On “Ancient Dialogue’s” path to Chicago
On Ancient Dialogue’s path to Chicago
by
Patrick J. Burns
A few years ago, I was doing some research on the net in the computer lab of Montclair State University’s Department of Music, where I teach. I was looking for an mp3 recording of Larry Daehn’s arrangement of Themes From Green Bushes, by Percy Grainger, as I was considering performing it with a community youth band I direct. I found a link which led me to the McCracken Middle School Band form Skokie, Illinois. I was impressed that a middle school band had such a well done website at all, much less one which contained links to recordings of their concert performances. I clicked, listened, and was blown away.
I was so impressed with the level of musicianship that I invited a few undergraduate music education students to the lab listen to the recording. I made sure they couldn’t see the monitor and said something like, “Have a listen to this high school band play Grainger. Pay particular attention to the quality of the trumpet section’s tone and the xylophone later in the piece.” As the recording unfolded, there were many expressions of surprise that a “high school” band could have a trumpet section which played so sensitively, that the woodwinds played so musically and well in tune, etc. At the conclusion of the piece, I asked the undergrads to have a look at the monitor and I said, “This is a middle school band, folks. THIS is what’s possible.” Every mouth was open, but there were very few words. It was an epiphany for all of them.
So I was particularly pleased when I received a phone call from Larry Daehn this past June. He informed me that “a middle school band from Illinois wants to play Ancient Dialogue at Midwest this year.” Larry and I talk often and I have enjoyed every conversation we’ve had over the years. Most composers do not have such close relationships with their publishers, so I know how fortunate I am to have a good number of my published works with Larry. Anyway, Larry continued to try to remember the school’s name (he couldn’t), then began searching for the director’s name in his mind. “I think it’s Chip…umm…Chip…”, he said. I interrupted, “Chip De Stefano and the McCracken Middle School Band?” Larry said yes, that was it. It made my day.
Having a work selected to be performed at Midwest is an honor for any composer, regardless of the difficulty level of the piece. Peter Boonshaft (Director of Bands at Hofstra University) and I did a concert together in June and I told him about Ancient Dialogue being selected for Midwest. He was practically more excited than I was! His reaction was, “WOW! I know composers who have written band music for decades who have never been selected for performance at Midwest. This is a HUGE deal for you!”
I am particularly gratified that Chip selected Ancient Dialogue because it’s the most recent one of three of mine written for middle school band which is in print. When I began writing band music in earnest in 1998, I focused on works for high school, university and professional-level bands. I still write for those levels, but in recent years I have grown to thoroughly enjoy writing for middle-level bands. My goal is to produce works which are technically accessible, but musically substantial, regardless of the level for which I’m writing. Fancy techniques and fast passagework mean nothing if the music suffers. James Syler, composer and founder of Ballerbach Publications says, “Artistry first.” He’s right.
Ancient Dialogue was written for the 2005 Bloomfield Summer Arts Workshop Wind Ensemble and was premiered on July 28 of that year, under my direction. The piece is based on “Baises Moy” (”Kiss Me”), a French folk tune dating back to the 15th century. Several composers of the Renaissance, most notably Josquin des Pres, used this melody as the basis of other compositions, both sacred and secular. The text attached to the original melody represents a conversation between a young man and a young woman in which the young man makes an eloquent attempt to steal a kiss from his girlfriend, but she politely refuses. The young man is determined to not give up so easily, so he presses the issue. In the end however, the young woman offers her reason for denying her lover a kiss. The music in this setting is sometimes insistent and determined, and at other times pleading and gentle, reflecting the changing nature of what surely must have been a much longer conversation than the translation of the original text suggests:
“Kiss me, sweet friend. For love I pray thee.”
“I won’t.”
“And why?”
“If I committed such folly, my mother would be ashamed. That’s why!”
Ancient Dialogue is a juxtaposition of old and new on a couple of levels. First, it’s an old tune which is arranged for a modern ensemble using both antiquated and more contemporary harmonizations. Also, the consideration of the text (which does not appear in the published score, incidentally), is important. The sentiments expressed by the young man and young woman are timeless. Can you imagine a similar conversation today? The words may be very different, but the emotions conveyed would be very much the same.
