CONCERT BAND
GRADE 1
GRADE 2
MAKING MUSIC MATTER BAND METHOD
GRADE 3
GRADE 4
BLUESHADESFACSIMILE
GRADE 5
G RADE 6
FLEX AND ADAPTABLE
FANTASTIC DREAMS
MANHATTAN BEACH MUSIC
COFOUNDERS AND PUBLISHERS - BOB MARGOLIS AND NEIL RUDDY
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Copyright © 2024 Manhattan Beach Music
FRANK TICHELI
Ticheli’s beautiful & tranquil melody is set in a soaring and transparent orchestration atypical of young band music. Meaningful percussion writing (featuring chimes and glockenspiel) sets this work apart from routine Grade 1 writing. Your students may have first played a brief version of this music in “A Peaceful Moment” (Book 1, Composition #18, in Making Music Matter, Band Method—Book 1: Beginning Band, by Frank Ticheli & Gregory B. Rudgers). Set: PDF $45, Print $95 | Audio |Virtual Score | Buy |
by STEVE ROUSE
A processional march of regal quality, Rouse’s Knights of the RoundTable brings to mind British Royal Coronation music. Rouse’s sureness of compositional technique elevates this work, providing both depth in structure and remarkable variety in motive. While there is significant percussion, its use is musically sound: All this in Grade 1 is remarkable. Besides concert use, this work could bookend a traditional graduation processional, thus creating a grand entrance and satisfying conclusion to the procession of students. .
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by TIMOTHY BROEGE
Programmatic music throughout, Train Heading West & Other Outdoor Scenes’ three movements are set in the great outdoors of the Old West — but in a contemporary style. The titles of the movements tell the story: “Prairie Ritual; Rain On the Mountains; Train Heading West.” Broege’s music is at once sophisticated and direct. Clear program notes explain the compositional highpoints, with both suggestions for rehearsal and further listening. And yes, there is a train whistle! (Bonus: Hear Timothy Broege describe the work, playing samples — at the harpsichord — on www.VirtualScoreSystem.com — a fascinating talk by the composer.) Set: PDF $45, Print $135 | Audio | Virtual Score | Buy | | Timothy Broege talks about the work |
by FRANK TICHELI
Ticheli enters the big top arena with a Grade 1 march: In the first strain, the brass are held back to play a countermelody only on the repeat of the strain. Next, the Trio section, like a serene alma mater processional; and the Dogfight, brief, followed by a recap in which trumpets, horns and trombones all stand for a countermelody to the rest of the band. A varied and sometimes startlingly grand work. Set: PDF $45, Print $95
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by BOB MARGOLIS
A lush, warm chorale in the brass, joined by winds, soaring slowly higher & brightening, music to represent the sleeping stars. Suddenly cheerful, in an almost quasi-medieval style, the day breaks to a lightly-scored dance feauring upper winds and delicate percussion.The dance becomes bolder and sunnier. It’s barely Grade 1, but does it really have the orchestral sound of a Grade 3 as stated in the program notes? That’s something for you to discover. Set: PDF $45, Print $115
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Ticheli brings his signature melodic gifts to this sophisticated but accessible work; it’s mostly in 3/4 time but has a varied 4/4 section (including a sleigh ride, with sleigh bells), so your players will get a chance to switch meter, and at the end perhaps to have some hot chocolate (it’s in the score).Young players will enjoy the challenge of the quarter-note rests, which come on both strong and weak beats, and flutes will be heard in significant moments. Very lovely percussion, too.
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by WILLIAM RYDEN
This is a super-clever ragtime-style work; it will teach your students no fewer than eight syncopated rhythms (see the score); and, no extra charge this, both first and second endings, and yes, third endings, and DS al Fine — all this in 40 measures so that the unison rhythmic challenges can be taught. Quite the tiny gem. Set: PDF $45, Print $75
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by WILLIAM RYDEN
And speaking of tiny gems, Jeannette, Isabella, the well-know Christmas Song, receives a gentle and airy treatment.The percussion writing is important (the section even gets a chance to play the melody as a percussion ensemble). Brass, winds, and low winds all have important musical statements to make.The stunningly understated coda rounds the work off to a wispy conclusion. Set: PDF $45, Print $95
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by STEVE ROUSE
A mysterious and ritualistic dance summons powers of earth and sky in this mystic procession. Dour crashes of tam-tam (thirteen crashes, so now you have a musical reason to get an even bigger tamtam) lend the music an other-worldly spirit. This is a great work, sounding like a paen to the volcano gods.
