This 14th installment is submitted by Dr. Julia Baumanis, Assistant Professor of Professional Practice, Associate Director of University Bands at Mason Gross School of the Arts at Rutgers University. Artistic Director and Conductor New Brunswick Chamber Orchestra
Grade 3
Adoration (1951 / 2022) – 3’30" – Purchase at Murphy Press
Florence PRICE (USA) / arr. Cheldon Williams (USA)
"Florence Price (1887-1953) was a prolific American composer whose race and gender made it difficult for her contributions to join the widely accepted musical canon in the decades following her life. A trailblazer, Price is considered the first Black woman recognized as a symphonic composer and was the first to have her music performed by a major American orchestra when the Chicago Symphony Orchestra gave the world premiere of her Symphony No. 1 in 1933.
More on Florence Price
Grade 5
In Living Color (2021) – 5' – Purchase at Murphy Press
Katahj COPLEY (USA)
"The composer writes this note about the piece:
""2020 brought the world to a pause. With the global pandemic of COVID-19, so many of life’s simple joys were taken, including the opportunity to perform music. To me, music is one of the greatest means of communication. When it was taken away, the language of music became foreign- and for some, a passion for the subject disappeared. Now, as the world slowly takes its turn again, a love for music has grown- through separation, we grew stronger. I wrote In Living Color as an ode for live music, especially music performed on the wind band stage. The piece offers a kaleidoscope of colors and energy from modern jazz artists such as Snarky Puppy, American Boy singer Estelle, and takes inspiration from George Gershwin. Please help me celebrate life and all the small things that lead to big things with “In Living Color.”
This piece was premiered by the at the Midwest Band and Orchestra Clinic by the Lockport Township High School Wind Symphony, on December 18th, 2021, with Brian E. Covey, conductor."
More on Katahj Copley
Grade 3
Awakenings (2003) – 5’ – Purchase at JW Pepper
Kimberly ARCHER(USA)
"Archer wrote Awakenings in 2002, and she provides the following program notes on her website:
""Awakenings was commissioned by the International Center for New Music at Central Michigan University. Directed by David Gillingham and Nico Schuler, the ICNM is dedicated to the creation, performance, and research of new music in schools. In keeping with the ICNM’s mission, Awakenings exploits a 20th century tonal system not commonly found in the repertoire for younger bands: the octatonic collection. Also known as a diminished scale, it is a series of alternating whole and half steps (starting with either a whole or half step), totaling eight pitches. Common in the music of Bartok, Stravinsky, and Messiaen, as well as in jazz improvisation and film scores (including Danny Elfman‘s), the appeal of an octatonic collection lies in its unusual combination of available sonorities."
More on Kimberly Archer
Grade 5
Conga del Fuego Nuevo (2001 / 2011) – 4’55” – Purchase at Hal Leonard
Arturo MÁRQUEZ (Mexico)
Márquez was born in Sonora, Mexico in 1950. In his late childhood, he emigrated with his family to La Puente in the Los Angeles area, where he undertook piano, trombone, and violin studies. Later, he moved to Mexico City to study composition at the National Conservatory of Mexico, to Paris for further compositional studies, and to Los Angeles to complete graduate studies at Cal Arts. He currently resides in Mexico City, where he works as a professor and sought-after composer.
"The conga is a Cuban carnival dance, from which the conga line, popularized in the U.S. by band leaders such as Xavier Cugat, was derived. Márquez’ Conga del Fuego Nuevo (the “New Fire” ceremony was a pre-Columbian Mexican ritual; Carlos Chávez composed a ballet titled El fuego nuevo) is rather more elemental and multifaceted than the novelty dance, a rhythmically more playful showpiece but nonetheless still well connected to the staccato line-dance imperatives of 1-2-3-kick.
- Program Note by the Hollywood Bowl"
Grade 2
Ancient Flower (2013 / 2015) – 4’40 – Purchase at JW Pepper
Yukiko NISHIMURA (Japan)
"The composer provides the following program note:
"A long, sensitive and mysterious melodic line is introduced in the opening measures. I composed the counter melodies so that they would be enjoyable to play; feel how each twists around the main melody. When the main melody returns in m. 37, a clearer and simpler tone is needed. You might imagine that the ancient flower is a dainty, tiny flower; perhaps an exotic flower; or perhaps even something else. Whatever you imagine, the flower will bloom in your way in this piece."
More on Yukiko NISHIMURA