Niels Marthinsen's Symphony No. 2 - Snapshot Symphony (2009). 1st movement Fiesta Mexicana: fortissimo accelerando (ca. 6 minutes) 2nd movement Arabian Nights: adagio intensivo e furioso (ca. 11 minutes) 3rd movement Great Fireworks in China: giocoso esplosivo e marcatissimo (ca. 8 minutes)   Programme note I’ve never been to Mexico and Arabia or to China. But I love the way those countries sound in Hollywood movies and inpop culture generally: When Clint Eastwood rides south of the border when Disney’s Alladin or Mulan takes me far east when arabic pop music roars past me out of the open windows of a car... and bull fighter music and the sound of acrobatic beat-em-up’s in John Woo’s Hong Kong karate movies – and so on: powerful images splashed all over my eye balls and ear drums. My recollections of this ethnic-pop-film-music has turned itself into a symphony. And I don’t even have to just remember what I have heard: A few internet clicks gives me access to incredible sound libraries containing live-and-kicking ethnic music from my three favorite countries just waiting to be put together in new combinations and energize my personal imagery.  The symphony is like a huge slide show – musical snapshots from my travels in the western pop culture versions of three exotic locations: Mexico Arabia and China – original and popular melodies welded together by my personal musical language and associations. I use all the effects of modern pling-plong-music plus a few of my own inventions to create a spectacular contemporary orchestral sound sporting a bee hive of melodies from either East or West played simultaneously in different keys and differents tempos at once while kept firmly in place by

The suite format and descriptive nature of snapshots allows Grade 2.5 bands to handle a relatively large sized piece and have the fun of exploring myriad moods and styles.There are valuable geographical and historical considerations for cross-curricular teaching and the sheer ?enjoyability? of this one is undeniable. In Movement 1 early explorers witness the grandeur and expanse of the largest fresh surface water system on earth. In Movement 2 wavelets gently lap on the shores of beautiful beaches while happy families enjoy a sunny afternoon and Movement 3 explores the ships and boats of every description which have navigated these waters for centuries.While thisexceptional piece is entirely different if you enjoyed James Curnow?s previous Grade 2.5 suites you really should focus some attention on SNAPSHOTS. You won?t regret it.

Par CURNOW JAMES. The suite format and descriptive nature of snapshots allows Grade 2. 5 bands to handle a relatively large sized piece and have the fun of exploring myriad moods and styles. There are valuable geographical and historical considerations for cross-curricular teaching, and the sheer “enjoyability” of this one is undeniable. In Movement 1, early explorers witness the grandeur and expanse of the largest fresh surface water system on earth. In Movement 2, wavelets gently lap on the shores of beautiful beaches while happy families enjoy a sunny afternoon, and Movement 3 explores the ships and boats of every description which have navigated these waters for centuries. While thisexceptional piece is entirely different, if you enjoyed James Curnow’s previous Grade 2. 5 suites, you really should focus some attention on SNAPSHOTS. You won’t regret it. / Niveau : 2.5 / Répertoire / Concert Band ou Harmonie

Hot Shot March and 1, 2, Cha Cha Cha. Par HANNICKEL MIKE. Reinforcement of sight-rhythms is critical to the development of good music reading. The young band education team of Amy Adam and Mike Hannickel has developed the Skill Builder series of compositions with sight-rhythm repetition in mind. Hot Shot March focuses on paired semi-quavers on the second beat of the 4/4 measure, to the exclusion of other semi-tone patterns, giving your young musicians much exposure to this important sight-rhythm. 1, 2, Cha Cha Cha does the same thing for paired semi-tones on beat 3. With two great easy band arrangements, lots of sightrhythm reinforcement and specialised warm-up exercises included in the package, it’s a great buy as well as a greatteaching tool. / Niveau : 0.5 / Pièce de concert / Répertoire / Concert Band ou Harmonie

Score-The suggestion that I write my autobiography was made at a time when anyone who did not write one risked being called eccentric. It became and still is a major sport among the oldsters. Some of the contemporary books are goodreading indeed. One of the best of them is the result of an enormous research job as is brought out in the introduction to the work. Imagine spending long hours and traveling many miles to find out about oneself: I am sure Iwould be one of the first to be utterly bored by the subject. It was not so easy however to dismiss the whole idea as my friends presented it.The only answer I could think of with any degree of enthusiasm was this one written purely for whatever pleasure it could give. My own part of the pleasure is mostly in utilizing the musical language of the concert band with its apparently inexhaustible colors and its fabulous vitality.The form(if the term has any right being here) is seven short pictures each about two minutes long of my own personal seven ages. The two-minute idea may be the result of the loudspeakers spread all over the hotel in Arizona where thepiece was composed. There was no getting out of ear-shot of those two-minute gems - in the dining rooms around the swimming pools by the putting green everywhere-but I honestly do not believe any of them crept into what I waswriting. I do not believe I paid much more than passing attention to them.Part One:I. 1894: Cherry StreetII. 1899: South OmahaIII. 1900: Corn Cows and MusicThe three of my seven ages inPart One took us to the legal end of my youth. Gathering up my unspectacular belongings including my entire fortune of less than two hundred dollars I swooped down on New York for no more reason than that it was New York and hada street in it called Broadway. The music borrows two or three rhythms from the era but the only note-for-note quote is what the bugler at Camp Funston played every morning while we put on our shoes. Later when we get to Paris

Hot Shot March and 1, 2, Cha Cha Cha. Par HANNICKEL MIKE. Reinforcement of sight-rhythms is critical to the development of good music reading. The young band education team of Amy Adam and Mike Hannickel has developed the SKILL BUILDER series of compositions with sight-rhythm repetition in mind. With two great easy band arrangements, lots of sight-rhythm reinforcement, and specialised warm-up exercises included in the package, it’s a great buy as well as a great teaching tool. / Niveau : 0.5 / Pièce de concert / Répertoire / Concert Band ou Harmonie

Hamilton is without question the most creative talked-about musical to hit Broadway this millennium. In this stand-out selection from the show the lead characters lay out their plans for victory despite their personal hardships. This arrangement for strings and a vocalist is a clever way to connect students with American history!

Arr. Michael Brown. Par MIRANDA LIN-MANUEL. / Niveau : 3 / Répertoire / Concert Band