Includes an analysis by John Darling, who makes reference to its “vastly more interesting soundscape than is usual for this level.” This is a work in which — don't be surprised — the audience will lean forward.
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by JODIE BLACKSHAW
The Winner of the First Frank Ticheli Composition Contest has proven itself as music of significance and inluence. Blackshaw’s unique approaches to band music are manifest and fully coalesced in this magniicent work. It’s an outstanding teaching and musical experience. Be sure to link out to the score and recording to give this work a careful evaluation. Set: PDF $45, Print $135 | Audio | |Virtual Score | Buy | Learn more about this work |
by TIMOTHY BROEGE
A somber and thought-provoking beginning sets the stage for Broege’s subsequent varations.The hallmarks of Broege’s college-level works are found here, thus requiring a sensitivity of performance and keen focus.And even though the note values are simplicity iself, the work carries a weight of musical thought.The thematic statement is followed by a canonic treatment; a Broegeian harmonic gesture ushers a double-time statement (repeated notes, rests, nothing technical); then a sunnier major mode variation, yielding to a Coda of the opening mood, & major chord ending.
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B OB MARG OLIS
The Sword Dance? well, it’s a bit of a tango, and that woodblock part, it might be the most essential such part in the history of woodblock music (Temple blocks, another story entirely, that goes to Ravel.) Margolis has gotten quite a bit of mileage from Susato, Gervaise, and Praetorius, but this work is great fun without the histrionics of Terpsichore or the wry huor of Festival ... and, what about those woodblocks? It’s a solo, so make it work! Set: PDF $45, Print $95 | Audio |Virtual Score | Buy |
CONCERT BAND
BOB MARGOLIS
This work singularly stands as an actual 2-minute work in symphonic form, and that means unusual independence, since, you know: development, countermelodies, modal changes. But it is technically easy to play and has the potential to expand your group’s love of music and moreover, to enhance the independence of your sections. Percussion solo starts it off; this is almost a tutti-free zone. Set: PDF $45, Print $135 | Audio |Virtual Score | Adaptable Score Buy |
by FRANK TICHELI
A light and airy opening ballet by the high winds immediately sets the stage.The upper winds are soon joined by brass and thereby counterpoint abounds. The low brass next set up an oscillating ostinato to a new theme in winds, which gradually grows into a joyful martial variation, and gets faster and faster until a full march is in progress. A chorale setting arises & trades prominence with the martial version.The opening theme briefly returns and all winds down in a tender Coda. A sophisticated journey, structurally and melodically rich.
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The Prelude has an exotic, Eastern, processional quality (think of it as a procession to Rouse’s Enchanted Island, without the volcano). Attacca the March, a staccato, tongue-in-cheek march of marionettes best played slyly. A ticking-clock wood block (temple blocks may apply) unexpectedly pushes the march into major mode where it acquires a jaunty near-Anime quality. Set: PDF $45, Print $75 | Audio |Virtual Score | Buy |
Riders on horseback gallop over hill and dale to the ancient Druid temple of Stonehenge. Soon comes a beautiful duet between flutes and alto saxophones (supported by trumpets), but the ride returns, with crisscrossing scalar lines … building in tension over a syncopated ostinato.. Rudgers uses Mixolydian (transposed) and melodies within p4 and p5 to secure the structure. Set: PDF $45, Print $95 | Audio |Virtual Score | Buy |
From the formation of the Universe, this startling work will give any Grade 2 band a chance to try something powerfully different. Like music for modern dance, Cosmos shifts from angry syncopated outbursts and pyramids of sound to sinewy melodies, one such especially elegant in alto saxophone.A faster more rhythmic section rounds out the formation and expansion of the Cosmos. Set: PDF $65, Print $95 Audio |Virtual Score | Buy |
by TIMOTHY BROEGE
