Band Vice President’s Message continued from page 26


to facilitate the fingerings of the augmented second interval. Tere are also some modest challenges posed by the occasional 16th-note run, and the widely varying articulations and tempi presented throughout. Te end result is an exotic and enthralling work that will have wide appeal to advanced middle school and high school students and the audience alike.


Te Banks of Green Willow, George Butterworth, arr. by Robert Longfield, Grade 3 Hal Leonard Te Banks of Green Willow is an adaptation


of a choral arrangement of two English folk songs, Green Bushes and Te Banks of Green Willow. An emerging composer and contemporary of Ralph Vaughan Williams and Percy Granger, Buttterworth’s life was tragically cut short in 1916 during his service to the British Army in World War I. Te piece begins with a solo


clarinet


establishing a peaceful, yet playful mood. Te adroit juxtaposition of the two primary themes, presented across a wide spectrum of orchestrated colors, creates the impression that these two folk songs were always meant to be as one.


Unlike most works of this nature, which


are oſten bereſt of percussion parts, Longfield’s measured use of battery, mallets, timpani, and auxiliary instruments can utilize as many as six players while still enhancing the fluidity of the musical lines. In terms of facility, the Banks of Green


Willow is accessible to students at the advanced middle, and early high school levels. Yet, the emotional integrity of the music, abundance of counterpoint, and rubato phrasing can provide musical enrichment to the most advanced ensembles. It pays an appropriate homage as the “anthem for unknown soldiers,” for which the original work has become known.


Sheep-Sheering Song scored for band by


Percy Granger and edited by Mark Roger. No grade level stated. Southern Music Sheep-Shearing Song was originally


arranged for the piano by Eugène Goosens. It was based upon a song documented by the famed English folk-musicologist Cecil Sharp. Ongoing collaboration between Grainger and Goosens in the early part of the 20th century resulted in this setting for military band. Grainger’s further realization of Goosen’s


arrangement evolved into this ballad with a somewhat foreboding quality. It is quintessential Grainger


in its simple authenticity with


unexpected turns of discordant harmony. Flowing, tranquil, and highly chromatic lines


Traveler, David Maslanka, No grade level stated Carl Fischer


demand extreme attention to phrasing and dynamic shading. Do not be deceived by the apparent lack


of difficulty in the score. Tis is a sophisticated, cerebral work for more mature musicians. It may also appeal to smaller ensembles inasmuch as Grainger’s general concept of “elastic scoring” in which substitution is encouraged wherever necessary avails his music to a wide variety of ensembles with imperfect instrumentation.


Internet Symphony “Eroica,” Tan Dun, edited by Peter Stanley Martin. No grade stated. G. Schirmer Internet Symphony “Eroica” is the wind


band transcription of a work commissioned by Google and YouTube in 2009 for its first YouTube Symphony Orchestra Project. Te Academy Award winner and world-renowned Chinese composer, Tan Dun, conducted its premiere at Carnegie Hall. Te members of the orchestra were selected from 3,000 auditions in 70 countries who submitted online videos that were adjudicated by members of leading orchestras. Te music exhibits influence of


both Eastern and Western styles, and the contemporary orchestration is highlighted by an expansive palate of percussion colors, including multiple brake drums and brake gongs (or in the absence of this instrument, a trip to the junkyard to obtain hubcaps of indeterminate pitches will suffice). Te composer’s intent was to capture the


internet as “... an invisible silk road, joining different cultures from around the world... [and] the spirit of the young.” Tan Dun uses a principal theme from Beethoven’s Symphony No. 3 “Eroica” as the unifying element. An accomplished horn section, especially one that can convey resonance in the lower tessitura, is a must as it oſten carries the primary melody. As the piece builds in intensity and tempo in its drive to a boisterous finish, clarity of articulation becomes essential in fostering the burgeoning energy of the music. Another challenge that relegates this work


to more advanced ensembles is the migration into keys such as concert E major, which are less commonly encountered in works for younger bands. Reasonable ranges and redundant rhythms do temper some of the technical burdens. Unlike traditional world music that reflect an indigenous cultural heritage, the Internet Symphony “Eroica” stands apart with its truly global perspective.


Traveler was commissioned in 2003 by


the University of Texas at Arlington Band Alumni Association. Sadly, in 2017, the world lost this much revered and incredibly prolific composer. While any one of Maslanka’s works for winds and percussion, which include nine symphonies, deserves special attention, Traveler is especially apropos, being reminiscent of the end of life’s journey. Te deeply spiritual Maslanka wrote:


“Traveler begins with an assertive statement of Nicht


so traurig,


the chorale melody nicht


so sehr


(Not so sad, not so much). Te last part of life need not be sad. It is an accumulation of all that has gone before, and a powerful projection into the future - the potential for a tremendous giſt of life and joy. And so, the music begins with energy and movement, depicting an engaged life in full stride. At the halfway point, a meditative quiet settles in. Life’s battles are largely done; the soul is preparing for its next big step.”


Te subtle contemplative culmination the


of the music reflects these sentiments. Traveler is a work for advanced wind ensembles. Te piece requires extensive percussion and proficiency in all sections of the ensemble. Performance demands of the 14-minute work include the dexterity needed to play rapid ornamental passages, endurance to sustain powerful fortissimo interjections, and the control to emote the most sensitive and sparsely scored phrases. For mature groups wishing to pay a heartrending homage to a legendary composer, Traveler is nothing short of a musical journey “in time and eternity.”


Edited reprint with permission of NYSSMA Originally appeared in School Music News March 2019, Vol 82, No 5


Dan Holroyd is the director of bands at Cheyenne East High School, where he teaches concert and jazz bands as well as marching and pep bands. He has been involved with the Wyoming High School All State Marching Band (WHSASMB) since 2000, first as a percussion instructor and then as the general manager. Dan has held offices


in WMEA


as Band Vice President, Marching Band Chairman, Technology Chair, and President.


winter 2019 | www.wyomea.org


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