clarinets 1 and 2, lightly punctuated by the Glockenspiel and Suspended Cymbal, which evoke a quiet music box-like texture. Measures 6-9 introduce a considerably faster tempo (quarter note=104) and serve as a transition, introducing fragments of what will be the main theme in Clarinet 1. When considering this opening material, carefully observe the dynamics to best achieve this rocking motion. When the Clarinet 3, Alto Saxophone 1, Horn, Trombone 1, and Vibraphone enter in measure 4, these players should inherit, but not overwhelm, the dynamic established by the Flute 1 and Clarinets 1 and 2. The key center of Bb Lydian is established in measure 10, as a full statement of the playful first theme is presented in Clarinet 1 [see Ex. 1]. The theme then slowly develops in call-and-response fashion in measures 16-25, as it is passed back and forth between the Oboe and Clarinets, Alto Saxophone 1, Trumpet 1, and the
Flutes. Evoking the rocking of a pirate ship, the passage gradually builds in texture and rhythmic intensity, leading to the piece’s first apex in measure 26. Throughout this section, the thematic material must always be clearly in the foreground and must maintain the jaunty style initially established by the Clarinet 1 in measure 10.
Gypsies vs. Pirates
This second section, Gypsies vs. Pirates, is the longest interlude of the piece and captures, in the composer’s mind, “the carefree feeling of childhood,” as the music evokes a playful battle between the pirates of the opening and some newly discovered gypsies. The pirates are represented initially through a restatement of the first theme, now harmonized in G minor, and stated by the full Clarinet section, the Alto Saxophones, and the Vibraphone in measures 26-29. Greene slightly develops the theme as it is passed first to the Flutes, Oboe, Clarinet 1, and Glockenspiel in measures 30-32, and then to the Tenor Saxophone, Horns, and Vibraphone in measures 33-34. The gypsies are suggested through the introduction of a Tambourine and open-fifth drones in the Trumpet 2, Horn, and the Low Brass, which move from G, F, Eb, and C. Measures 3539 conclude the first part of the interlude with a cascade of descending timbres that ultimately dissolve into tutti silence on beat 2 of measure 39. When approaching this material, focus on the accurate vertical alignment of the pirate melody, particularly between the winds and mallet instruments. Care should also be given to insure that the “gypsy” drones do not overshadow the melodic material above it. Finally, measures 3539 should create an effect of the music evaporating
into silence.
The second part of the interlude begins in measure 40 and features a return of the Tambourine and open-fifth drones as well as the addition of a new “gypsy” theme, initially stated in full by the Alto Saxophone 1, and doubled by a composite of Trumpet 1, Horns, and Trombone 1 [Ex. 2]. This new theme is interrupted by the Flutes, Oboe, Clarinet 1, Glockenspiel, and Vibraphone in measure 44, as they quietly interject a short passage of new instrumental timbre that evokes the rocking motion of the introduction. Following this interruption, the theme returns in measure 48 with Flute 1, before building quickly to the work’s second apex in measure 54, achieved through the addition of the full brass section. The interlude concludes with transitional material based on the “gypsy” theme as it is passed initially from a solo trio of Flute 1, Clarinet 1, and Alto Saxophone 1 to the full Clarinet section, and finally to the Flutes and Oboe. In approaching this second part of Gypsies vs. Pirates, make sure to create an effective arrival in measure 54, as the piece moves from its most transparent scoring in measures 44-46 to its fullest texture in the span of only 10 measures. In addition, address the intonation in the solo trio octaves in measures 56-58 and the unison Flute and Oboe writing in measures 65-68. Strive to insure the accurate alignment of the composite ascending arpeggios in measures 63-66, divided among the Bass Clarinet, Bassoon, Alto Saxophone 1, Tenor Saxophone, Horn, Low Brass, and Vibraphone. Particularly challenging will be the pickup entrances in the Bass Clarinet and Tuba. It is recommended that the players think of the first note
CAMERON’S DREAM JONI GREENE
as a pickup into the following measure and that, perhaps as a transitional step, the tie be temporarily removed to better help the players internalize the entrance.
Man Overboard
Man Overboard, the work’s third interlude, was inspired by her son’s particular love of the Peter Pan adventures. In this section, Greene creates a funeral march for “one of the pirates walking the plank as his comrades stand by, heads bowed lamenting his fate.” The section’s somber mood is created through a slower tempo (now dotted quarter note=82) and dirge-like ostinato in G minor, which begins in measure 69 and utilizes a composite of the Horn, Trombones, Euphonium, and Tuba. [Ex. 3.] To establish the appropriate style, the Tuba and Bass Drum (which often fills in the Tuba’s rests) should play with equal weight on each note. As the Trombone 2 and Euphonium and the Horns and Trombone 1 alternate, each should strive to play with the exact same style and dynamics to achieve the effect of a consistent ostinato of subtly changing timbres. The addition of the Chimes and Vibraphone add to the timbral soundscape and should be reminiscent of a Ship’s Bell. The principal melody of the section is presented in call and response fashion, beginning with the Flutes, Oboe, and Clarinet 1 in measures 72-76, before
3 Ex. 4
moving to the Clarinets 2 and 3, Bass Clarinet, and Bassoon in measures 76-80. After a short fragment reminiscent of the earlier “gypsy” theme is stated in the Flutes in measures 8081, Greene creates a transition that moves from the lowest to the highest tessituras in the ensemble in order to achieve the piece’s final, and loudest, apex in measure 89. When rehearsing this section, care should be taken to insure that the call and response melody of measures 72-80 is always in the foreground, while still maintaining good vertical alignment with the dirge-like accompaniment below it. Additionally, it should be noted that the response portion of the melody is a half dynamic lower (mezzo piano) than the mezzo forte call that precedes it. Finally, all dynamics and articulation markings must be very carefully observed during measures 82-89 so that the subtle timbral and register shifts may be heard during this extended ensemble crescendo.