AmericaVerses (or variations), uses Broege’s purposeful harmonic language to present America (the tune), and perhaps the nation itself, in its varied light.This is not a typical “theme and variations,” but more an exploration of present and past.As the composer states, there is “much to be proud of, much to regret,” and “it is for each listener to discover the message of the work.” Copious program notes with suggestions for listening, and multidisciplinary materials (poetry, fiction, painters, mixed media, film, and discussion topics) round out this thoughtful work. Set: PDF $75, Print $125 | Audio |Virtual Score | Buy |
by STEVE ROUS E
This is music for a pageant, with its upward-reaching grand melody (there are not many melodies that rise in disjunct motion and fall likewise—it’s quite special).A heartbeat rhythm propels the work as much as the beautiful harmonic treatment and unexpected B-theme excursions.An assured ending, heartbeat underscored by a long pedal, for a climax of great affect. Set: PDF $65, Print $125 | Audio | Virtual Score | Buy |
by TIMOTHY BROEGE
Jody It’s a work-song, collected from a Texas prison in 1966.As such, it has the character of a chanted march. Broege says it best:“The anvil in the opening bars should clang out with a brutality like unto the slamming shut of the gates of hell.” Broege’s serious and dramatic setting is cast as theme and variations. Program notes detail the form and development of the music, which is alternately, grim, grand, resigned, and supremely defiant.
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by FRANK TICHELI
This is Frank Ticheli’s debut Grade 2 publication, now standard repertoire—those who may have missed it should have a close look.The middle section is a marvel of changing harmonic texture, unusually sophisticated for its technical level.This unique achievement helped launch Frank Ticheli as a world force in band. Set: PDF $65, Print $125 | Audio |Virtual Score | Adaptable Score | Buy |
by TIMOTHY BROEGE
Broege has a knack for the unusual, combining an easily grokked form and melody with unexpected twists and unanticipated solos. This, a romp of the famous headless horseman (complete with cloppity-clops) showcases Broege’s sophistication of form alongside a cinematic sense of scope. In a quietly subversive way. Not just for Halloween.
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by BOB MARGOLIS
Margolis’ debut educational-level work (hello 1981) has been a mainstay of Renaissance band performance: While it’s based upon his knowledge of Renaissance practices, broad license has been taken to vary the orchestration from soloists to sections to tutti. Oddly piquant solos.Yes, it ends very loud, very grand, and if you didn’t already know, contains antiphonal cymbals to please even that audience hoping for an on-stage marching band. A steady pavane rhythm with 8 varied percussion accompaniments.
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In this followup to The Battle Pavane, Margolis re-created an Elizabethan pavane in very quiet, lushly transparent, quasi-authentic style, but scored it so openly as to challenge even college bands.Take that, ye college bands. Sensitivity to intonation and articulation and ensemble are requisites. It has so tested state lists (what grade is it?) that it’s been graded 1, 2, or 3 (as to technique, it is scarcely a 1). Quiet bass drum strokes start and end it. A mesmerizing moment: One single tam-tam stroke raises the band from the earth to the air. Set: PDF $65, Print $125 | Audio |Virtual Score | Buy |
by F RANK TICHELI
Ticheli goes slumming in this earthy, dirty, jazzy, gospel-in lected down-South celebration. Some theatrics on the part of the conductor and players would enliven any concert performance.The composer is clear that you oughtn’t stay frozen in your chair for this rousing and boisterous Amen.
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Soaring melody and lush harmony are a Ticheli hallmark; what furthermore distinguishes works like this from those that are merely good? Emotional content, harmonic sensitivity, scoring versatility, and exquisite form.The universe, or at least a calm part of it, in 2 minutes. Set: PDF $75, Print $135 |
by ANDREW MELTON
A masterpiece of jittery staccato, of motives sounding out and being answered in kind, Game Time isn’t just about games, it’s also something of a perpetual motion work, with a bit of whiz-bang to the motion. Quirky percussion throughout punctuate the fun:Timpani plus 5 percussion parts and optional piano (used for its percussive qualities).