I’d like to extend my sincerest congratulations to Chip De Stefano and the McCracken Middle School Band for having been selected to perform at this year’s Midwest Band and Orchestra Clinic. Together, they are making a huge impact in the world of music education and are demonstrating to their community and indeed to the country that dedication, loyalty, commitment, industry and artistry bear such wonderful fruit that can be enjoyed by all. Tutti bravi!
Patrick J. Burns
West Caldwell, New Jersey
September 25, 2006
(Patrick Burns’ music can be heard at his website, www.patrickburnsmusic.com)
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Posted: September 26, 2006 | PermaLink
Our Program - Approved!
What a relief! We received word that the program we submitted for our Midwest performance was approved this morning. The programs of all the performing groups won’t be posted by the Midwest Office until late October, but it’s now officially okay for me to write about them.
The question I get asked more than any other about Midwest is “What are you playing?” Finally I can share! My guess is that most aren’t interested in long-winded descriptions, so I’ll keep them short.
Essanay Fanfare - Douglas Akey (2006, manuscript, Grade 3)
The title for our Midwest Commission will eventually become “Joy Fantasique.” Doug would really like to change the title, but if that change isn’t approved by the Midwest Office, he’ll keep it the original title until after the premier. I’m excited to read through the fanfare for the first time after our concert this week.
Ancient Dialogue - Patrick Burns (Daehn Publications, 2006, new, Grade 2)
This is a great work, in ABA form, based on “Baises Moy” (”Kiss Me”), a French folk tune dating back to the Renaissance. The theme moves through the band as dialogues between contrasting wind groups. I particularly like the way the composer successfully marries the Renaissance feel with more contemporary harmonies.
Little Suite for Band - Clare Grundman (Boosey & Hawkes, 1957, old, Grade 2)
For months, my heart was set on performing “Fantasy on American Sailing Songs” at Midwest. Grundman was never an option…I love his stuff and feel it to be literature that every middle school band should be playing. Not only that, because of the challenges his music generally presents, I knew we’d become a more mature group just by preparing it. While going through the “60th Anniversary” required list one more time, I realized that “Little Suite for Band” would be the perfect way to slightly ease up on the difficulty of the program while we still gain the benefits of preparing Grundman.
Albanian Dance - Shelley Hanson (Boosey & Hawkes, 2005, old, Grade 4)
This work is part of last year’s Windependence series. It’s a fun work. The greatest challenge will be getting the technique up to speed. It fits the strengths of our band, though, so hopefully I won’t loose too much hair over this one.
Our Kingsland Spring - Samuel R. Hazo (Hal Leonard, 2005, new, Grade 2)
This is the first movement to Hazo’s “Georgia Suite.” The first movement, “Ascend,” was given its world premier by Tapp Middle School at the 2004 Midwest Clinic. That was a great concert. As with most of Hazo’s work, this will be well liked by our audiences.
Chinese Folk Song Medley - Robert Garofalo (Grand Mesa Music, 1999, old, Grade 2)
This work hasn’t received nearly the attention it deserves. On the easy side of grade two, it is a wonderful example of the type of authentic cultural music our students should be exposed to. There is a significant amount of optional singing that I’m still deciding on. My current hope is to try to have the kids sing the folk songs in the original Chinese instead of the English translations. We’ll see.
Orange Bowl - Henry Fillmore (Carl Fischer, 1939 POP, old, Grade 3)
Good stuff. We’re performing this on Wednesday. The kids are playing it, but not really PLAYING it. We’ll have a lot of cleaning to do when we dust it off in a few weeks.
Prelude and Fugue in D minor - J.S. Bach/Roland Moehlmann (Alfred, 1953, old, Grade 3)
From “Eight Little Preludes and Fugues,” this work isn’t played nearly as much as the Prelude and Fugue in Bb, but it shares a lot of similar qualities. The technique is reasonable, and there is just so much good stuff to teach. The biggest challenges will be getting the polyphony to fit and work together and, of course, pitch. In fact, our next warm-up chorale will be in D minor to help the kids adjust to that key.
Ye Banks and Braes O’ Bonnie Doon - arr. Michael Sweeney (Hal Leonard, 2006, new, Grade 1)
This is a great, very accessible, arrangement of this wonderful Scottish folk tune. It’ll be a fun one to rehearse. It also sets up our last work very well.