Heroic Measures
The piece reaches its narrative culmination in the fourth interlude, Heroic Measures, as the “man overboard” is rescued, having been pulled from the water just before meeting his demise. After the section opens with two strong cadences in F major in measures 89-93, thematic material derived from the work’s opening melody is introduced by the Flutes, Oboes, and Clarinet 1. [Ex. 4.] Greene then interweaves motives of this theme in kaleidoscopic fashion, fragmenting the melody between the Flutes, Oboe, Clarinets 1 and 2, Bass Clarinet,
Ex.
Alto Saxophone 1, Trumpets 1 and 2, and Euphonium. The interlude concludes with a short transition in measures 109110, which marks a return to the calmer, more dreamlike music of the introduction. To better create the heroic character of the music, strive to make sure that measures 89-92 remain full and lush, reinforcing that there should be no dynamic decay on the dotted quarter notes. It is also important that the return of the opening thematic material be clearly heard, which can be easily achieved by strictly following the independent dynamics that Greene has indicated in the individual parts. When considering the fragmentation of theme in measures 101-108, strive to make the composite melody sound seamless by insuring that the speed of the eighth notes remain consistent and that each part performs at the same mezzo piano (and then later, mezzo forte) dynamic.
Teddy’s Lullaby
In the final interlude of the piece, Teddy’s Lullaby, the child reminisces about his adventures, as his dream slips away and his imagination begins to quiet. Greene achieves this musically by reintroducing fragments from throughout the piece. The section begins in measure 111 with a return to the earlier tempo of dotted quarter note=104. A calm, reflective mood is established by arpeggiated Eb major chords in the Bass Clarinet, Bassoon, Saxophones, Horns, Trombones, Euphonium, and Tuba. As the chords continue, Greene modulates though several key areas as she begins to revisit previous material. In measure 113, the Flutes and Oboe restate music first heard in measures 6-7, which is followed by the Flute 1, Clarinet 1, and Trumpet 1 presenting material loosely based on measures 33-34. In measure 117, the music moves to Db major, as Oboe and Clarinets reference material from 84-85. The earlier “gypsy” music of measures 65-68 then returns in the Flutes, Oboe, Clarinets, Trombone 1, and Euphonium. As the work shifts to Ab major in measure 125, the fragments begin to grow shorter, first with the Alto Saxophone 2 and Horns reintroducing material from measures 59-60 and then, finally, with the Flutes, Oboe, Clarinet 1, and Trumpets returning to the music of measures 6-9. In measure 132, the piece reestablishes its original key, Bb Lydian, as the
Clarinet 1 revisits its own dreamlike material presented in measure 10. Cameron’s Dream concludes with a slowing of the tempo to dotted quarter note=144, as the Vibraphone and Glockenspiel play dissipating fragments of the previous Clarinet melody.
Throughout this final section, Greene uses harmony as a developmental tool, with pyramid-like additive chords adding textural depth and timbral warmth as a contrast to the more active melodic material. Because of this, great care should be shown in balancing this shifting melodic material so that it can always clearly be heard. The arpeggiated chords in measures 111126 must always remain in the background after their initial mezzo piano statement. The players presenting the melodic fragments should always try to recreate the style in which the music was initially presented earlier in the piece. From measure 132 to the conclusion, the vertical alignment must be accurate between the winds and mallet instruments, especially during the molto ritard in the final four measures. In order to create the music box effect intended during this section, insist that the Glockenspiel and Vibraphone play at their indicated dynamics so that the balance will be equal. Finally, it is important to note that the last Glockenspiel note be played five beats after the downbeat of the last measure. In order to achieve the intended effect of adding a very slight shimmer to the final chord, the player must inherit the dynamic produced at the end of the decrescendo in the Clarinets, Bass Clarinet, Alto Saxophone 1, Trombones, Euphonium, Tuba, and Vibraphone.
Joni Greene’s Cameron’s Dream is an important new addition to the Grade 3 repertoire. Skillfully crafted and beautifully orchestrated, her self-described “whimsical fantasy for young players to express” offers a chance to expose students to a high level of instrumental independence and a sophisticated harmonic palette, all while creating a vivid musical soundtrack that will appeal to their own sense of imagination.
GAM E TIME
CO N C E R T B A ND
ANDR E W M ELTON (PERÚ)
by GREGORY B. RUDGERS
Game Time by Andrew Melton is a clever and quirky work for Grade 2 band which will capture the imaginative interest of both performers and audiences. Young players will be especially enchanted in that the piece comes very close to the type of music that is so prevalent in computer games and social media. The work provides the oppor tunity to demonstrate to young musicians that music for band is not always as they have heard and experienced. This is an orig inal departure from much of the literature for this level.
Instrumentation is for a traditional Grade 2 work for band. One part each for Flute, Oboe, Bassoon, Bass Clarinet, Alto Sax ophone, Tenor Saxophone, Baritone Sax ophone, French Horn, Trombone, Euphonium and Tuba. Trumpets and Clarinets are divided into first and second parts. There are fully 11 difference percussion parts here, all interestingly scored and an integral part of the work. Andrew Melton employs Timpani, Bells, Claves, Snare Drum, Triangle, Bass Drum, Suspended Cymbal, Tambourine, Xylophone and optional piano. Percussionists will not be chal-
lenged technically with difficult passages, all of the parts are quite approachable. Still, there will have to be some very careful and attentive counting for these simple figures, as they are not what many of the players might have encountered before. There are many instances where figures begin on the “and” of the beat and there are times when the entire section becomes nearly pointillistic with brief fragments of rhythm.
All wind parts are technically available to young players, though the rhythms, while simple and completely understandable, will require some independence from the players. Ranges are well with the abilities of the average Grade 2 Band.
