Travis J. Weller

Thank you friends and colleagues for your patience and support over the last four years. It has been a long process to be sure, but I am pleased to announce that Journey to the Prairie is now available from Manhattan Beach Music. It may be ordered direct from MBM or you can order from JW Pepper as well.

Journey to the Prairie was written in one night – I couldn’t turn off the sounds. As Quincy says transitional tasks can be very helpful to develop material, and my wife couldn’t be happier that evening as I continued mopping, sweeping, and cleaning the house. I finished the piece at 3 a.m. that December morning, printed parts and had the wind ensemble at my school perform the first and only draft. I was excited to see this piece come to life, but discouraged as it was passed over by 3 other publishers. With nothing to lose, I entered it in the 2nd Annual Ticheli Competition.

Now some 5 years later the piece is available. My thanks to Dr. Arnold at Grove City College who provided the recording for the contest (it is also posted on my compositions page). I hope this piece might be useful to your ensemble in the coming months.

Two new works are now up on my compositions page. Yankee Overture, recorded by the GCC Wind Ensemble, and Romance for Winds, recorded by the Westminster College Wind Ensemble are both under publication review. Yankee Overture is a rousing concert opener based upon the folk song “Yankee Doodle”. “Romance for Winds” is a bit of a departure from some of my other songs stylistically, but pretty true to my orchestration tendencies. It is dedicated to my wife Beth, who without her love, support, and care, I could never have arrived at this point in my life. My thanks also to Dr. Arnold at GCC and Dr. Greig at Westminster – I appreciate their willingness to read and record this music with their students and making the recordings available. Enjoy!

A recording of the Washington Winds is up on YouTube as they record “Siege of the Dark Castle” (for young bands) from C.L. Barnhouse.

Quick: Name three composers of wind band literature whose music was written before 1950 that will still be revered in the year 2020?

That should be a fairly easy question for any conductor who has studied scores and understands the pieces that have been at the foundation of the American Wind Ensemble and Concert Band.

Name three composers who wrote music for wind ensembles or concert bands between the years of 1950 and 1980 and will still be played in the year 2020.

Hmm….

Read more…

I am pleased to announce score images and recordings of both A West Highland Fanfare and Moravian Dance are up FJH for your perusal. Both pieces enjoyed exciting debuts over the past year, and I am grateful to the many students and their sponsoring directors who were involved in both performances. A West Highland Fanfare is written with MS/JH Band in mind, and maintains a steady tempo throughout in 6/8 time. It makes use of the Scotch-Irish Folk Song Loch Lomond though it is set in a non-traditional meter. Moravian Dance was sketched out over the course of several summers, and draws its influence from the music and composers of what was the former region of Moravia in Europe. The Czeck-style dance builds in texture, intensity, and tempo as it unfolds and the piece spirals towards a spirited conclusion. There are numerous opportunities for each section to contribute, and it generates quite a pit of excitement among the players.