Pandemic Pandemonium (grade 2)
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Concert Band in virtual performance ca. 4-5 minutes Grade: 2 This work was designed to embrace Zoom as a new performance space. All players perform live, unmuted. Any teleconference platform will work such as Zoom, Google Meet, and Teams, though in our experimentation, Zoom gave the best audio results. The piece is setup to work with the inherent latency of these platforms by creating aleatoric textures with free flowing solo melodies on top. Instrumentation (very flexible) Flute/Oboe Clarinet Alto Sax/F Horn Trumpet Trombone/Bassoon/Tuba/T. Sax./B. Sax./Bs. Clar. Percussion (all playing bells, or may substitute piano) |
PERUSAL SCORE
| pandemicpandemonium_score_perusal.pdf |
Program Note
This work is in direct response to the COVID-19 pandemic and it’s disruption of typical large ensemble rehearsals and performance. The students of Madison West High School, their director Kevin Rhodes, and I collaborated on this piece over the course of about five weeks. During our sessions together I led the students in creative music making games and activities to help them get comfortable making compositional decisions and playing their instruments together on Zoom unmuted. We also experimented and generated ideas for this specific collaboration. Many of the melodic fragments found in this work came directly from student’s ideas. Also, as any performance on Zoom is inherently visual and essentially a music video, the visual elements in this piece also came directly from student’s input. Overall, we decided that this piece is a representation of the year 2020 — all of it’s hardships and losses balanced with the hope and confidence that we can endure. In our collaboration sessions we had some great discussions about the “silver lining” aspects of the pandemic; new hobbies and interests like gardening and baking bread, more time with family, more enjoyment of reading and exercise, etc. As we come together we can support each other and feel connected. These are far from ideal circumstances to make music. But we must! We all need to heal from this pandemic and this work is a symbol of hope, love and faith.
This work is in direct response to the COVID-19 pandemic and it’s disruption of typical large ensemble rehearsals and performance. The students of Madison West High School, their director Kevin Rhodes, and I collaborated on this piece over the course of about five weeks. During our sessions together I led the students in creative music making games and activities to help them get comfortable making compositional decisions and playing their instruments together on Zoom unmuted. We also experimented and generated ideas for this specific collaboration. Many of the melodic fragments found in this work came directly from student’s ideas. Also, as any performance on Zoom is inherently visual and essentially a music video, the visual elements in this piece also came directly from student’s input. Overall, we decided that this piece is a representation of the year 2020 — all of it’s hardships and losses balanced with the hope and confidence that we can endure. In our collaboration sessions we had some great discussions about the “silver lining” aspects of the pandemic; new hobbies and interests like gardening and baking bread, more time with family, more enjoyment of reading and exercise, etc. As we come together we can support each other and feel connected. These are far from ideal circumstances to make music. But we must! We all need to heal from this pandemic and this work is a symbol of hope, love and faith.
PURCHASE
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For all other payment arrangements, please email [email protected]
For all other payment arrangements, please email [email protected]