The piece begins with a brief introduction that foreshadows many of the elements, both rhythmic and melodic, that will be fully developed in the body of the work. This clever device allows the director to show how small musical ideas can be developed into larger ideas, a concept that is never to early to introduce.
The introduction is then followed by an A section that passes
a principal figure from section to section in the band both in part and as a whole, as seen in the full score rehearsal no. 25 [see Ex. 1].
Contemporary harmonies then accompany lyrical B section, which, while being legato and tuneful, still maintains the idea of passing musical ideas around the band from one instrumentation to another [see Ex. 2, mm. 35-39].
The piece then proceeds to alternate back and forth between the A and B sections much as the melodies and rhythms alternate from section to section within A and B. This clever and quite sophisticated demonstration of unity within a Grade 2 work for band is intriguing to say the least. While it might be difficult to explain and demonstrate to a young band, the players will definitely have an intuitive response to the interweaving of ideas.
GAM E TIME GAM E TIME
The development that ensues in which Melton declares the two principal ideas in fragmented form is a delightful exploration into all of the possibilities that the two themes offer. It maintains a high level of energy and it will be important for the band to maintain an active and urgent sense of pulse as the fragments chase each other around the score and the band.
The various transitions that link the sections of this work are logical and musically interesting in themselves and keep the momentum going throughout
with rhythms that are closely related to the other more weighty elements. There is one thing for certain. Bands that study and perform this work will develop keen abilities to understand and perform melodic fragments that do not begin on the beat. The primary motive for much of the work, and the one that will stay in the ears and minds of the young players is both catchy and energetic [see Ex. 3, at left, mm 34-35].
This rhythm appears as a frequent unifying element throughout the work. One can easily imagine that this work will become a favorite of any young band that accepts the challenge to learn and perform it.
First Prize Winner
Category Three: Concert Band Music Grade 5-6
The Third International Frank Ticheli Composition Contest
Catclaw Mimosa BEN HJERTMANN (USA)
by ALAN LOURENS
In the life of a reviewer, as in any role, there are easy days and more difficult days. Ben Hjertmann, in Catclaw Mimosa seems determined to make a reviewer work. This highly original work, his first for band, is not easy to pigeonhole. On the one hand it is semi-tonal and motivic; on the other very pointillistic and well scored. It is complex and requires great musicians, but also groovy and funky.
Hjertmann uses the full range of the colors of the band, including a few advanced techniques, to present a work that uses a language not often heard amongst works for winds. It is quite possible to see the pedigree from the masterworks from the Pulitzer Prize winning composer Joseph Schwantner, though far more overtly rhythmic.
The work is bound together by the percussion, and specifically the drum kit. The feeling is of a disembodied “funk” beat, a deconstructed version of popular music. The driving rhythm of the kit is offset by dissonant interjections. The lower pedal points build the tension, and their changes (the first change of pitch is bar 7) come as a minor shock, giving the work its forward momentum and providing a kind of tonal centre for the work.
Photo by Jamille Wallick
This is a work that sprouts from a kernel planted in the second bar in the woodwinds and saxes. and is answered in the same bar by the low brass and woodwind, in an almost honking fashion [Ex 1].
This two note cluster, two sets of rising semi-tones scored a tone apart, will become the motive upon which this work is based. They appear never more than 6 beats apart in the first 15 bars, and thereafter at regular intervals in the first section.
Even in this, Hjertmann keeps us off balance the pitch moves from A Flat to D, the dreaded “devil in music” of a tritone, before moving straight back to A flat. In metre too, we are kept somewhat off balance. The addition of a kit should give the impression of a regular rhythm a “groove” into which we can all sit. Instead we are offered a continuously variable landscape moving from our opening “groove” of 3/4 through 2/4 and 4/4, with the occasional hop of a 3/8 bar of keep us from regaining our balance too quickly.
These interjections are spread across the range of the ensemble. Openeing in woodwind and low brass, we soon have in-
BEN HJERTMANN
teractions, never more than a few beats long, from the Upper Brass, some notes in the double reeds, until 17 when the flutes enter. By that point all instruments have spoken.
Of particular interest is the Percussion writing. As well as the Drum Set, Hjertmann offers us complex tuned per-
The development of this motif is the reason for the work. In his program notes, Hjertmann writes “the piece shares its name with an invasive species of shrub which has infested areas in American Southwest. It is mostly spiky but deceptively beautiful in parts. In approaching such a large ensemble, I decided to begin with a small amount
cussion parts for Marimba and Vibraphone, and strong (and rhythmically challenging) Timpani parts. Later we will hear Tubular Bells and Crotales.
In bar 35, the rollicking is interrupted. A long and flowing, and for two bars at least unaccompanied oboe solo gives us a sudden change [Ex. 2]. Even here, though, Hjertman keeps us on our toes, with off balance interjections from the low WW that grow across the ensemble, nor can we escape the rising motif, as it appears in the 3/8 bar.
The motif now starts to grow, becoming first a repeated figure and within a few bars a kind of insistent groove figure.
of material. The piece begins with short groove slowly expanding outward.”
The motif does indeed grow and begin to consume the work. By measure 85 the new larger version of the theme is appearing in almost every bar. Perhaps because the motif is now larger, the time signature is also settling into larger patterns: 4/4 and 3/4 rather than the previously seen 3/8 and other asymmetrical time signatures [see Ex. 3, “motivic development,” overleaf].
At 82, the work is almost weeping, We have ascending glissandi in the saxes, and a return to a rhythmically complex environment: 9/16, 2/4, 3/8, 2/4, 3/4 that keeps the music unbalanced [Ex. 4, overleaf].
Catsclaw Mimosa: Bar 36 (Transposed) Ex. 2
By 93 the expanded theme has returned, though before this we get the harmonic version in the closed tones.
