Fanfare
Fanfare was inspired by Brazilian brass bands. It was written for music students at the Sandy Spring Friends School in Maryland. This music is reasonably easy to play and has an exuberant spirit with samba rhythms churning under contemporary harmonic voicings. It is intended to be a short piece; however, the vamp at the end can be extended with a solo or collective improvisation. Another option is to have a percussion intro before the horn section enters with the opening chords. Score demo by David Arivett. The instrumentation used in the demo is four trumpets, soprano saxophone, alto saxophone, trombone, tuba, piano, bass, drums, and percussion.
The mid-size ensemble score is for 4 or 5 wind instruments and rhythm section. Flexible instrumentation is used to enable the music to be played by many combinations of instruments. Mid-Size Ensemble describes the concepts that I used in this piece. Unlike my other music for mid-size ensemble, the rhythm section is optional for Fanfare. In this way, the piece can be performed by woodwind or brass quintets, clarinet ensemble, or sax quartet/quintet as several possibilities. Additionally, it can be easily adapted for big bands and larger ensembles by doubling players on parts so that each line has a distinctive blending of tone colors.
Suggested assignment of parts for a big band:
I -- 4 trumpets (open)
II -- clarinet, soprano sax
III - alto sax, trombone (open)
IV - tenor sax, trombone (cup), trombone (bucket)
V - baritone sax, bass trombone (open) or tuba
The mid-size ensemble score is for 4 or 5 wind instruments and rhythm section. Flexible instrumentation is used to enable the music to be played by many combinations of instruments. Mid-Size Ensemble describes the concepts that I used in this piece. Unlike my other music for mid-size ensemble, the rhythm section is optional for Fanfare. In this way, the piece can be performed by woodwind or brass quintets, clarinet ensemble, or sax quartet/quintet as several possibilities. Additionally, it can be easily adapted for big bands and larger ensembles by doubling players on parts so that each line has a distinctive blending of tone colors.
Suggested assignment of parts for a big band:
I -- 4 trumpets (open)
II -- clarinet, soprano sax
III - alto sax, trombone (open)
IV - tenor sax, trombone (cup), trombone (bucket)
V - baritone sax, bass trombone (open) or tuba