Symphony No. 4 for Winds and Percussion (4th Movement) - Andrew Boysen, Jr. (Kjos, 2006, new, Grade 3)
Symphony No.4 is a work we commissioned for our 2004 performance at the IMEA All-State Conference. Because of its length, nearly 12 minutes, we’ll only be performing the last movement. This work as been amazingly well received wherever I’ve brought it, and I’m very excited to share it with our Midwest audience.
This Wednesday we’ll be performing three of the Midwest works for the first time. Following this concert we’ll have four weeks to prepare four more for our next concert.
(For topic suggestions or questions relating to our Midwest performance I can be contacted via email: cdestefano@skokie735.k12.il.us or through the contact page on our website.)
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Posted: September 24, 2006 | PermaLink
Demo Group for Bruce Pearson Clinic at Midwest
In addition to our scheduled performance at the Midwest Clinic, December 22, 2006 from 3:30 PM - 4:15 PM, we will be performing as the demostration group for a clinic by Bruce Pearson on Thursday, 10:15 - 11:15 in the Merle Reskin Theater.
Be sure to check it out!
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Posted: September 23, 2006 | PermaLink
Program Submission
September 15 has been looming since our very first Midwest Memo. Today was the deadline for submitting our concert program to the Midwest Board for approval. If you’re a regular reader, you know I had every intention of submitting early. Instead, I ended up spending a good portion of the last week playing with and tweaking the program order. I even flipped the order of two pieces just before my final proofing.
Our student teacher proofed the program one more time before I emailed it in. Good thing, he caught a couple errors caused by that last second re-ordering of two tunes that I had missed. Once the corrections were made, the electronic copy was sent and the hard copy was driven to the Midwest Office. It was a great relief to have the program finished and turned in.
(Speaking of our student teacher, with the conclusion of his student teaching he’ll have completed his degree and certification and will be looking for a band position, leave or otherwise, starting in January. He’s the goods…a talented, hard working teacher that I recommend without reservation for a middle school or high school position. Shoot me an email if you’d like to check out his resume for an opening.)
We’ll know if our program is approved by early October.
Our program…still no titles until approved:
Selection One (2006, manuscript, Grade 3)
Okay, one title. Essanay Fanfare by Douglas Akey - commissioned for our performance at the 2006 Midwest Clinic. Besides being a wonderful composer, Doug was formerly the band director at Hendrix Jr. High School, which performed at Midwest in 1992. This is our fourth time we’ve commissioned a work from Doug.
Selection Two (2006, new, Grade 2)
More later.
Selection Three (1957, old, Grade 2)
This was the last addition to our program. It replaced another harder work by the same composer. This three-movement suite was included in the 60th Anniversary List compiled by the Board of Directors.
Selection Four (2005, old, Grade 4)
When I first heard this work I was stunned that it wasn’t performed last year. It’s definitely the hardest work on our program, and should “knock ‘em dead.” The audience, that is, not the kids. It’s placed early in the program as recommended in our guidelines.
Selection Five (2005, new, Grade 2)
More later.
Selection Six (1999, old, Grade 2)
More later.
Selection Seven (1939 POP, old, Grade 3)
Our march. Unfortunately it’s out of print, but it’s a great one by a composer on the required march composer list.
Selection Eight (1953, old, Grade 3)
Baroque transcription on the 60th Anniversary List. More later.
Selection Nine (2006, new, Grade 1)
There were several quality grade ones released this summer. My favorite was snagged before I could reserve it. This was a very close second.
Selection Ten (2006, new, Grade 3)
This is the final movement of a work we commissioned a few years ago. It’ll be the perfect finale to our program.
I continue to be very pleased with our program:
- A traditional march
- 4 contemporary works, only one overture
- 1 transcription…although my original plan hoped to have two
- 2 works from the 60th anniversary list, 3 pre-1960 works. 3 classics and hopefully several destined to be classics.
- 3 arrangements of folk literature
- A nice variety of difficulty and styles
Now we just have to learn all this stuff!!!!
(For topic suggestions or questions relating to our Midwest performance I can be contacted via email: cdestefano@skokie735.k12.il.us or through the contact page on our website.)
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Posted: September 15, 2006 | PermaLink
Symphonic Band at Middleton - DATE CHANGE
As part of our recruitment drive, the Symphonic Band will be performing for the 4th Grade classes on Wednesday, September 27. We rehearse the morning of Sept. 27 at 7:20 at Middleton. Rehearsal on Thursday, September 28 will be cancelled.
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Posted: September 6, 2006 | PermaLink