The increasing prevalence of the theme becomes quite insistent. In the words of Hjertmann “…like the invasive species, the motives in my piece begin as tiny seed-motives, interjected in the texture. Slowly they accrue and multiply until the ensemble is overtaken and forced into a sort of temporal wasteland.”
So the structure of the work, driven my motivic development, grows around ideas that are presented at the beginning and that, by the end of the work, come to dominate the landscape.
Hjertmann’s work is united by its rhythmic drive. The only real constant is a kid of off-kilter dance, mov-
Ex. 4
of ideas, and in this we see constant growth.
There is in this work a unique kernel of color and rhythm. Hjertmann offers a score that will take some assembling. Most instruments are asked to play in extreme registers and in a few extended techniques. It is rhythmically dense and the management of the time will take some effort for the conductor. It does, however, offer a new voice in the band world. Confident and self assured, the work does ask us to engage with dissonance, while supporting us with a flowing structure and excellent color. There are very few tutti sections; players must stand confidently on their own. That color, however, is what makes the work
ing through the work in a disjunct manner, but nevertheless always moving. His motivic development is clear. And while it is possible to assign a kind of episodic structure to the work, it is more helpful to define the structure in terms of the flow
worth performing. As a step towards complex music it is an excellent tool. But as a work that stands on its own, Catclaw Mimosa is an outstanding example of music that will both challenge and reward us.
Bar 50, Saxes (B Flat Pitch)
Brass, Bar 70 (B Flat pitch)
Horns, Bar 75 (F pitch)
Catslaw Mimosa: Motivic Development
Catslaw Mimosa: Bars 82-84 (Transposed)
Catclaw Mimosa
Ben Hjertmann
Second Prize Winner of the 3rd International Frank Ticheli Composition Contest
Category 3: Concert Band Music Grade 5 - 6
Reflections On The Death of The Beloved Matthew Peterson
Expressing the Inexpressible
Music is at its best when it deals with the human condition. Life, love, and indeed death. Beethoven scrubbing Napoleon’s name from his Third Symphony; Elgar’s melancholic Cello Concerto, or Berlioz’s epic Symphonie Fantasise all focus on the great matters of life, love and death. It is the ability of music to “express the inexpressible” that makes it, well, music.
Peterson’s Reflections on the Death of the Beloved wears its emotions on its sleeves. The work is atmospheric and bold. It requires both a large and good ensemble. In addition to a standard instrumentation, the work requires English Horn, Eb Soprano Clarinet, 4 trombones, Contra-alto and Contrabass clarinets, Contrabassoon, Harp, Piano and Celesta, Timpani and five very busy percussionists.
by ALAN LOURENS
carefully, then musicians will rejoice in the rests to be found in this work. It is the use of space in this work that makes it so effective. Peterson writes for an extended ensemble in order to explore a wide range of timbres and combinations, and is not afraid to rest players for extended periods if those colors don’t suit the palette. In such conscious selection, Peterson hits the mark.
MATTHEW PETERSON
Throughout, it is the scoring that creates much of the drama of the work. From the opening flourish to the closing silence, Peterson chooses his colors carefully. Almost all the principal players in the ensemble will find themselves with both solos and challenging passages.
If it is the hallmark of a gifted composer to chose their colors
Eriksson
Peterson’s engagement with his subject began when he was planning the work. Peterson states:
“Reflections on the Death of the Beloved is dedicated to six young people who died before their time. They were lost to accidents, crime, disease, and war. Two passed immediately after work on this piece began.”
The work opens with a dramatic ascending chord, starting in the bass drum and climbing through the whole ensemble to the end of the bar. It’s hard to transcribe into a single example, but here is an outline [see Ex. 1].
It’s a dramatic opening that has parallels to Schwanter’s masterwork And the Mountains Rising Nowhere. As an expression of grief it is dramatic and visceral. It comes out of silence and
Photo credit 2016 Peter
goes back into silence with a 15 second bar of nothing. Or at least, of decay, for Peterson gives us the held note in the percussion, and a change of speed of the vibraphone motor that is haunting and effective. It is a memory disappearing slowly into the color, with the vibration speeding up even as the sound dies away.
In each case the chords settle into beautiful, yet fleeting sounds, moving quickly onto the next chord and layering in more parts trombones, horns, trumpets wonderful rich, dark brass colors, never quite settling down, always moving away from beauty, like memories not quite recovered, or fleeting glimpses of what was or may have been [Ex. 2, below, left].
This idea of growth continues for more than 40 bars until m.39 (molto rall.), where it finally reaches its zenith when the WW join the brass for a mighty D minor chord marked sfffz. The answer comes in the form of percussion an almost chaotic sound of sixes, fives and fours [Ex.3, bottom, left].
The section following this opening is marked, lamentoso, and opens with beautiful and evocative low brass chords. Staggering the entries, Peterson builds through suspensions 4-part chords with split tuba and euphonium parts.
After the unsettled calm of the opening, we are led into a far more fraught section of the work. The harp and piano (marked cold and clear) lead us to an atonal oboe solo, accompanied by soft and gentle percussion. At rehearsal no. 65, the flute enters in solo (espressivo) with reassuringly tonal open fifths in the horns and trombones, which immediately glissando down. These beautiful oboe and flute solos slowly deconstruct into gentling, sobbing gesture of a rising seventh and a falling semitone or tone.
Following solos from the Tuba and Contrabassoon, the next section is far more angry. Filled with short sharp injections, moving between duplets, triplets, sixteenth notes and sixes, the underlying beat (120), gains energy until at m. 94 we have another climbing, angular theme rising to a an emphatic brass statement to silence [Ex. 4, overleaf].
