Band Music Reviews
Happy New Year! I hope everyone had a productive summer and you start the new school year energized and ready to go. I can remember when I first started teaching many years ago….one of the most anticipated deliveries for me were the presentations from the music publishers where they debuted their new publications for the year. Today, we don’t have to wait for the mail…we have access to so much information right at our fingertips! I hope you have had an opportunity to check out the new music for the upcoming school year from all the publishers. There is so much new literature available to us…the trick is finding the ones that work. Having spent a great deal of time this summer listening to so much new music, I hope the following suggestions will help you as you begin to build your curriculum for the upcoming year.
Along the Crystal Coast is a new Grade 2 publication by Michael Oare. Michael has written several wonderful pieces for young band and is a practicing music educator and performer. I really enjoy his work and have found it to be educational, entertaining, and engaging at every turn. His beautiful To Dream in Brushstrokes has gained much popularity in recent years, and his new work Along the Crystal Coast is another wonderful work from this talented composer. Along the Crystal Coast begins with a full ensemble fanfare section that is scored well for young bands. The opening section moves to a brisk “allegro” section that initially features the woodwinds with the brass section joining in on the second phrase. The piece utilizes the same maestoso fanfare as it ends with a quick restatement of the allegro theme. The piece stays in the key of concert Eb throughout and utilizes simple syncopation with the low voices. Highly recommended for your Grade 2 ensemble for concerts or your assessments.
Brian Balmages is one of the most performed composers in our genre today. Brian writes exceptionally well for all of the instruments and his pieces become fast favorites for your students. Commissioned by Bruce Zeiger and the St. John Paul II Catholic High School Band in Huntsville, Alabama, Renaissance Reimagined is a brilliant new piece that brings renaissance music to life in a modern, contemporary setting. Published at the Grade 3.5 level, I would say this piece might be more accurately classified as a Grade 4. Utilizing scoring techniques that are very idiomatic of the Renaissance sound, the piece is an excellent teaching tool for introducing the Renaissance period music to your students. Renaissance Reimagined requires the performers to be secure in both duple and triple subdivision, as the composer uses the duple subdivision and triple subdivision simultaneously, creating a unique hemiola effect. Strong rhythmic stability would be essential to a quality performance of this outstanding piece. Endurance may also be an issue for younger ensembles as the piece is approximately 5 ½ minutes in length.
Nathan Daughtrey’s StarCatchers is an incredibly fun and entertaining work that is inspired by the young fiction series “Peter and the Starcathers” by Dave Barry and Ridley
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Randall Coleman
Pearson, which explores the younger adventures of Peter Pan. StarCathers relies heavily on percussion to set the groove for this wonderful new work that is a fantastic teaching piece that strengthens your ensemble’s pitch sensitivity, vertical alignment skills, and rhythmic stability. Your students will absolutely love this piece that is suitable for your fall or spring concerts. StarCathers is listed as a Grade 3, but many of the challenges, including the percussion skills required and the ranges for some of the brass players, tend to push it comfortably into the Grade 4 category. Nathan Daughtrey’s music always includes highly exceptional work for the percussion section. You can’t go wrong with StarCathers.
Please feel free to contact me with your questions. I look forward to hearing your outstanding ensembles this year!
Randall Coleman, Wind Band Music Reviewer The Ala Breve Associate Director of Bands The University of Alabama
rocoleman@ua.edu
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