SKU: CL.011-4260-01
Desert Fire is a powerful work that provides young bands the opportunity to perform music that is exciting, moving, and expressive without being unnecessarily difficult. Instrument ranges are kept within one octave, and there are no accidentals, key changes, or awkward rhythms, making Desert Fire very accessible for young bands. With expanded percussion parts, driving rhythms and dramatic melodies, Desert Fire is sure to be an enjoyable and memorable addition to any concert.
About C.L. Barnhouse Command Series
The Barnhouse Command Series includes works at grade levels 2, 2.5, and 3. This series is designed for middle school and junior high school bands, as well as high school bands of smaller instrumentation or limited experience. Command Series publications have a slightly larger instrumentation than the Rising Band Series, and are typically of larger scope, duration, and musical content.
SKU: AP.44911S
UPC: 038081516189. English.
Inspired by the Valley of Fire state park in the southwest United States that boasts stunning red sandstone formations created more than 150 million years ago. Located in Nevada's oldest state park in the Mojave Desert, at certain times of the day, when reflecting the sun's rays, these brilliant sandstone formations create the visual illusion of actually being on fire. An emotional composition that is a perfect for concert and contest performances alike. Juxtaposing bold and peaceful musical statements, this compelling composition concludes with burning intensity. (4:00).
SKU: AP.44911
UPC: 038081516172. English.
SKU: HL.4008005
How often has something been justified by, declared to be, or blessed as “in the name of†some cause or other? How can it be that opposing armies and the use of weapons are ever “in the name ofâ€...? This is a common thread in the history of different faiths. Good was created but evil was committed and all “in the name of...†This thread is also found in the history of the Premonstratensian Abbey at Wadgassen. The abbey was built in the 12th century on unfertile, desolate moorland, which later evolved into the most powerful religious community in the Saarland. The history of the abbey records quite astounding achievements under the motto desertum florebit quasi lilium (“the desert will bloom like a lilyâ€); but also the harsh treatment of delinquents. The order had its own school, in which children were taught the seven liberal arts (which included music as well as geography and astronomy), but the poor were left to starve outside the abbey walls and were only allowed to eat from the members' on feast days. The medieval witch trials demanded their pound of flesh, and one group that fell victim were ecstatic dancers who moved wildly to music--which was interpreted as the devil's work. The result: a show trial that sentenced the dancers to death by fire. All in the name of... The year is 1789: Abbot Bordier is in the tenth year of his command. He does not yet know that he is to be the last abbot of an almost 700-year-tradition. Not far from the abbey is the French border, which has long been making itself felt with the sound of gunfire, and the brothers continue to keep a nervous eye on it. The first portents of the French Revolution loom, but no one wants to believe it--that is, until the French pound the door down, storm the abbey and come right into the brothers' chambers. In a blind fury, all the pipes of the abbey organ are torn out, icons beheaded with swords and brothers beaten death while numerous buildings are set on fire. The abbey church is in flames. A frantic and desperate escape begins. Abbot Bordier and a handful of brothers make their getaway via the River Saar, adjacent to the abbey, to the neighbouring village of Bous. They survive, but their life--the Premonstratensian abbey--is destroyed. While they flee towards Prague and the sanctuary of the Strahov Monastery, the abbey at Wadgassen is razed to the ground and becomes a stone quarry. The desert blooms once more, however. A few short decades later, a glasswork arises from the foundations of the abbey. As peace returns to the region, it brings jobs and a new vision for its people.
SKU: HL.4008004
SKU: PR.11441473S
UPC: 680160607600. 8.5 x 11 inches.
For this horn ensemble, Ewazen finds genesis in quite a different setting - Las Vegas and environs. The Valley of Fire reflects the color and intensity of its namesake; Those Who Came Before is more reflective, a sense of wonder at civilizations long gone; and Neon Eldorado captures the man-made wonder that is Vegas, through high energy jazzy joy. For advanced performers.
SKU: CL.012-4524-01
The Ocean of Fire is a unique and challenging work that takes the listener on an exciting journey through the mysterious and vast untamed nature of the Arabian Peninsula deserts. Clever use of the Arabic (or Byzantine) scale creates the characteristic Arabic or middle-eastern sound that is popularly used in film scores. This exciting work focuses on providing every instrument with engaging and challenging music by interweaving motives and melodies to create a unique soundscape. Compelling!
SKU: CL.012-4524-75
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: PR.16500104F
ISBN 9781491132159. UPC: 680160681082.
SKU: AP.29603S
UPC: 038081318332. English.
Dillon's Flight was inspired by the legend of the Phoenix, a bird of fire that does not lay eggs, has no younglings, was here at the beginning of time, and yet still lives today in a hidden desert land. Every 500 years, the sun burns down on the Phoenix until a flash of light appears and it becomes consumed by the flames of fire. From the pile of silvery-gray ash rises up a young Phoenix. The young Phoenix then takes flight and sings its glorious song to the sun for another five hundred years. Dedicated to the Dillon School in Phoenix, New York, this musical depiction is jam-packed with energy. (5:07) This title is available in MakeMusic Cloud.
SKU: CF.FPS164
ISBN 9781491163504. UPC: 680160922291.
Call of the Ancient Clans takes players back to the time of the dawn of man, when neighboring tribes could communicate with each other not by racing through the harsh jungle or dry desert, but by the use of different rhythm instruments. Music was also used in religious rituals, celebrations and to share the history of the group.With an interesting, pulsating rhythm and catchy woodwind lines, Call of the Ancient Clans is sure to light a fire under students and get them involved in making some exhilarating music. The notes can be easily played by those with over a year of band experience, but will also provide a good challenge, as the first clarinets do go over the break a couple of times.Students will have a lot of fun playing double forte (who doesn’t?). However, caution students that playing “as loud as you can†can lead to bad-sounding notes. Balance with the person next to you; if you can’t hear them, you’re too loud. Double forte is a bit like calling to your friend from across the gym when nobody else is in there. You don’t want to be louder than that.Who has the melody at each rehearsal mark? Your students should know and if they do not, tell them. If they don’t have the melody, they need to back off their notes and play softer. Let the melody shine.Balance will make this piece truly sing. I hope you enjoy playing it; I loved writing it.