As the work carries
through the feelings surrounding death, grief, denial, acceptance and of course remembrance, it alternates sections of great beauty with sections of great drama. The percussion have much to do here, from bell, and bell-like sounds (such as cymbals), to the throb of a heartbeat, to dramatic climaxes, the percussion are in the forefront.
There is much beauty here too a gorgeous Cor Anglais solo is followed by flute, and soprano and alto saxophone solos. Even here, as Peterson establishes beauty, he slowly (and in some case swiftly) deconstructs the the beauty into biting harmonies. It is the drama in this work that keeps returning, later becoming asymmetrical metre (7/8), frequently changing multi-metre and high climaxes.
And there are choices to be made for the conductor. Bars 215 and 276 are repeated. In his note on the score, Peterson says “the conductor should follow the indicated minimum repetitions and consider the energy of the immediate musical moment to determine the amount of repetitions, which may vary according to each performance.”
part harmony, the voices section (at m. 277) adds a very personal effect to the work, which winds down over the next 20 bars to a quiet and ultimately unresolved silence.
As attributed to Martin Mull (among others), “writing about music is like dancing about architecture. “ It is increasingly difficult to do so when faced with a long and profound work:
A series of episodes on an intensely personal subject, this is advanced music par excellence. Although it addresses the inevitability of death, it is of course written for the living. It exists to put into music feelings and thoughts that cannot be well expressed in words.
To do that, Matthew Peterson brings impressive skill. Refections on the Death of the Beloved demonstrates great technical ability. The score is alive with intelligent and well considered percussion writing. Compound colors abound, and the use of instrumental choirs within the voicing is impressive. The addition of the human voice at the close adds a personal element. Peterson has created a work that offers not just dark, and not just light. This is music in 3 dimensions, as art music should be.
In naming a work Reflections on the Death of the Beloved, a composer sets themselves a serious trap. The work is clearly profound, and must grab us emotionally.
The wooodwinds down from rehearsal m. 271 onwards, and the entire ensemble sings a lament. Noted in four
Peterson succeeds. He does indeed express the inexpressible and give voice to the unspeakable. For art, there can be no higher praise.
Reflections on The Death of The Beloved
Matthew Peterson CONCERT BAND
Manhattan Beach Music
Raising the Standards of the American Concert Band and Bands All Over the World.
Second Prize Winner
the 3rd International Frank Ticheli Composition Contest
ABOUT THE AUTHORS OF FEATURED ARTICLES IN THIS ISSUE OF MBM TIMES
DR. MARC R. DICKEY is Director of the School of Music and oversees the instrumental music teacher training program at California State University, Fullerton, where he has served on the faculty since 1988. He has conducted the CSU Fullerton Symphonic Winds for more than ten years. His research has been published in the Journal of Research in Music Education and the Bulletin of the Council for Research in Music Education. He was a member of a Music Subject Matter Advisory Panel to the Commission of Teacher Credentialing of the State of California, and has provided adjudication and clinics for bands and orchestras throughout the U.S. and Canada. He was one of the youngest conductors to be awarded the NBA’s Citation of Excellence.
DR. JEFFREY D. GERSHMAN is the Director of Wind Ensembles and an Associate Professor of Music at the Capital University Conservatory of Music. His responsibilities include conducting the Symphonic Winds, Wind Symphony, and teaching advanced conducting. His past positions include serving as the Associate Director of Bands at the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music, the Director of Instrumental Activities at Texas A&M University-Commerce, and the Co-Director of Instrumental Music at Monroe-Woodbury High School in Central Valley, New York. Dr. Gershman maintains an active guest conducting schedule with both professional ensembles and high school honor bands throughout the country. He has presented lectures at many state and national conventions and is in high demand as adjudicator, having judged band festivals throughout the United States as well as in Singapore and Australia. In addition, Dr. Gershman has published articles on repertoire, programming, and score study which have been hailed as “groundbreaking.” As an arranger, his transcriptions of works by Eric Whitacre, Frank Zappa, and John Corigliano have received critical acclaim, with performances at Carnegie Hall as well as regional and national conventions.
GREGORY B. RUDGERS the co-author with Frank Ticheli of the band methods, Making Music Matter, Books 1 and 2, published by Manhattan Beach Music, has enjoyed a 30 year career in public school music, and now serves on the adjunct faculty of Ithaca College in New York State in the music education department. He has written articles for The Instrumentalist, the Music Educator’s Journal, Teaching Music, and several state journals. He is also a published composer with works for band, wind ensemble, string orchestra, and chamber ensembles produced by several prominent publishers, the most recent of which from Manhattan Beach Music is Cosmos for Elementary band. He has enjoyed success as a clinician/guest conductor, having served in that capacity at both the public school and university levels for over one hundred festivals. He states that collaborating with Frank Ticheli on Making Music Matter ranks as the capstone of his musical career.
DR. ALAN LOURENS is Head of the School of Music at the University of Western Australia, where he directs the Orchestra, Wind Ensemble and Brass Ensemble, as well as teaching conducting, pedagogy and courses in music education. He has appears as a guest conductor for orchestras and bands throughout Asia, Australia and the US, and regularly performs internationally on Euphonium. Prof. Lourens holds a Doctorate in Conducting and Masters degree in Euphonium Performance from Indiana University, where he studied conducting with Ray E. Cramer and Euphonium with Daniel Perantoni, M. Dee Stewart and Harvey G. Phillips. He received a coveted Performers Certificate for the quality of his Masters recital. He has many articles, compositions and music publications to his credit, including analysis contributions to the Teaching Music Through Performance in Band series of books, recent contributions to the US-Based MBM Times. In 2010, he co-authored several books on the planning, policy and development of Universities.
