Go, Spartans

Color Exploration Premiere

Forward Premiere

Perc Trio Audio 2

influences and resolution is my second work for chamber wind ensemble. In my years studying composition, I wrote for chamber ensembles and instrument families rather than a full ensemble, to better understand the details and characteristics of every instrument. Now I have put all that I have learned together. This work is influenced by a wide variety of things, some of them subconscious, some of them intentionally borrowed. Stravinsky once said that good composers do not imitate, they steal. This piece uses a unique harmonic minor/mixolydian hybrid mode, uses polychords, explores a variety of musical styles, and explores a lot of the different colors and effects that a wind band has to offer. The resolution represents any goals we have made in our lives, and how they have been achieved. This piece can be thought of as a celebration of accomplishment; last year I played percussion every day, marched drum corps, and got baptized. The unexpected final progression represents how we will always be thrown in different directions, but the final chord of an open fifth represents the many open opportunities we have to take once we achieve one goal; it leaves us open and embracing toward the future.

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