Symphonic Band (5:36) - September 1995

Mellifluence (MIDI)

I wrote this piece with a ninth-grade band in mind, although I never truly expected them to play it. I've found that its sometimes easier to compose when you have a specific audience or ensemble in mind. I was still a little shaky with ranges and fingerings. This was basically my melody experiment.

I had written the first theme earlier, and I used it as my base. The second theme is almost, but not quite, Swearingen-esque. Next comes an alto sax solo almost completely covered (on purpose) by the band in parallel fifths (hey, no one had told me not to yet). I've heard everyone say something about the third theme but its not true! In fact, I didn't hear the John Williams song it sounds like until someone pointed it out to me afterwards.

Next, I had a little fun with random note movement coming together into chords. This resolved into a very simple swing section which uses tritones to return to the third theme. The style markings for the final recap of the first theme is polka style. All in all, I liked the ideas I had in Mellifluence (although there's a lot that could be touched up). Eclectic is the word of the day.