"Bolt" for two trumpets and piano

I guess this will be my first post, heh.

I wrote this piece as to be very very very dissonant. And harshly so; the half-step intervals of the trumpet are just about everywhere.

I wrote this piece for two seventh graders, for their third-quarter performance exam in band class. I decided to give them a challenge.

But nevertheless, I hope you like it. :) Feedback is appreciated! (Don't be afraid to get a little harsh, I can take constructive criticism.)

Keep in mind, right now I'm only 14 years old...my musical style and tastes are constantly changing with my hormones! Anything I post in the future may be totally different from what is posted here. ><

I like it, very good use of dissonance, I've always though dissonance works best with rhythm! I think there are a few odd spots, but since the pdf score isn't working right, I can't tell you where.

Hi Morgri,

Thanks for the reply! Hmm...could you give me a time marking? (markings?) I'd really like to take a look some of the awkward moments...

Groovy, man! I think you got the sarcastic atmosphere pretty much down. I'm being really nitpicky, but "ruvido" would probably be a better word to use than "sarcastico." Otherwise, great stuff! The rhythmic polyphony among voices is really engaging. Nice job!

Thanks for sharing this. I will be giving it a listen as soon as possible - this computer has a few midi glitches at the moment. However, I did take a look at the score and had a few comments/suggestions.

First off, this piece can be played with relative ease by a pair of competent performers. It is perhaps a bit more challenging than a lot of material which two trumpeters of that year are likely to encounter. By this I mean primarily the recurring high concert Gflat5 - through A5, as well as some of the interval skips (eg, the really quick skip in trumpet 1, bar 31, and both parts - a bit - in bar 32...) There are a few other places that might be a bit tricky, but, again you said you wanted to give them a challenge...So really, there is nothing here which is out of range or impossible to do :D

A few small notational issues I've noticed....Bars 90-91, tuplets both accented and slurred? If this is a phrase mark and not a slur, it's not necessary and will only confuse matters for the performers. Usually accents will be enunciated individually....Unless you would like them slurred, but with a sudden and uniform increase in volume - then you could preserve the slur, lose the accents, and notate a new dynamic instead. Totally up to you, though :)

I am also curious about the contrary motion of minor 2nds...eg bars 106-109 and a couple of others places, but that's a good example of what I'm referring to...Not sure if the trade-off will really cut through - have you considered having your performers stand at a bit of a distance from one another? (perhaps on opposite sides of the performance space). This could lend and interesting antiphonal quality to the music, and bring out the chased figures which occur throughout. Directionality could bring a kind of focus to what you're doing with material whose intervals are so close. I've seen this done effectively with a few duet pieces in the past. Not sure if that's the effect you're going for, though - again, just a suggestion :)

The two octave skip at the end *could* be an issue - show the piece to your players and get their thoughts on it, then take it from there. It's certainly not impossible - just make sure they can pull it off ;)

I might think of more things to add later, but that's about it for now. I'm anxious to get the midi issues resolved so I can listen to this >.< lol

From a musical standpoint, I think this piece could be very rewarding for your trumpeters and pianist, and interesting for your audience as well. Keep it up!

~K

mgrafe:

Thanks! Haha, I guess I just wanted to use "sarcastico" because I like mixing English and Italian. And I didn't think of "ruvido." I guess that would work too, huh? :D

By the way, your signature is hilarious. I love it.

kromatozomika:

Thanks for the feedback! That was extremely insightful.

To write the piece, I collaborated with one of the trumpetists and he said that nothing was tooooo out of range, so it's okay. I noticed it was a really high note and he didn't have a problem with it. After I gave him the score though, he did tell me that he thought it was a challenge, but he could pull it off, which is good.

For bars 90-91...Whoops. I didn't mean to put those extra accents there...nice catch! I did however, want those to be louder than the "surrounding" notes, like a loud sort of "BLAHH!" from the relative softness.

The contrary motion of the seconds...I was inspired to do something like that from listening to the beginning of John Adams' "Grand Pianola Music"! Kind of odd to apply here...but the idea was that each trumpet player has a different tone, so when they play contrary seconds, each one sounds different than the one preceding it because their timbres are slightly different. Did that make any sense? I don't know...it's kind of hard to explain. ><

Again, thanks so much for the comments! I appreciate it beyond words. Really. :)

-Thomas

mgrafe:

Thanks! Haha, I guess I just wanted to use "sarcastico" because I like mixing English and Italian. And I didn't think of "ruvido." I guess that would work too, huh? :D

By the way, your signature is hilarious. I love it.

kromatozomika:

Thanks for the feedback! That was extremely insightful.

To write the piece, I collaborated with one of the trumpetists and he said that nothing was tooooo out of range, so it's okay. I noticed it was a really high note and he didn't have a problem with it. After I gave him the score though, he did tell me that he thought it was a challenge, but he could pull it off, which is good.

For bars 90-91...Whoops. I didn't mean to put those extra accents there...nice catch! I did however, want those to be louder than the "surrounding" notes, like a loud sort of "BLAHH!" from the relative softness.

The contrary motion of the seconds...I was inspired to do something like that from listening to the beginning of John Adams' "Grand Pianola Music"! Kind of odd to apply here...but the idea was that each trumpet player has a different tone, so when they play contrary seconds, each one sounds different than the one preceding it because their timbres are slightly different. Did that make any sense? I don't know...it's kind of hard to explain. ><

Again, thanks so much for the comments! I appreciate it beyond words. Really. :)

-Thomas

No, man, I totally dig what you're saying there - you know the performers you've got - always good to exploit whatever characteristics you can, if you have a custom ensemble for one of your works =) Good stuff.

Fosho. Good ol' John Adams.