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by TIMOTHY BROEGE
Broege created this everyone-plays-fromthe-score work, which will bring out the creativity in every member of the band. Even the form of the work will vary with each performance.There may be a certain “what was that?” audience titter as each section blinks on unexpectedly & without preparation. One section recalls, but for a moment, the quaint quality of Broege’s patented take on old music; but this is a work of squeals, squeaks, outbursts, and darn curious stuff.
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by TRAVIS J. WELLER
Yes it’s possible to picture the stage coaches boldly making their way across the nation in this fun music. From its cowboy-styled opening, to its expansive middle section suggesting the open plains of the nation, it’s a great ride Weller imbues the work with scope and grandeur, and with a sensitive balance between pageantry and awed contemplation of the wide-open spaces. Set: PDF $65, Print $125 | Audio |Virtual Score | Buy |
by BOB MARGOLIS
One of Manhattan Beach Music’s first publications remains one of its most popular: a lively, fresh take on Renaissance dance music — one that sauces it up with a modern palate.Three highly varied movements are full of twists and tricks of all sorts, and a splendid pull-the-rug-out ending, render this an essential library item. It’s a serious frolic.
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by FRANK TICHELI
This is one of those simply magical works.A sinewy upward-reaching arpeggio forms the boundless melody, growing in flow and scope. A brief downturn yields to a tinkling canonic version of the arpeggio melody ; the motives intermingling with one another is a beautiful spiderweb of counterpoint. Cinematic in a sparkling manner, this work resides in a delicate fantasy universe.
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by SCHUMANN/DOUGHARTZELL
Two movements, sensitively arranged by Doug Hartzell, comprise Highland lullaby and a 4/4 march.You get to experience Robert Schumann’s lush harmonies and memorable melodies in a delicately wrought setting for band.Winds and brass exchange prominence in the march, which is alternately sternly martial and lyrically transparent, lending a sense of surprise and balance to the work.The three sections of the band — winds, brass, & percussion — are of equal importance
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FRANK TICHELI
by FRANK TICHELI
Joy is our most highly esteemed Grade 2 work. Now, with both concert band versions and adaptable (“flex”-style) versions available, any ensemble of any size can perform it. Compared to Joy Revisited, this is the more concise version of the material, while its Grade 3 counterpart is the more expanded. What is so natural about the composing is how each idea flows unimpeded into the next, each successive element a delightful musical exuberance. Set: PDF $75, Print $125| Audio |Virtual Score | Adaptable Score | Buy |
by FRANK TICHELI
It is said the person who produced this stunning melody came up with it while in a trance — the definition of a Shaker gift-song. Ticheli’s perfect harmonies and unbelievably warm orchestration summon a vivid American landscape.The music is expressive of unyielding faith in, and hope for, humankind. Of all the melodies and settings in our catalog this is perhaps the most admirably lovely. Set: PDF $65, Print $125 | Audio | Virtual Score | Buy |
Nubia Jaime-Donjuan
In the style of a folk dance, replete with lovely percussion (including a dedicated part for maracas), this 6/8 romp though a magical forest will delight.
