Suggestions for Performance

Transcription

1 In Ancestral Realm is designed to be erormed by a quality unior high or high school ianist ith the band at their school It as commissioned in memory o Lily Tan Wong, a ianist and businessoman ho assed aay tragically young rom cancer When asked to rite such a ork, I as conronted ith some maor constraints irst, the ork had to simultaneously be technically challenging yet accessible to a young ianist and young band The structure o the iece had to be clear to allo hallmarks the musicians could recognize to hold the ork together In addition ere constraints alays elt by me: to rite a ork o hoeully lasting quality; one that could become a art o the standard literature; a ork o substance Lastly, I anted to ay tribute to a oman that I never kne but rom the assionate descritions o her amily, as a oman o grace, intelligence, charm, business acumen and love or her amily As stories o her lie ere shared ith me, I ound a ork that both honored and celebrated her lie coming to me The irst section o the ork dras material rom one o Mrs Wong's avorite iano orks: the antasie - Imromtu o rederick Choin This slo section begins ith bell strikes in the entire band, a tradition in both Christianity and Buddhism (and also a motive rom the Imromtu) and continues as a song o mourning carried by the angelic solo in the lute and the Imromtu theme in the clarinet solo The second section is a West Arican Celebration rhythm I have been studying the traditions o West Arica and am taken by their grieving tradition here the entire community (sometimes the entire village) sends a e days in grieving, draing inard, releasing their dee sadness Ater the uneral ceremony, hoever, the entire village eruts in celebration o the beloved's lie ith dancing, music, drumming, easting, laughing and the sharing o stories Many West Arican cultures believe that during these ceremonies, the sirits o their ancestors are resent, creating a continuity o lie rom the most recently born children (the ones ho have most recently come rom the srit/heavenly orld) to the old ones, the elders o the community to the ancestors, the sirits o those dearted I ind this tradition quite beautiul and have chosen to deict this in the overall structure o the ork ith the slo, mournul beginning and the lively, celebratory, sometimes raucous second section Included in this ork is a Cadenza Guide designed to hel young ianists comose their on cadenza erormers are encouraged to do so or three reasons: ) it ill hel to resurrect a desirable and roud tradition that has died in the ast century, 2) it allos the erormer to exress themselves in a ay originally intended in the concerto orm, ) it is a leasure or the audience to hear something ne, something unexected, something that ill make each erormance unique It has been an honor to have been asked to comose such an imortant ork Craig Thomas Naylor Kalisell, Montana, November 2000 Suggestions or erormance Dynamics are marked so that the solo is alays one level higher than the ensemble to hel ith clarity The ercussion is marked even one level loer Young ensembles ill need to be coached in restraining their volume to allo the solo to seak The Conga art in the second section can be erormed on any hand drum that has to tones such as congas, large tubano, dembe, ashiko, or similar drum It is OK to double this art, in act, it is better to double this than the snare art The Triangle art here has a technique that may be a little dierent The triangle can either be mounted on a triangle stand or held on a short string (or even ith the index inger in the to angle) The triangle is alloed to ring on most notes but damed ith the other ingers on the notes marked + It is OK to substitute a traditional Arican dadomos inger bell (one o the small alm or inger ones ith a high itch - not a cobell, agogo or gankogui style) At letter : trumet and trombone lay u to a high concert Ab They have a loer alternate note ritten and it is OK or them to lay that note