Third Prize Winner
Category 3: Concert Band Music Grade 5 - 6
Jeffrey Hass (USA)
the 3rd International Frank Ticheli Composition Contest
All The Bells And Whistles
by ALAN LOURENS
Since the early part of the twentieth century, the music world has been questioning the nature of music and ensembles. Schoenberg’s serialism was a frontal assault on melody. John Cage in 4’ 33” questioned the boundaries of music. The band world has, however, been resistant to exploring the idea of what sounds can properly constitute a band.
In All the Bells and Whistles Jeffrey Hass explores the sonic palette of the concert band. The work is for band and digital sound, which adds a completely new voice to the ensemble, in a part that is both soloistic and completely organic to the work, in a work that is both fascinating and accessible. The score is accompanied by a soundtrack to be operated during the work; the soundtrack is played with the band, and sometimes as a solo.
Hass has provided a diagram of the soundtrack at the bottom of the score, be-
low the percussion. In it, he includes a kind of graphic notation of the sounds, and an annotation of the sounds you will hear [see Ex. 1, below].
by Sandra Jo Hass
In every other respect, the score is a standard work for band, with normal score order, with normally notated and transposed parts.
The opening feels quite pensive, with a pedal A Flat above which we have a simple theme presented in C in the trumpets, then echoed in the woodwinds. Hass immediately provides us with polytonality, the woodwind lines now presenting the same melody in D Flat [Ex. 2, recto].
Allowing the bottom A flat to represent a key, we effectively have three keys within the first few bars. However the skill of Hass is to combine this section into quite a soothing and calm
Photo
JEFFREY HASS
opening. Clearly the jarring nature of the keys is present, but the work has a sense of movement forward, rather than of a random “clump” on a keyboard. The resolution, when it comes with a great big B Flat in bar 11, is welcome, tempered though it is with dissonance in the Horns and Saxes.
the Bells and Whistles: Bar 33 (In C)
The digital soundtrack, entering at quarter-note equals 152, provides a driving and tonal release. So far Hass has reversed our expectations. It is the band that is dissonant and “weird” and the recording that is tonal. Here the sounds are metallic with piano, a series of sixteenth notes. Hass reverses the opening, with the woodwinds playing the melody first, now presented in dotted half notes [Ex. 3, above].
The polytonality is quite evident here, with dissonance abounding. Hass uses color to ensure that the dissonance does not overwhelm the listener. For example the top three parts above are on the flute, whilst the bass line is in the Sax/Bassoon/Bass Clarinet. This color helps to separate the half note clashes somewhat. All the time the
driving soundtrack keeps the work moving.
Several times during the work the soundtrack and percus sion share a solo. The percussion requirements are signifi cant, with Hass writing for 5 players, plus timpani. These solo episodes emphasize the rhythmic nature of the work. Hass has settled into a solid “groove” of simple time here, in three and four, as the rhythmic displacement above emphasizes It is the sixteenth note that has become the currency.
In bar 32, Hass offers the second idea, built upon the first. This is a kind of woodwind interjection, with skill and energy, in thirds, though still very polytonal. The syncopated rhythm gives this a witty almost impish mood [Ex. 4].
Underneath this theme, the recording bubbles away, ac companied for most of the time by the percussion. There are trumpet injections (three bars of them beginning at m. 37), and a very loud repeated triplet interjection (bar 42) before we return to the second theme. Hass plays with this theme, and builds clusters with descending or
Woodwind
ascending lines [Ex. 5].
Hass works his material in an interesting fashion, with much development in canon. All the way through the soundtrack keeps bubbling away, leading towards a climax with the winds parts adding sixteenth notes. The recording is designed to lead the listener, with a long ascending passage leading towards a series of climaxes around bar 120, in the middle of which the first part of the recording ends. The tempo stays constant, but the winds finally add some quarter notes, noisily, emphatically and disso-
Now, Hass develops the inner line from the original, stating it first in the trumpets and horns in another cascading cluster [Ex. 7].
This time it is the lower voices who answer the call, presenting a kind of walking bass line upon which Hass builds this work. This section assembles itself on many more blocks of sound, using sets of instruments to add color to the work. Whereas before we tended to hear the Woodwind or the Brass as a block together, in this section Hass uses the Saxes and Clarinets, or the Trombones as a group, to add layers to different iterations of the melodic material. This all leads us to a tremendous (fff) triplet figure at 227, and a
nantly restating our original theme before leading to the quiet middle section. An oboe and flute duet states our theme, now presented slowly and gently. Having lost the persistent sixteenth notes of the soundtrack, this simple statement has a surprisingly touching feel [Ex. 6].
loud and triumphant coda.
The coda finishes a work that has considerable elan and charm as well as muscle. Controlling a work focused, as is this one, on melodic material rather than harmonic structure does require time and energy. But it’s worth the energy, as All
The Bells and Whistles offers a different take on ideas about sound and music that are not in themselves new, but are rarely encountered by bands.
As conductors, we are well aware of the elements to which we can make considerable contribution: affect; structure; and especially tempo. It is frankly terrifying, and not a little revealing to give up control of tempo to a recording. The ability to stay precisely in time, and to take the ensemble with you, is more difficult than you may imagine. However this can create rewarding and exciting performance. The new color that is now possible makes this a
leap one worth taking.
The band world is inherently conservative. We don’t like to take chances and we don’t like to try experimental ideas. In the latter part of the twentieth century, a mere 50 years after the orchestral world, we have finally started to embrace dissonant repertoire as part of our mainstream output. In All The Bells and Whistles we have a champion for performance with digital sounds. It is mainstream enough to be exciting and interesting for an audience, yet it is innovative. It is an excellent work for your students to play; it is an outstanding work for your audience to hear. But most importantly, it is a work that has something compelling to say, and a new vocabulary with which to say it.
Trumpets
Making Music Matter
Frank Ticheli’s Beginning & Intermediate Band Methods, Making Music Matter, have just hit the stores. What has the superstar of concert band music come up with? Here is our interview of Frank Ticheli (who wrote the music) and Gregory B. Rudgers (who wrote the exercises and created the pedagogical sequence).