Jaime-Donjuan has fashioned a brilliant May Dance of spirited melody and sharply contrasting modalities. Pointed syncopation alternates with hemiolas, well supported by ample percussive forces. Sail through this magical forest with all hands aboard for a bright and feisty journey. Set: PDF $75, Print $125 | Audio | Virtual Score | Buy |
by TIM OTHY BROEGE
The jittery staccato code of Rhythm Games is the subject of, and is subjected to, Broege’s sophisticated harmonic treatment, in which contemporary is the watchword. In a specific and rigorous way, Broege is the master of form and flow, speed and stretch, and elaboration of counterpoint. Immensely clever percussion joins in the fray, too A Hitchcockian sense of cat-and-mouse gives Rhythm Games its impetus, its engine This is controlled and clever music, tightly wound and expressively sprung. Set: $150 |
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F R A NK TI C H EL I
What a noble and honest setting of Shenandoah. If you were going to single out Frank Ticheli’s best Grade 3 work, Shenandoah might well be it. (Don George’s tempo in our online recording seems perfect, too.) An unexpected heavenly ascent elevates the setting, music matched in beauty only by the upper-grade-level works, Lux Perpetua, and Angels Rising. And the Coda: All the fervor and faith suspended, as if awakening from a dream. Set: $150 | Audio |Virtual Score | Buy |
Blackshaw’s take on Renaissance dances is exuberant, brilliantly colorful, smartly explorative of both timbre, texture, and register, and always lively and glorious.The source material, the dances of the French Court of Henry IV as collected by Praetorius is enriched by an ever-varying selection of orchestrational colors. Set $195 | Audio |Virtual Score | Buy |
by GREGORY B. RUD GERS
Like the opening of a classic thriller, Rudgers infuses Metro with the sense and sound of a busy Metropolis.A jaunty theme (mischief afoot?) and traffic-sound pyramids all enliven the ride A revelatory work, cinematic (quite the opening title!) and superb metropolitan drama. Percussion feature galvanized pipes & anvil, for that extra clang! Set $125 | Audio |Virtual Score | Buy |
by ROBERT STARER
Featuring solo trumpet at the start and end, Lyric Music is a gentle 6/8 journey with a sharp focus on melodic progression.While much music revels in the unexpected, or the contrasting, this work, while keeping to the path, looks around and takes in all the sights. In a brilliant denouement the band has its tutti say on the matter, with the trumpet returning to put things right. Set $125 | Audio |Virtual Score | Buy |
by TIMOTHY BROEGE
For a step back in time to the turn of the century ... no, not this century, but the one before, when joyous Ragtime was king, we arrive in the early 1900s, when Blue Goose Rag was penned by composer, Raymond Birch.This is a happy and grand two-to-a-bar rag, and is an ideal work for an outdoor concert, or as an encore. It’s an exuberant “grand ol’ rag” that will be appreciated by all. Set $125 | Audio |Virtual Score | Buy |
by IV
A speedy 6/8 romp with unexpected detours, both melodic and harmonic, make for a delightful trip. Like a train ride through mountains and valleys, Spiraling slyly surprises with its crafty misdirection. Božicevic is a master orchestrator, and the handoffs from first desks to sections is a joy to behold and to play and to hear in this remarkable performance by Ron Hufstader leading the University of Texas El Paso Symphonic Winds. Set $135 | Audio |Virtual Score | Buy |
by BOB M ARGOLIS
Margolis has taken three movements from Tchaikovsky’s Album for theYoung ("Morning Prayer," "March of the Wood Soldiers," and "Waltz") and exhibited his felicitous tinkly-percussion scoring. The first movement, in 3/4, is a warm and lush lullaby; the second, a wooden-soldier march with woodblock (temple blocks really) as if in commentary, with both 1st and 2nd endings and D.C. al Coda; the last, a waltz not unlike Tchaikovsky’s ballet music, with an exotic metallic percussion mid-section (and D.S. al Fine as well). Set $95 | Audio |Virtual Score | Buy |
by DONA LD J. Y OUNG
Young’s Clarinet Rhapsody begins with a bang, but quickly subsides into a sinuous melody for the soloist. Rhapsody remains the watchword for the work entire, as the clarinet muses its twisted and languid path to an extended cadenza. (There is an optional longer cadenza by Tim Bell, included in the score and part.) The tessitura of the solo is generally in the upper register An unexpected shift occurs without warning, and the band suddenly enters with a dynamic and rhythmic subject.The clarinet is provided ample counterpoint to this to the energetic end. Set $150 | Version for Clarinet & Piano $30 | Audio | Virtual Score | Solo Part only | Buy | | Clarinet and Piano Score |
