Moonshot!

I present:

Moonshot: 1969

A very filmy style piece from me, in complete contrast to the very individual violin piece I posted here a few days ago.

Hopefully this is also somewhat individual, but I was given a style in which to write, and I think I successfully pulled it off, without losing my own character.

This is a showy opening piece for brass band written for a Belfast brass group, who wanted an opener for a contest they played last Saturday in Troon, Scotland.

The name derives from the famous Apollo 11 mission, whose 40th anniversary was this year. I wanted to honour/remember that with a piece, and it tied in with the type of piece the band wanted.

This piece ended up being the opener, and the band ended up winning their section, as well as other prizes.

Here is the video (audio taken from rehearsal):

Here is the score:

Moonshot Full Score.pdf - File Shared from Box.net - Free Online File Storage

You can also find the audio from the contest performance here:

http://www.box.net/shared/fmkyofb1gy

I hope you all listen & enjoy! I'd be delighted to hear any comments! :)

Thanks,

Dan

I like it.

I'm not real into brass ensembles, but this is way cool! You definitely know the difference between the cornet and trumpet, and I think that's awesome!

"One small step for man" and all that...

Well now this was fun!

This reminds me of the stuff my concert band used to play...it's somewhere in between an authentic concert band fanfare and an old-fashioned film score. Really great tone — loving the shakes there....although, combined with the space imagery, I keep thinking Mars Attacks. :P

Pity it had to be so short though, I would have loved to hear some of these ideas expanded into a more elaborate form. Still, you got a performance and it won the ensemble some awards, so you should be very proud! The ending is extremely dramatic and they pulled it off well. I like this a lot, though your snare's presence was a bit odd....just sort of came in and out in a very noticeable way.

Anyway, thanks for sharing!

Hey Marius!

Thanks for the listen & comment,

I would've liked a longer piece too, but I was pretty strictly confined in terms of length.

Snare perhaps not perfectly integrated, yea. Hopefully my use of percussion will get more natural as I go on.

Glad you liked the ending! One of my favourite bits. Sounds especially good in the live recording (the mp3) too.

Cheers :)

Sure thing! It's going on my iPod for now. :happy:

Brilliant! :D

Well darn! I'm writing a piece on the EXACT SAME theme... for full orchestra, and the title is "Ad Luna". Were you also inspired by all the anniversary footage?

So having been thinking about the theme, I really like your take on it. Especially brass trills, that's such a cool sound. The ending is good. Following along with the score for a second hearing I appreciated the main theme more (the one in Lydian mode). It really moves the piece along.

Looked at this a third time... in trying to decipher the score, I learned a lot from Wikipedia about British brass bands. It took me a while to figure out that by "horn" you didn't mean "THE horn." And writing the trombone as a transposing instrument - whaaaa? ;)

That penultimate chord before the Bb chord, if I've got it right, is E F Ab Bb? Weird chord :D I guess it's a Bb7 with the third (D) in the bass suspended as a #4 (E)?

Hey Weca,

Thanks for the interest and comments. Just about to head out here, but I will reply in detail later.

Yes, Horn means Tenor Horn in Eb. It's a saxhorn, though in some respects still a decent substitute for the French Horn (and more agile/secure in upper range).

Trombones in Brass Bands transpose like the euphonium and baritone -- they're written a major 9th above sounding pitch.. so like Bb trumpets an octave down... OR like bass clarinets.

The penultimate chord is a whole-toney sort of chord. The F in the timp is actually a typo; it should be an E. The chord should just be E Gb Ab Bb, which is just a cluster of whole tones, spaced out.

Yea, I was inspired by all the anniversary footage, TV programmes and books my family had, etc. Figured this was my best chance to commemorate it.

In brass band, all instruments transpose except bass trombone and certain percussion.

I enjoyed this piece, it is now part of my iTunes Library :)

Very much enjoyed the theme, it some how reminded me of Sky Captain & the World of Tomorrow. I wished I could somehow give your much more deserved commentary towards the piece but that is all I got.

A pleasure to listen.

Hey Saiming, thanks for the listen!

I have not heard Sky Captain's score in quite some time, but I will give it a listen again!

Glad it's made it to your iTunes. :)

WOW It was soo goood! :D:thumbsup:

(It was a real orchestra playing?...just cause it sounded too good for samples, but who knows)..

Thanks, Norby.

It was indeed a real brass band playing. You should be able to tell from the occasional split notes. :P

But they did a good job, especially considering the limited number of rehearsals.

Moonshot is getting its second performance tomorrow at the Whitla Hall, Belfast by the Queen's University Brass Band.

Details here:

http://www.facebook.com/reqs.php#/event.php?eid=201058768560&ref=ts

Here's a rough recording from tonight's concert. It went well!

http://www.box.net/shared/kpk320va24

Wow! Nice recording!

I like the epic atmosphere. I can see the shuttle going up. Were the rising "arpgeggi" of the horns done in that sense?

It's only movie-esque in the beginning, really. At least for me. Unless you're talking about a 40s movie. xD

The ending is remarkable, you're always good with that kind of build-ups.

I wish I had an orchestra for my stuff! x3

Thanks - not sure why I missed your post, but now I've found it :P

You can probably see the shuttle up since I stuck a picture of it doing that in the video :P

The rising arpeggiiggigigigigigi in the horns/euphoniums/etc. is when the shuttle is flying through space towards the moon, in my mind's eye, although there is no strict programme.

You're probably right about the movie comment. Thanks re: ending :-D

Thanks again to all for listening!