SKU: CF.YPS245
ISBN 9781491159910. UPC: 680160918508.
In December of 2020, after almost a year of living socially distanced, isolated, and not knowing when we would return to life as we knew it, I began to think about what life used to look like. I realized that I sometimes might have taken all the beautiful things in my life for granted. Personally, the year 2020 was a time of loss where someone close to me left, and at the same time, I was also able to have other successes. This dichotomy inspired me to realize that there is hope in all that we do; it is how we perceive life. Boundless Hope represents my thoughts, feelings, and emotions during this time. The piece is roughly based on the Lydian mode, introducing the raised fourth degree in m. 2 of the mallet percussion and then at m. 15 in the main melody. The Lydian mode naturally gives a sense of positivity, hopefulness, inspiration, and heavenly colors. That was my exact intention with this piece: using the mode to define the mood showing gratitude for all that we have, and yearning to return to normalcy with a new and fresh perspective. Measure 30 should be slightly faster, followed by a rit. into the grandiose recapitulation of the theme in m. 38. At m. 45, the wind chimes should start before the clarinet entrance, with the subsequent measures representing dark and warm colors. This piece is very personal to me, and I appreciate you playing the composition.In December of 2020, after almost a year of living socially distanced, isolated, and not knowing when we would return to life as we knew it, I began to think about what life used to look like. I realized that I sometimes might have taken all the beautiful things in my life for granted. Personally, the year 2020 was a time of loss where someone close to me left, and at the same time, I was also able to have other successes. This dichotomy inspired me to realize that there is hope in all that we do; it is how we perceive life. Boundless Hope represents my thoughts, feelings, and emotions during this time. The piece is roughly based on the Lydian mode, introducing the raised fourth degree in m. 2 of the mallet percussion and then at m. 15 in the main melody. The Lydian mode naturally gives a sense of positivity, hopefulness, inspiration, and heavenly colors. That was my exact intention with this piece: using the mode to define the mood showing gratitude for all that we have, and yearning to return to normalcy with a new and fresh perspective. Measure 30 should be slightly faster, followed by a rit. into the grandiose recapitulation of the theme in m. 38. At m. 45, the wind chimes should start before the clarinet entrance, with the subsequent measures representing dark and warm colors.This piece is very personal to me, and I appreciate you playing the composition.
SKU: CF.YPS245F
ISBN 9781491159927. UPC: 680160918515.
SKU: CF.CPS270F
ISBN 9781491164099. UPC: 680160922888.
Scrim shaw is the technique of whalebone and ivory carving that was started by sailors centuries ago. Inspired by the composer's stay in Utqiagvik, Alaska, this composition musically illustrates scenes from these carvings that depict a day of Alaskan fishing. Starting broadly and majestically, the music quickly moves to a lively and energetic section that features syncopation and introduces the concept of canonic entrances. A return to the initial thematic material brings the piece to an exciting conclusion. Although challenging in many ways, this composition fully rewards all performers and listeners with a thrilling musical journey.Scrimshaw is the technique of ivory carving, an art form I saw firsthand during my stay in Barrow (Utqiagvik), the northernmost town in North America. Scrimshaw Tales depicts some of the scenes that sailors and artists once carved into whale bone and ivory, often related to the day-to-day activities of Alaskan fishing crews.The opening 28 measures (Port at Dawn) should be played broadly and majestically. Measures 29 through 66 (A Gathering of Ships) should be playing in a lively and energetic manner. The various canonic entrances represent the ships as they leave port one-by-one. Measures 67 through 132 (Out to Sea) should be played forcefully and energetically. Each successive entrance should push the pulse of this section to its conclusion at 132.Measures 133 through 150 (Return to Port) recalls the opening section, played with sweeping grandeur.
SKU: CF.CPS270
ISBN 9781491163696. UPC: 680160922482.
Scrim shaw is the technique of ivory carving, an art form I saw firsthand during my stay in Barrow (Utqiagvik), the northernmost town in North America. Scrimshaw Tales depicts some of the scenes that sailors and artists once carved into whale bone and ivory, often related to the day-to-day activities of Alaskan fishing crews.The opening 28 measures (Port at Dawn) should be played broadly and majestically. Measures 29 through 66 (A Gathering of Ships) should be playing in a lively and energetic manner. The various canonic entrances represent the ships as they leave port one-by-one. Measures 67 through 132 (Out to Sea) should be played forcefully and energetically. Each successive entrance should push the pulse of this section to its conclusion at 132.Measures 133 through 150 (Return to Port) recalls the opening section, played with sweeping grandeur.