This is Franz Schubert’s Ave Maria in Ticheli’s respectful and subtly splendid arrangement: Schubert’s famous melody is first stated in dark brass; then flute and oboe, with clarinets in arpeggios, continue. The arpeggios float to the top for the restatement, with the melody moved up to the higher brass. Solo flute soars above the band or a poignant episode answered by tutti 1st clarinets.An impassioned close fades to nothing. What is clear is that arranging Ave Maria for band is not an easy feat. In less secure hands this could go badly But this arrangement, quite honestly, is a miracle. Set $165 | Audio |Virtual Score | Buy |
by GREGORY B. RUDGERS
NewYork City’s most famous park, favored site of movies, be-ins (that’s the 1960s), picnics, boating, and the magnificent Bethesda Fountain is Rudgers’ avowed environs for these musical portraits.The great city is triuphantly pictured at the start, a fanfare for the Mariners’ Gate entry into the Park. Next Belvedere’s Castle, and then a mad hatter’s dash through Alice in Wonderland. Set $125 | Audio |Virtual Score | | Buy |
by STEVE ROUSE
As counterpoint to his setting of Swing Low, Sweet Chariot, Rouse adopts almost bluesy brush strokes to paint this soaring adaptation.As if picturing a Southern town of the past, the music creates a range of emotions, from the sad and sorrowful to the grand and great.A tour de force of orchestration and structure, of the expected and the unexpected, the work of a great arranger. Set $150| Audio |Virtual Score | Buy |
by BOB M ARG OLIS
Three quirkily contrasting movements, from the semitone-obsessed opening (have fun with the tone cluster buildup) to the quixotic and quarkonian Aliens in the 2nd, to the shocking Attack of the third (cue a manic timpani player, and the louder the better), this is a work that just calls for … additional Defense Department spending! Set $125 | Audio |Virtual Score | Buy |
by STEPHEN KENT GOODMAN
What a raucous rapscallion these rude trombones are as they slide their way into your heart. SKG’s catchy and buoyant melodic masterpiece is a super way to enliven any concert.And yes, those trombones get to slide, this is a slide-a-thon supreme! Set $95 | Audio |Virtual Score | Buy |
by FRANK TICHELI
A boisterous overture! Ticheli’s most hats-off dancelike overture is a delicious confection that delights with sparkling repartee and scintillating rhythm. Important lyric melody is played alternately by horns, by trombones, both of whom do the heavy lifting, as well as by bright trumpets, allowing the director to highlight those sections; and important soli are pres-ent for both oboes (cued) and briefly for alto saxo-phone 1. Powerful and active percussion throughout. Never sleepy Wide awake! Set $135 | Audio |Virtual Score | Buy |
by T
A rhythmic powerhouse with an especially catchy syncopated theme, Lauda is a percussive & propulsive dance Miles keeps the pounding energy flowing, even throughout the briefly lyrical passages. Screaming ’bones, cascading winds, a joyous gathering with a pop inflection. You might find the audience dancing in the aisles during this joyful romp. Set $125 | Audio |Virtual Score | Buy |
by FRANK TICHELI
After an eloquent introduction, the melody is stated with a calm elegance; a melodic restatement adds a gentle grandeur. Ticheli is a rare composer who can pull just the right development seemingly from nowhere. The music progresses like a series ever-enfolding blooms until at last Loch Lomond and Danny Boy join forces to round out a great music. Set $175 | Audio | Virtual Score | Flex Score | Buy |
by T IMOTHY BROEGE
All movements highlight different soloists or solo groupings: in Wind, 3 soli clarinets; in Earth, a solo euphonium (cued appropriately 8va in alto sax); in Water, a solo saxophone in a Q&A with a trumpet and the ensemble; in Fire, a middle-Eastern-inflected percussion spars with the band. Each movement is tightly wound, springing forward a sonority and style otherwise unseen in band music. If you have become tired of the tutti, this is remedy. Set $135 | Audio | Virtual Score | Buy |
by LEONARD MARK LEWIS
If you want to introduce your musicians to a sophisticated modern work, episodic, consonant, shaped by a sensitive hand, look no further. (Look at Broege, too, where the neo- is to an earlier epoch.) Lewis tilts towards the latter part of the century, and although influences are fairly hidden, you may yet sense the titans’ of the 20th century at the root. There is a brief yet telling section for percussion alone, one of the very best you’ll find.
