Band Music Reviews
“This much I know. If you are what you eat, then I only wanna eat the good stuff.” This quote from the movie “Ratatouille” could be altered just a bit to speak about the literature we perform. I would like to thank President Smith for asking me to contribute to Ala Breve with reviews of some of the “good stuff ” that is available to us as wind band conductors and educators. I hope that with each review, I am able to provide information to you that will help you find literature that is educational, exciting and meaningful to you and your students.
Don Hanna by Gabriel Musella with percussion by Rick Rodriquez is a new publication from Boosey & Hawkes’ “Windependence” series. Don Hanna is a paso doble, written in the style of latin marches that were so popular in the 1950’s and 1960’s. A welcome addition to our repertoire, the piece allows almost every instrument the opportunity to play the melody. Don Hanna is written at the grade 4 level, making it an excellent opening selection for your concert at MPA or at home. There are numerous opportunities for teaching expressiveness, rhythmic cohesiveness, balance and blend. Don Hanna also offers us the ability for cross-curriculum work with your social studies department and your world languages department. Delightful melodies combined with expressive counter-lines combine to make an energetic, expressive and fun “march” for your ensemble.
Rossano Galante has made significant contributions to our repertoire over the past several years. Red Rock Mountain, published by Alfred Music, is another of his soaring works for wind band that evokes images of an expansive movie score. As with most of Galante’s works, Red Rock Mountain is very easy to listen to and draws the listener in with it’s soaring lines, bold brass fanfares and fast-moving woodwind lines. The piece features prominent lines for the horns and trumpets and fast technical scale passages for the woodwinds. Opening with a bold fanfare, Red Rock Mountain moves to the principal theme stated in both the horns and the upper woodwinds. The lyrical “B” section features solo flute and the clarinets in the chalumeau register.
Randall Coleman
The horns are once again prominently featured as the the fast paced “A” theme returns and moves the piece to an exhilarating conclusion. Written at the grade 5+ level, Red Rock Mountain is “classic Galante”. If you are fan of his previous works, you will be a fan of Red Rock Mountain. Providing technical challenges and many expressive opportunities, Galantes works are also extremely challenging not only from a technique standpoint, but from an endurance standpoint. This is another outstanding addition to the advanced band repertoire.
Resplendent Light, written by our own Tyler S. Grant, is a new lyrical work for solid grade 3 ensembles. Published by FJH Music as a new addition to its “Young Band” series, the piece features beautifully written lines with a sophisticated harmonic structure that combines for a very playable, yet challenging work. Brief solos for clarinet and euphonium set up the primary theme, supported by very interesting and well-constructed percussion writing. With very reasonable ranges in all brass instruments, Resplendent Light is a welcome addition to this grade level works that will allow the conductor to stretch the ensemble musically and is very enjoyable for developing musicians to perform. A highly recommended lyrical work for your next performance.
Randall Coleman, Wind Band Music Reviewer Associate Director of Bands The University of Alabama
rocoleman@ua.edu
Pat Stegall, AMEA Treasurer/Registrar
The AMEA Professional Development Conference was wonderful! I would like to thank the volunteers who helped stuff packets on Wednesday evening. It was great seeing you all networking with each other while you assisted. I would also like to thank all of you that pre-registered for helping to
make the check-in process so easy! We are using the NAfME equipment now and it really helps us speed up the process so you can attend the concerts and clinics instead of standing in line. We still have a great number of people who wait until check-in to join or renew their NAfME membership and to register on-site for the conference. Let me encourage you to plan ahead to join, renew, and pre-register next year. It takes less than a minute at the conference to check-in if you have done this. There is also a
ala breve
discount if you pre-register so take advantage of this incentive. We will continue to offer on-site registration and plan to have several computers available for that purpose when we move to Birmingham, but you can avoid the long lines and delays by doing your part.
Currently, we are seeing about 75% of our membership use the pre-registration option which is great, but we can do better! My goal is 100% pre-registered with no delays in the process of check- in. I encourage you to do your part by planning ahead. On June 30, 2017, all members need to renew their membership, and in late August, pre-registration will open for the 2018 conference. Go ahead and add these dates to your calendar as a reminder! Again, thank you for attending the conference.
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