BY BOB MARGOLIS, DIRECTOR, MANHATTAN BEACH MUSIC
Margolis: When you first started to work on the method, were you determined to make your book different from what is out there?
Ticheli: Yes. Through the discussions I had with colleagues, especially in regard to how the book would begin, we were. Other books begin with these unison notes on a B-flat major scale, which allows the teacher to work with the kids in unison exercises, and there’s validity to that. But by doing that the instruments start on notes that are not the most natural notes for them. We went in another direction entirely.
Margolis: Did you and Greg select the “First 3 Notes” together?
Ticheli: We talked a lot about it together, and one of our field testers, Cindi Sobering — I remember she was talking about the flute — she said, “wouldn’t it be nice if you didn’t have the flute crossing the break on the first three notes?” since other books do that. And after addressing that Greg and I began talking about the other instruments. For example, why not have the saxes just play only left-hand fingerings at the beginning? And then, why not have the horns play in a register where they can actually hear those partials, instead of playing the same notes as the trumpets (which puts the horns so high they can’t find the notes). So, through discussion it gradually evolved into the note choices that we made. The question we always asked was, “what would be the most natural notes for the instrument?”
Thre were other considerations.We could have gone to just left-handed fingerings on the flute. That would have been B, A, and G — but B-natural is just too far away from what a beginner would see in band. So we compromised, and did A, G, and F, which is almost as easy.
Margolis: And in some ways maybe more useful.
Ticheli: Yes, I think in a way that’s true: So now, the flutes are not crossing the break; instead, you get to introduce their right hand (with the F). Though they’re not crossing the break, now their right hand is involved.
Margolis: I know that the “First 3 Notes” were picked to be easy notes to play — but how important was it to do this?
Rudgers: I think it’s a critical factor in the book. Other books that I’ve experienced challenge certain instruments with some really difficult maneuvering on their instrument in order to produce their first three notes. Having taught at this level myself and having observed some teachers and student teachers I know it’s always a stumbling block.
Margolis: Let’s talk about the pedagogy behind the book. The music is Ticheli’s, the pedagogy is Rudgers’. Tell me about how you decided to pick the rhythms you taught first.
Rudgers: Basically the overriding factor in the rhythm of the book is developing the sense of subdivision. In Lesson 1, we have whole notes and quarter notes, which is quite unusual for beginning lesson books. They usually start with one or the other. But I thought if had both a whole note and a quarter note in the first lesson the kids would begin to understand the concept of subdivision and feel the four beats inside the whole note. And that really drives the entire book. When they move on to eighth notes it’s developed in a subdivision format; same thing with sixteenths. That was the guiding force in rhythmic development.
Margolis: Had you given any thought to teaching half notes and quarter notes at the beginning?
Rudgers: No, we wanted to have a four-beat format in the first lesson so that the kids would get used to feeling four beats in a measure. And when half notes are introduced, they are introduced juxtaposed against quarter notes. So they also learn to feel the two beats inside the half-note.
Margolis: Frank, the other big news for this book is of course your original pieces and I see that the first piece you have written uses just the “First 3 Notes,” and has actual harmony. What were the challenges in writing that one? ‘Cause, what you wrote is fabulous,
Frank Ticheli
by Richard L. Floyd
Bob Margolis editor
Making Music Matter
and I don’t know how you did it.
Ticheli: [laughs] The challenge is that all the instruments have three notes, but they’re not the same three notes, so you’ve already got chords to deal with. Also, it’s set up — and this is a challenge for me — the notes are such that if you just took the most simple route you’d have all the players playing these first inversion chords all the time. But there’s a lack of stability playing first inversion chords. So you can’t just run them all in parallel motion. I had to get creative with the composing so that I’d have more root position triads and get greater stability, which kids at that age need. The challenge was taking the notes that I was given and still making the most stable harmony possible.
Margolis: But it’s not just stable harmony, it’s interesting harmony.
Ticheli: Oh well thanks! It’s partly through having some players not move while other players move, so you get this passing tone thing happening —
Margolis: — there you go!
Ticheli: Just simple tricks to make it work. I’ve found that any time you’re faced with problems as a composer that’s something to celebrate, because problems lead us down a path that at least in my case I’m often not smart enough to figure out on my own. The problems will lead us down a path to create a solution. So actually I celebrate problems, and this book was filled with those kinds of problems which are challenges.
Margolis: You had 24 problems per book, right?
Ticheli: [laughs] Thats right, and this is the tricky part: Each of these 24 pieces gradually adds new elements — different notes, different rhythms — a little at a time so you’re constantly having to keep track. For example, “did clarinet learn that note yet?” You can’t drop the ball and introduce something they’ve not yet learned.
The first six pieces, all of the exercises as well as the compositions, are chordal. By the time you get to Lesson 7 the students have learned enough notes such that they can actually play unison exercises. Thus, the seventh piece, “Dance of the Jack O’Lanterns,” has more of a kind of a two-voice harmony and there’s more reliance on unison writing contrasting with chordal writing. So I was able to start varying the textures more and more. It’s a real milepost in the book — the variety of the musical textures starts to open up from that point on.
Another milestone is Lesson 13, where they get to eighth notes. I wrote “A Short Ride on Horseback” where you have this sound of a horse trotting along with woodblocks, and the players with a “trotting” kind of theme. In Lesson 16, I’m excerpting my own piece, “Amazing Grace,” and I love that these kids just starting out get to experience the simple, pure beauty of the melody and harmony of that piece. In fact, the topic of my upcoming talk at the MidWest Clinic is “Beauty from the Beginning.” Likewise, having beautiful music right away was an important goal of this book. And at the end of Book 2, I leave the kids with this simple and beautiful melody in excerpting my own setting of “Shenandoah.”