2 Cadenza Guide By Craig Thomas Naylor Once uon a time, not long ago, hen a erormer layed a concerto, the cadenza as imrovised or comosed by the erormer To many, this as one o the more exciting arts o the concert - hen the soloist ould create something ne, something that might never be heard again This cadenza ould be layed ith techniques and harmonies that eatured the best abilities and styles o that soloist, something created ust or that erormance by this secial erormer Back in the time o S Bach and u through the time o Beethoven, erormers ere exected to be able to imrovise and there are many amous stories o Bach or Beethoven being given a melody and imrovising, on the sot, a comlex yet musical listening exerience That tradition began to die in the middle o the Nineteenth Century hen there ere so many great virtuosi These great erormers such as ranz Liszt, ritz Kreisler comosed their on cadenzas These cadenzas ere technical masterieces o lash and excitement It became oular or other musicians to learn these cadenzas so they could be ust as lashy as the amous concert artists Over time, the ability to imrovise and comose a cadenza died as erormers layed only cadenzi ritten by others or some, this is a disaointment because it takes aay the one sot in a concert here the soloist can exress their unique voice, exress hat they like to hear and hat they do best Some are trying to recreate that tradition but once a tradition is lost, it takes an little extra eort to rekindle Ho does one comosed a cadenza Should I imrovise or should I comose it I I ant to imrovise one, do I need to kno azz These and other questions arise Let's anser some Bricks and Mortar Comosing and imrovising have many things in common One o them it that they take a limited amount o musical material and rom them create something larger A brick all is built ith only bricks and mortar laid one brick at a time and, ater a hile, a huge masonry structure is created Comosing and imrovising is a lot like this To ind the musical material or a cadenza, the erormer needs to: ) analyze the comosition a bit 2) analyze their on laying or things they do best Using these to ideas, the erormer then builds a cadenza Choosing the Bricks - Analysis o the Comosition The analysis o the comosition is quite simle It is not necessary to analyze every chord or to igure out hether or not the ork is in sonata or rondo orm One merely goes through the iece and icks to or three ideas rom the iece they like The selected ideas might be a scale attern or a e chords Maybe there is a chord that has a certain quality or a certain voicing that is exciting It doesn't matter hat the bricks are, ust ick to or three that you like Kee the ideas small or no, a chord or to rom here, a scale o some other attern rom there, no more than a measure long Write them in the blank measures on the next age 2000 by Craig Thomas Naylor

3 Cadenza Guide - 2 My Bricks No that e have icked our bricks, let's begin designing some larger chunks It is time to lay around ith the bricks and see the dierent musical atterns aiting to be discovered Let's say I like the chord attern belo that I stole rom letter A o the concerto b What does it sound like an octave higher Ho about to octaves Ho about an octave loer Or to octaves loer (that's a sinister sound - one that may be useul later) Notice the shae o the chords, ho the to notes goes don a ste and the bottom note goes u a ste What i e reversed this shae b b b No let's extend this musical idea Notice ho I take the idea and kee rising by stes Comosers and imrovisers call this rocess a sequence It really doesn't matter hat the chords are As long as the shae or attern is reeated a logical ay, your listeners ill be able to ollo it b b b b

4 Some edals are marked Others should be added hen music is similar to marked sections or may be added at erormer's discretion lute 2 oe Bassoon Bb Clarinet 2 Bb Clarinet Bass Clarinet Alto Sax 2 Tenor Sax itone Sax Trumet 2 Horn 2 Trombone 2 Trombone itone ohone Sus Cym Snare Bass Drum Triangle, Crash Cym SW 8 Cobell Electric Bass (otional) Maestic q = ca 56 b In Memory o Lily Tan Wong - Commissioned by ames Mary Tandias and Lillian Tan In Ancestral Realm Concerto or iano and Concert Band 200 By San River ress, Inc rinted in USA All Rights Reserved Craig Thomas Naylor

5 l 2 7 A Clar ƒ Clar A Sax 2 Tt 2 Hn 2 Tbn 2 Tbn b () ƒ ƒ ƒ ƒ ƒ ƒ v sus cym - sot yarn mallets n * A n ust a touch o edal or smoothness n 2 SW 8

6 l 2 Clar 2 Clar A Sax 2 N Tt 2 Hn 2 Tbn 2 Tbn b A n n n n n n n n SW 8

7 l l 2 Clar 2 Clar A Sax 2 Tt 2 Hn 2 Tbn 2 Tbn b To Bells Em7(b 5) n n n m9 b b 9 n SW n n n

8 l 2 Clar 2 Clar A Sax 2 Tt 2 Hn 2 Tbn 2 Tbn 8 b n n 0 n n n b b b b n n b b b b b b b b b b b oco rit oco rit oco rit oco rit b b G n b n b b Bells loing, A Little Sloer q = ca 86 G To Sus Cym, Sot Yarn Mallets Light Wind Chimes, Unitched - Metal or Glass or Small Bamboo Vary Dynamics to m to simulate a Mark Tree or Ro Chime gliss n n SW 8

9 l 2 7 q = ca 2 ḟ Clar 2 Clar A Sax 2 Tt 2 Hn 2 Tbn 2 Tbn b ḟ ḟ b b q = ca 2 ƒ ḟ Small notes - are otional in art SW 8 27

10 l 2 Clar 2 Clar A Sax 2 Tt 2 Hn 2 Tbn 2 Tbn 2 b b b Bb m9 ẇ o E 7/Bb n n n Conga ill ( ) sim n 28 SW 8