SKU: PR.16500103F
ISBN 9781491131763. UPC: 680160680290.
Ever since the success of my series of wind ensemble works Places in the West, I've been wanting to write a companion piece for national parks on the other side of the north American continent. The earlier work, consisting of GLACIER, THE YELLOWSTONE FIRES, ARCHES, and ZION, spanned some twenty years of my composing life, and since the pieces called for differing groups of instruments, and were in slightly different styles from each other, I never considered them to be connected except in their subject matter. In their depiction of both the scenery and the human history within these wondrous places, they had a common goal: awaking the listener to the fragile beauty that is in them; and calling attention to the ever more crucial need for preservation and protection of these wild places, unique in all the world. With this new work, commissioned by a consortium of college and conservatory wind ensembles led by the University of Georgia, I decided to build upon that same model---but to solidify the process. The result, consisting of three movements (each named for a different national park in the eastern US), is a bona-fide symphony. While the three pieces could be performed separately, they share a musical theme---and also a common style and instrumentation. It is a true symphony, in that the first movement is long and expository, the second is a rather tightly structured scherzo-with-trio, and the finale is a true culmination of the whole. The first movement, Everglades, was the original inspiration for the entire symphony. Conceived over the course of two trips to that astonishing place (which the native Americans called River of Grass, the subtitle of this movement), this movement not only conveys a sense of the humid, lush, and even frightening scenery there---but also an overview of the entire settling-of- Florida experience. It contains not one, but two native American chants, and also presents a view of the staggering influence of modern man on this fragile part of the world. Beginning with a slow unfolding marked Heavy, humid, the music soon presents a gentle, lyrical theme in the solo alto saxophone. This theme, which goes through three expansive phrases with breaks in between, will appear in all three movements of the symphony. After the mood has been established, the music opens up to a rich, warm setting of a Cherokee morning song, with the simple happiness that this part of Florida must have had prior to the nineteenth century. This music, enveloping and comforting, gradually gives way to a more frenetic, driven section representative of the intrusion of the white man. Since Florida was populated and developed largely due to the introduction of a train system, there's a suggestion of the mechanized iron horse driving straight into the heartland. At that point, the native Americans become considerably less gentle, and a second chant seems to stand in the way of the intruder; a kind of warning song. The second part of this movement shows us the great swampy center of the peninsula, with its wildlife both in and out of the water. A new theme appears, sad but noble, suggesting that this land is precious and must be protected by all the people who inhabit it. At length, the morning song reappears in all its splendor, until the sunset---with one last iteration of the warning song in the solo piccolo. Functioning as a scherzo, the second movement, Great Smoky Mountains, describes not just that huge park itself, but one brave soul's attempt to climb a mountain there. It begins with three iterations of the UR-theme (which began the first movement as well), but this time as up-tempo brass fanfares in octaves. Each time it begins again, the theme is a little slower and less confident than the previous time---almost as though the hiker were becoming aware of the daunting mountain before him. But then, a steady, quick-pulsed ostinato appears, in a constantly shifting meter system of 2/4- 3/4 in alteration, and the hike has begun. Over this, a slower new melody appears, as the trek up the mountain progresses. It's a big mountain, and the ascent seems to take quite awhile, with little breaks in the hiker's stride, until at length he simply must stop and rest. An oboe solo, over several free cadenza-like measures, allows us (and our friend the hiker) to catch our breath, and also to view in the distance the rocky peak before us. The goal is somehow even more daunting than at first, being closer and thus more frighteningly steep. When we do push off again, it's at a slower pace, and with more careful attention to our footholds as we trek over broken rocks. Tantalizing little views of the valley at every switchback make our determination even stronger. Finally, we burst through a stand of pines and----we're at the summit! The immensity of the view is overwhelming, and ultimately humbling. A brief coda, while we sit dazed on the rocks, ends the movement in a feeling of triumph. The final movement, Acadia, is also about a trip. In the summer of 2014, I took a sailing trip with a dear friend from North Haven, Maine, to the southern coast of Mt. Desert Island in Acadia National Park. The experience left me both exuberant and exhausted, with an appreciation for the ocean that I hadn't had previously. The approach to Acadia National Park by water, too, was thrilling: like the difference between climbing a mountain on foot with riding up on a ski-lift, I felt I'd earned the right to be there. The music for this movement is entirely based on the opening UR-theme. There's a sense of the water and the mysterious, quiet deep from the very beginning, with seagulls and bell buoys setting the scene. As we leave the harbor, the theme (in a canon between solo euphonium and tuba) almost seems as if large subaquatic animals are observing our departure. There are three themes (call them A, B and C) in this seafaring journey---but they are all based on the UR theme, in its original form with octaves displaced, in an upside-down form, and in a backwards version as well. (The ocean, while appearing to be unchanging, is always changing.) We move out into the main channel (A), passing several islands (B), until we reach the long draw that parallels the coastline called Eggemoggin Reach, and a sudden burst of new speed (C). Things suddenly stop, as if the wind had died, and we have a vision: is that really Mt. Desert Island we can see off the port bow, vaguely in the distance? A chorale of saxophones seems to suggest that. We push off anew as the chorale ends, and go through all three themes again---but in different instrumentations, and different keys. At the final tack-turn, there it is, for real: Mt. Desert Island, big as life. We've made it. As we pull into the harbor, where we'll secure the boat for the night, there's a feeling of achievement. Our whale and dolphin friends return, and we end our journey with gratitude and celebration. I am profoundly grateful to Jaclyn Hartenberger, Professor of Conducting at the University of Georgia, for leading the consortium which provided the commissioning of this work.