A truly masterful hand, and a First Prize Winner in the Frank Ticheli Composition Contest. Set $165 | Audio | Virtual Score | Buy |
by ROBERT STARER
An opening statement, a kind of “modified” French overture fights against a canonic chattering motive, which gives way to a gentler yet energetic passage — fast track back to the opening, which is now darker. Percussion literally telegraphs the motives (coincidentally Morse Code for “D-A”); and a dark development ensues. A startling lyrical trade between clarinet and flutes segues to a Coda. Meaningful percussion parts enhance the cohesion and propulsion of this rhythmically driven music. Set $125 | Audio | Virtual Score | | Buy |
A work so patriotic its wrapper is an American flag (yes, it really is). Rouse’s music is dedicated to all American heroes throughout the ages.This work, in the composer’s words,“celebrates the heroic spirit that thrives within the soul of our great nation;” its publication comes only a few years after 9/11 and as such is a work of proclamation and appreciation for heroism. Rather than martial, it is melodic and dramatic. Set $125 | Audio |Virtual Score | Buy |
by WILLIAM RYDEN
Beautiful, sensitive, traditional settings of three superb Christmas carols: The First Nowell — resplendent; Coventry Carol — exotic, with beautiful saxophone writing; Angels,We Have Heard On High: tintinnabulatory and quaint, Ryden’s snowy setting of this most beloved carol is a revelation. Big Hollywood ending! Set $95 | Audio ||Virtual Score | Buy |
by TIMOTHY BROEGE
From the haunting beginning, Broege’s supremely sophisticated middle-school work is captivating. Embued with rhythmic sensitivity, and an orchestrational vitality, “The Four Winds” stands apart. For lovers of alto saxophone solos, the slow movement is indeed rewarding. The closing lively dance is chirpy and brilliant. A super pile-up chord ends the work. Often eclipsed by the more familiar Sinfonia VI, this, Sinfonia XVII, is a work not to be overlooked. Set $135 | Audio |Virtual Score | Buy |
arr. by Bob Margolis
by BOB MARG OLIS
A gentle harpsichord processional of J.S.Bach is upsourced and bandistrated in this version that alternates between moments of calm and moments of regal pomp.The brass countermelody is redolent of British royalty, as indeed the work itself appears to depart Germany for British soil. Moments of tutti are counterbalanced by gentle and sparse scoring, but it all ends in ceremonial glory. Set $115 | Audio | Virtual Score | Buy |
by JONI GREENE
What excellent themes wend and waft through this delight of a work. Like Scheherazade spinning her tales, Greene’s connected stories paint glorious colorful vistas in sound. Spectacular, but in a quietly observed way, this is music of acumen and pointed skill. Set $135 | Audio |Virtual Score | Buy |
FRANK TICHELI
Has a vibraslap ever sounded quite so arch, have steps ever seemed so tentative? yet still Abracadabra detonates the happiest of sequences. A master of puzzle parts, Ticheli drops the motives in place with delighted craftiness. The Coda, in which the spell slows and casts a silent web over the audience, is soon ... reversed! The opening returns, steadily building in complexity and energy, and in a stern fashion struts and stomps and then ... just ... evaporates like magic. Set $165 | Audio | Virtual Score | Buy |
FRANK TICHELI
FRANK TICHELI
#4 IN A SERIES OF WORKS DEVELOPED FROM THE MAKING MUSIC MATTER BAND METHODS
CONCERT BAND
RAISING THE STANDARDS OF THE AMERICAN CONCERT BAND AND BANDS ALL OVER THE WORLD
The watchword is spooky, the manner is sly, the journey is deliciously twisted — the composer pulls out new stops as he lures the band through this haunted house. From clever tinkling highs, to stairstepped cascades, to threatening shouts, Ghost Tale — the horror of it all — winds down unexpectedly. Only then does a new and fearsome musical world appear: It is the realm of the common-tone progression afterworld as ghosts and eerie glissandi populate the horrid haunts. Set $125 | Audio | Virtual Score | Buy |
by STEVE ROUSE
As if flowing in time into a languid stream of swirls, this miraculous setting of Swing Low, Sweet Chariot travels to Oz and beyond. Rouse’s astute compositional footing is remarkable, multi-dimensional, and true to the beauty of the folksong. His extremely detailed notes on both the source and meaning of the song and his treatment of the materials are without equal. Simply amazing. Set $150 | Audio | Virtual Score | Buy |
by FRANK TICHELI