Margolis: And conversely, some of the original works you wrote just for this book one day are going to make their way into becoming Grade 1 pieces.
Ticheli: Indeed, I estimate at least a third of these works are really good candidates to be expanded into full-blown Grade 1 pieces.
Margolis: Well, there’s more than one kind of big news for this book. There’s the method itself, there’s the 24 original ensemble pieces that you composed, there’s the solo pieces for each of the instruments that you composed (plus the percussion ensemble work in the percussion book). This makes this method different in construction, and the whole way you thought about it, right?
Ticheli:Yes, and speaking of the construction, this is amazing to me: It seems so obvious, but none of the books out there (if they’re there, we didn’t see them) are constructed into sequential lessons. Why not divide a book into lessons so that kids have a constant
B b Clarinet
B b Bass Clarinet
B b Trumpet
E b Alto Saxophone
E b Baritone Saxophone
B b Tenor Saxophone
F Horn Bassoon Trombone Euphonium Tuba
Snare Drum Bass Drum
Making Music Matter
FIRST JOURNEY COMPOSITION NO. 1
& & & & ?
FRANK TICHELI
Piano Reduction (for rehearsal only)
The first musical composition in the book, “First Journey,” uses just the three notes learned in Lesson 1.
Lesson 1 - Page 4
of rewards. Now, here we are with Lesson 13 and now we learn this so that we can play that piece. Next in Lesson 14 we learn that and we can play this piece now. This makes the learning experience more clearsighted to me, and clarity is an important thing to kids when they’re starting out.
Margolis: And the exercises that you wrote were specifically designed to teach what was needed to play Frank’s pieces?
Rudgers: Actually it went the other way. [laughs] I wrote the exercises and put handcuffs on Frank by saying, “OK. Here’s the new elements. So write a piece with these notes and elements.” But the guy’s a genius. There are times I’d send him something, saying “there, you can’t fix that” but he did. There’s a wonderful synergy at work between the pedagogy and the music, as each is adjusted to fit the other. This book is designed for dedicated teachers who will take the time to be sure that every exercise is mastered. When there are fewer exercises, as for example in Lesson 1, it’s encouraging a master teacher to spend the time on each of those exercises so that the
students are completely in control of the elements. It’s a critical link between the exact same elements in the exercises and in the Frank Ticheli piece that closes each lesson. First you have to be in control of the physical elements and notes and rhythms and dynamics, and then you get to make some music.
Ticheli: One other new thing in the book is that we have these creative exercises called “Creative Corner” where I devise these little very simple compositional exercises. What I like about them is that they, for the most part, allow all of the students to be on same plane — on the same playing field. That is, the kid who’s had ten years of piano is on the same playing field as the kid who’s just starting on the trumpet. It’s because these compositional exercises don’t rely upon your knowledge of harmony, form, chord structure, things that a kid who’s played piano would have an advantage over. These exercises bypass that and they get to the heart of what composition is, which is imagination, just sounds unfolding in time, and asking questions like, “what if?” Rather than getting bogged down with, “oh, should I double that note,” or “my teacher told me I shouldn’t double this leading
Making Music Matter
tone or move that interval in parallel motion,” the students can just have fun creating.
Margolis: And for anybody who wants to see what you did, they can look at the whole book online.
Ticheli: It’s all there online at www.MakingMusicMatterBook1.com where they can look at the entire teacher’s book and a couple of the sample student books as well.
Margolis: With respect to the 15 solo pieces, I can remember when I asked you if you’d do these, and that was the three days of silence, right? [laughs] but you decided it was a good idea.
Ticheli: Yes, something in the back of each book as a kind of reward for the kids for completing the book, wouldn’t it be great to give them this gift? In three days I surprised you with several pieces with optional piano accompaniments.
Margolis: Yes, you wrote 14 to my 2 (which we’re not using—we have yours!)
Ticheli:That was even fast for me! Sometimes your best music comes quickly like that. So they’re in the back of the book and there’s a wide expressive range in these. For the solo parts I had to be really careful, after all, this is the end of Book 1 — I couldn’t exceed the ranges and the notes learned, but I could exceed it in the piano accompaniment. Even though they’re really simple, there are aspects in the piano ac-
companiments that the kids haven’t learned yet. So we start to hear these rhythms, and hear this chromaticism they haven’t started to play. It’s kind of cool — they get introduced to musical ideas they’ll learn later down the road.
Margolis: Final question goes to Greg. When somebody decides which band method to use, whether they’re changing over from one they’ve used for a long time, or just starting out, how do they decide which one to adopt? What are they going to see here?
Rudgers: Having been a band director for 35 years, and having worked at all levels, as well as with college students who are studying to be beginning band directors, I’m very well aware of the various stumbling blocks encountered by beginning band students. Knowing that, we’ve included a progressive, developmental approach, so that those stumbling blocks will be easier to handle. For example, one of the hardest times when teaching beginning clarinetists is when they get to go over the break. In our book, our field testers came back and said, “finally, our clarinets are learning to go over the break easily.” There are many of those elements in the book. Long tones and lip slurs starting as early as possible for the brass players so that kids are asked to play fundamentals, but in an entertaining way, each time they pick up the instrument. But the real attraction is going to be the Frank Ticheli music. One of our field testers came to us and said, “Ms. Posegate, we sound like real players now — we sound like a real band.”
LIFE-STREAM
for Symphonic Winds and Percussion
FRANK TICHELI
BLUE SHADES
25th Anniversary Edition
SYMPHONIC WINDS AND PERCUSSION
FRANK TICHELI
MANHATTAN BEACH MUSIC
First Prize Winner, the 3rd International Frank Ticheli Composition Contest
Roger Zare CONCERT BAND
Raising the Standards of the American Concert Band and Bands all over the World.
