New Music for 2024-2025
I am delighted to share that I have five new pieces available for Concert Band from Carl Fischer. I hope that you might take a few minutes to consider how these pieces might be beneficial for your ensembles to study and perform in the coming year. Additionally, I am highlighting several older pieces that groups continue to enjoy working on. There is a great deal of variety between their styles, and each piece offers an enjoyable musical challenge for your students.
Abalone Sunset (Gr 1.5) is a lyric work for young band. This piece captures my impressions of evening hours at the beach. There are several optional solo opportunities for several instruments. Several instances of tension (dissonance) in the harmony represent the beautiful glow made by merging colors and changing light as the sun sets over a stunning ocean scene.
Greensleeves (Gr. 1.5) is one of the most popular and endearing English folk songs dating back over 400 years. From as far back as the 17th century, numerous Christmas and New Year texts were associated with the tune, and many people also know it as the carol “What Child Is This?”. Some of the best settings of hymns and folk tunes among the band repertoire present the melody in a direct fashion that enhances its integrity (much like Alfred Reed’s setting of this melody). In this setting for young band, I wanted to convey the simple sincerity of the melody line and infuse new counter-melodies alongside that would add interest for the musicians.
We Go To Music (Gr. 1.5) is an energetic opener for any concert or contest/festival appearance. For some students, when they go to music their anxiety lessens, their mood brightens, they find themselves with their people, and in the band room they feel at home. There are important bi-products that students get from their participation, but ultimately going to music makes it all possible and they get to study, practice, and share a unique art form with their family, friends, and community. It is my hope and prayer that this piece reminds directors and students alike just how great it is to go to music every day!
Jazz Kings (Gr. 2) is a new setting of “We Three Kings” that connects the original carol with other artists who are in some ways jazz “royalty” – Duke Ellington and Count Basie. One of the challenges of creating a new and unique setting of just one those songs is infusing a distinct style that enhances the original, and jazz influence can be found on any number of pieces in the holiday canon. I especially thankful for my time with Chaz Baker at Kent State University who enhanced my knowledge and opened my ears to a new way to listen to jazz and the piece is dedicated to him. Shades of “It Don’t Mean a Thing” and “One O’Clock Jump” emerge around the carol tune as it moves between sections of 4/4 and 3/4 time. The work has a three-fold purpose for students – 1) familiarize them with well-known carol, 2) give them experience playing in a jazz style, and 3) connect them to two artists that are essential to American music and jazz.
A New Day Breaking (Gr. 3) is a commissioned work from the West Branch High School Band (Morrisdale, PA) and their director Lance Jones. Lance is all heart, all hustle, and all human. When a new day begins, the students Lance works with will get the best music education from a person who cares about their success both in band, and in life. It is with his personality and work ethic that this piece was brought about. This concert opener is a celebration of all directors who, like Lance, welcome the opportunities and challenges of the new day.
OLDER WORKS
I am very proud of former student Kyle Grabigel who is now the band director at Brookville HS (PA). His groupperformed at the 2024 PMEA State Conference. I was delighted that he included The Wellerman Come on the program. The group performed it so well, and the reception given by directors in attendance was summed up by one colleague who said “That piece is a lot of rowdy fun”. That sums it up – don’t miss out!
Huge thanks to friend and colleague Jason Worzbyt for including Sonic Ascent on his reading session at the PMEA Conference as well! I reflected on both this work, Siege of the Dark Castle, and Winds of a New Day over the past year after the untimely passing of Robert W. Smith. I will always be thankful for my time working with him while he was an editor at Barnhouse.
One piece I would encourage directors of middle school groups to consider for a holiday concert is A Winter Flourish for Wenceslas. The melody of “Good King Wenceslas” has been slightly altered, making use of syncopation, to provide a decidedly new twist on a familiar holiday tune.
As you make plans for adjudication/contest/festival appearances with your ensembles in the spring of 2025, I would encourage you to check out the pieces below that appear on many state lists:
Tales of a Medieval Warrior (AL Band Class D, FBA Band Grade 2, WV Level 2)
Festival of Flight (LA Band Grade 2, MD Concert Band Grade 2, TX Band Grade 2-Complete)
Eyes of the Dragon (AL Band Class C, MD Concert Band Grade 2, NC Concert Band Grade 2)
A West Highland Fanfare (IN ISSMA JH/MS Band Group II)
The Last Stagecoach Heist (IN ISSMA JH/MS Band Group II, MD Concert Band Grade 2)
Siege of the Dark Castle (MD Concert Band Grade 1, OH OMEA JH Band C)
It is great to learn from directors and students what they have enjoyed about other works prepared for concert or a spring trip adjudication. This year I received positive feedback on works like Renaissance Round (Gr. 1.5 – Elem/MS, Ludwig), As Moonlight Falls (Gr. 2 – MS, Wingert-Jones), Irish Jig for Young Feet (Gr. 2 – MS, FJH), As Joy Ignites (Gr. 2 – MS, Wingert-Jones), The Shady Grove (Gr. 3 – HS, Wingert-Jones), Chasing Mercury (Gr. 3.5 – HS, Carl Fischer), Pirates! (Gr. 3.5 – HS, FJH), Monsters of Myth (Gr. 4 – HS, FJH), and Metro Dances (Gr. 5 – HS/Collegiate, Wingert-Jones). Compelling works with unique challenges and styles all their own.
Check back this fall for an exciting announcement on a project currently in the works with Carl Fischer!
I always appreciate hearing if you are studying one of my pieces with your groups and would love to hear about their experience. If I can be of service to you and your students in the coming year, please contact me. As Director of Music Education at Messiah University, my schedule affords me to make visits for clinics both in person and virtually. The sessions can cover rehearsal critiques, composition advice, leadership, or even discussing one of my pieces should you find one that fits your group’s needs. Please contact me at your convenience if you are interested in exploring a date for a visit. To all band directors at all levels – I appreciate and applaud your continued diligence and dedication to instrumental education. Best wishes for a strong finish to your school year, a restful summer, and best wishes in the year ahead!
