Ascent

a Threnody for concert band on the for the unexpected death of a band parent/volunteer.

This is not finished...I just need opinions of more experienced orchestrators. This is being performed and it is due 01/05 - I have a few days to make some changes. How do you think this works for a pretty good high school concert band?

Score has not been proofread except as I went along drafting it...so I'm working on that now and already have a few changes to harmonies/instrumentations I will make (and clean it up!).

The aleatoric figures that appear throughout, first in Clarinet 1 and 2 are intended to have the section alternate between the notes for the duration of the squiggle, all at different speeds. How should I note this (more eloquently and clear of course)? Should I do it on each part or in the score or both?

Thanks everyone.

As usual, percussion playback is a bit screwy

Ascent

From my perspective, your orchestration looks fairly sound. There are a few spots, though, where the brass seem to overpower the winds.

I liked the very strong opening. The lamenting solo's

Until ms 63 al is very good. Especially towards 43. Majestic indeed.

But from 63 it looses my interest. The section from 63 to 84 is interesting for a while. But from 84 'Driving' I was totally lost... Maybe because the harmonies are a bit weaker, and more iterative?

This looks and sounds great to me! I'm not a concert band guy, but the orchestration looks balanced (can't tell from the recording, really), and sounds colourful and varied.

It seems to me that the way you've notated the first few measures for the clarinets is unnecessarily complicated and might be confusing. If I were you, I'd notate it the same as the marimba, only with a direction like "non misurato" or "not measured," or something like that to indicate what you're after.

Very nice work, Jason!

Hey, I know I'm late, but how was the performance? I hope everyone appreciated it, it shows that you've put a lot of effort into this. If you still need it, here's some orchestration/instrumentation stuff I would change, although mostly it's fine the way it is!

So starting as a whole, I thought your melodies were very beautiful, well written and flowing. I think the harmonies were great, but there weren't very many. For such a large ensemble you only had about five instrument groups playing at a time, although in quiet parts this is fine.

I don't understand why the french horn is alone for a three bar melody at 20 then it is whisked away after hardly five seconds. I would suggest making that line a melody for the flute part at 23 and have it run all through until 31.

From there you have the solos and then most of the band plays, so good job there, although I doubt the piccolo will be heard at 47. And I loved the solo section at 63, and can understand the little accompaniment you have there. Actually, looking through the song I can see that you have many solos, and that it why there is so little accompaniment, so that is something you can take off my to fix list.

Now at bar 148 I noticed you have the flute and bells solo, which is lovely, but why did you add the trombone and euphonium? It seems a little odd that the two highest instruments are doubled with two bass low ones, I think you need to choose one or the other personally.

Finally, I liked the last two bars, and the held note, but not what led up to it. I felt it didn't slow down enough (although that's playback and not you) and that it should've been a louder climb to the climax. Try adding some crescendos and fooling around with that.

But in the end, I'm still stuck on the lack of accompaniment. You have all the solos, so actually you added a great amount, but I don't know if you'll get the full feeling you're hoping for. If it works out, go ahead with it. If it doesn't, try making the solos not solos, but use the same melodies, adding some counterpoint and more harmony. Sorry if I sound really vague and unhelpful, I do hope I've gotten somewhere with this, good luck!