SKU: PR.16500102F
ISBN 9781491131749. UPC: 680160680276.
SKU: PR.16500101F
ISBN 9781491131725. UPC: 680160680252.
SKU: CF.CPS200
ISBN 9781491152355. UPC: 680160909858.
Altho ugh some stories in Greek mythology reveal a different side to his character, Apollo was widely regarded to hold a cheerful personality and communicating joy through the music he played on his lyre. Apollo Arise is an energetic and spirited work for band ideal for opening a concert. The uplifting and exuberant melodic material lead the group on a sonic journey to capture the joy and light music can bring to both the audience and the performer.Program NotesAmong the many stories in Greek mythology, Apollo holds a unique place as a complex Olympian god known for truth, prophecy, healing, poetry, plague, knowledge, light and music. Although some stories reveal a different side to his character, Apollo was widely regarded to hold a cheerful personality and communicated joy through the music he played on his lyre. Apollo Arise is an energetic and spirited work for band, ideal for opening a concert. The uplifting and exuberant melodic material lead the group on a sonic journey to capture the joy and light music can bring to both the audience and performer. From the dynamic opening fanfare to the soaring motifs and rhythms that follow, Apollo Arise provides a wonderful opportunity for the ensemble to reach for new musical heights in their performance!   Rehearsal Notes and SuggestionsThe opening twenty-four measures of the work are important for the rest of the work to unfold successfully. Encourage the ensemble to play with a unified articulation style, maintain a proper balance, and establish a consistent tempo through this section as several recurring rhythms must be performed consistently. Measure 38 features a trumpet solo, so be sure that the rest of the ensemble balances their line to support the solo instrument. In the section that begins at m. 67, there is an optional solo opportunity for trumpet and trombone. Both of these sections provide nice contrast against the full ensemble sections that are present in the work. The section at m. 81 includes a call-and-response section between woodwind, brass and percussion groups. Be sure that as groups enter, the tempo remains consistent and that the winds articulation style is unified and complimentary to the percussion. As the opening fanfare returns at m. 101, remind the ensemble to play with consistent style, balance and tempo as they did in the opening. As the ensemble begins the part of the journey with Apollo at m. 110, the music contains unique layers that must work together to be effective and set up the material that begins at m. 127. Encourage the group to play so they can hear all other lines, and allow their energy to grow into a focused musical celebration by the final note. Thank you in advance for your support of this music, and I wish you and your ensemble well as Apollo Arise welcomes the audience to your concert hall.
SKU: CF.CPS200F
ISBN 9781491153031. UPC: 680160910533.
SKU: CF.BPS120
ISBN 9781491152065. UPC: 680160909568.
An exceptionally clever idea, to combine the standard bugle calls into an easy march for beginning students. It is something they already know, and can be successful on right away. We are delighted to welcome composer/educator Chris Ferguson to the Carl Fischer catalog. He brings a wealth of experience working with beginners that has translated into this wonderful new march for young students.Reveille March is inspired by the bugle calls found throughout military history.The “Rev eille†call is the signal used to awaken the troops for morning roll call and accompanies the raising of the flag. At the conductor’s discretion, the soli sections (measures 29 and 37) may also be performed as solos in reference to the traditional solo bugle call.“To the Color†(measure 49) is used to signal the end of a soldier’s day. It is also used when a full band is not available to render honors and commands all the same courtesies as our National Anthem.
SKU: CF.BPS120F
ISBN 9781491152744. UPC: 680160910243.
