Program	notes by the composer, Dr. Mara Gibson: 
Inspired	by	the	100th anniversary	of Women’s Suffrage, this piece was	specifically composed for LSU trumpet major,	Hollyn Slykhuis who	commissioned several pieces by female composers	as part of her	final	Honor’s College project at Louisiana State University. Several of	my	composition	students	wrote for her recital.  Hollyn is a double major in	music education and trumpet performance and is a part of the high	
achieving Ogden Honor’s College.

I took the quote by women’s rights activist Susan B. Anthony (1820-1906) to	heart:	

“The older I get, the greater power I seem to have to have to help the	world: I am like a snowball– the further I am rolled, the more I gain.”
Words to	live	by. I	can	only	hope to accomplish as	much as she.

Performance	notes by Dr. Mara Gibson:
This	short etude is about the gradual move from the most muted sound	to the least using Hollyn’s specific technical expertise. Switching mutes should never feel rushed. Take as much time as you need.

The older I get, the greater power I seem to have to help the world; I am like a snowball - the further I am rolled the more I gain.

Matthew Swihart

Snowball by Mara Gibson

I made this little project on Audacity, recording in my mom's basement. I hope to finish the third movement soon!

Fisher Tull Canonic Trilogy Mvt 2

I recorded the first two parts of this sextet by Elizabeth Raum in my mother's basement during a visit. I did the other four in our bedroom in Thibodaux, LA.  I recorded on a Blue Snowball microphone and used Audacity to put it together.

Canadian Fanfare by Elizabeth Raum, Take 3

I recorded this movement at my home in Thibodaux in July of 2020 during the quarantine.

Fisher Tull Canonic Trilogy Mvt 3

I recorded this in my home in Thibodaux during the quarantine of 2020.  It's a madrigal called "Io pur respiro" by Carlo Gesualdo (1560-1614), transcribed and arranged by Ronald C. Dishinger. It's published by Medici Music Press, and the sheet music is inexpensive.  My means of recording these is still pretty unsophisticated, but I'm learning!

Gesualdo Io Pur Respiro Tpt Quartet

English Suite I, Bourree II, J.S. Bach, Arr. Mark Feezell

I recorded this in my bedroom using a Blue Snowball Microphone and Audacity in August of 2020.  The piece is a beautifully crafted  21st century work that a student group can perform at a satisfying level.

Kimberly Archer, Obsequies for Trumpet Sextet

This was just a little experiment in recording the tenor and bass parts on trumpet, then using Audacity to move the pitch down an octave. I doesn't sound bad.  It sounds like mediocre tenor horns or Wagner tubas.  I might record some more substantial quintets and quartets this way.  Or I might record more hymns for the enjoyment of my Mennonite relatives.  Hypothetically, a recording like this could accompany outdoor services in this time of Covid.

Break Forth O Beauteous heavenly Light, Swihart Quartet

I met Niloufar Iravani at LSU when the Nicholls State University was playing a composers' showcase concert there last year. Her pieces appealed to me very much, and I inquired if she had any featuring the trumpet. Transformation utilizes the Harmon mute and pixie mute with plunger, mutes associated with jazz and particularly the Duke Ellington band. This was recorded in my home in a very dry acoustic space and edited using Audacity. I plan to make a video recording of the piece soon in our excellent concert hall at Nicholls.

Transformation for solo trumpet by Niloufar Iravani

"The villanelle consists of five stanzas of three lines (tercets) followed by a single stanza of four lines (a quatrain) for a total of nineteen lines.It is structured by two repeating rhymes and two refrains: the first line of the first stanza serves as the last line of the second and fourth stanzas, and the third line of the first stanza serves as the last line of the third and fifth stanzas." Strand et al. 2001 p. 7

The score to Villanelle contains labels corresponding to the Renaissance form. Stanza 1: A1, A2 Stanza 2: a,b, Stanza 3: a,b, A1 Stanza 4 a,b, A1, A2   

To find out more about Dale Trumbore, a wonderful composer of instrumental and vocal music, see her website at: https://www.daletrumbore.com/