A study in simplicity morphing into something satisfyingly rich and deep,Ticheli’s most famous arrangement towers in the repertoire. It and Rouse’s Swing Low, Sweet Chariot, above, are nothing alike, and yet each has broken the band barrier and soared into the heady stratosphere of true art.The publication of Ticheli’s Amazing Grace anchored his position as the premier band composer of our time. Only his setting of Shenandoah might actually surpass this in beauty. Set $150 | Audio | Virtual Score | Flex Score | Buy |
CONCERT BAND
by FRANK TICHELI
The third work of the “core repertoire triumvirate” (Amazing Grace; Shenandoah; and Cajun Folk Songs) is the most band-like, dancelike, energetic, and immediately approachable of the three. Generally a slow movement followed by a fast one is not a remarkable plan, but this duo is dynamic. If you are reading this it’s likely you know all three; if you don't, it will be worth your while to perform all of them. Set $195 | Audio |Virtual Score |Adaptable Score | Buy |
by
FRANK TICHELI
The Four Shaker Songs in the collected work reflect the composer’s maturity and command of material, impeccable taste, and laser-like skill. Few would dare to tackle Simple Gifts itself, as Copland’s inimitable setting stands above all, but Ticheli has done quite the snappy job This is a great work, something akin to Shenandoah in beauty, it stands by itself as a true gift of America’s heritage. (And now the "Simple Gifts" movement is available separately.) Set $265 | | Audio for mv'ts: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Virtual Score | Adaptable Score | Buy |
by FRANK TICHELI
Ticheli & Rudgers’ revolutionary beginning & intermediate band methods, Making Music Matter, Books 1 and 2, have given rise to four new band works developed from Ticheli’s compositions in the methods.This is the first of four such works, and it summons the spirit of the composer’sVesuvius in a shorter form. A bit of a adventure movie soundtrack, a midnight raid on a desert fortress.The title in Making Music Matter: Composition #23 in Book 2, “Night in Nairobi,” which you can hear online at www.makingmusicmatterbook2.com. Set $125 | | Audio |Virtual Score | Buy |
by FRANK TICHELI
A martial snare drum, timpani, and chattering bassoons (cued of course) launch this fascinating march in Ticheli’s most neo-Classical work. Leveraging tritones for both motivic and harmonic structure, this is a work of inventive development, superb pacing, and striking motivic manipulation. The incessant momentum fractures into a splendid canonic shout, and a sudden and foreboding pulling in:The gremlins of Fortress triumph in this great battle piece.A compellingly secure and masterfully controlled work. Set $150 | Audio |Virtual Score | Buy |
…and the antelope play
by JOHN CARNAHAN
Across the silent prairie, a plaintive soprano recorder sounds its cry, and calls and countercalls in dramatic fashion introduce Carnahan’s expansive “Wild West” theme Quickly the wagons wend westward, through a series of eight adventures.This is a work of adventure, of scope and breadth, and of hope. Set $150 | Audio | Virtual Score | Buy |
by FRANK TICHELI
Not long after composing Joy (the Grade 2 version),Ticheli wondered how the same material would fare in a Grade 3 version. In revisiting Joy (different key, more challenging material, faster tempo) a new work was created.A pointed increase in punchiness elevates the work to a different kind of height:The climaxes are grander, the interplay sneakier, and in every way Joy, in its revisiting, is worth the trip. Seatbelts optional. Set $150 | Audio |Virtual Score | Buy |
On the heels of the galactic storm that won Markowski First Prize in the Frank Ticheli International Composition Contest—for Shadow Rituals—comes Shine, a show of interstellar mah-jongg. Gaining in popularity since its release, Shine remains a work of soaring & jittery sightseeing, snappiness and clackety brilliance, a frictionless foray into color, rhythm, and glorious sound. Set $165 | Audio | Virtual Score | Buy |
CONCERT BAND
This is a separate publication of the “Simple Gifts” movement from Ticheli’s “Simple Gifts: Four Shaker Songs.” Using exactly the same engraving, it is thus the same musical experience Bands who wish to program just this movement have this edition to highlight any program. Set $165 | Audio |Virtual Score | Adaptable Score | | Buy | (in preparation)
First Prize Winner of the 3rd International Frank Ticheli Compostion Contest
This splendidly evocative music, like a main title for a sci-fi adventure, takes a very different journey from the work, recto; for here, we are dancing in outer space, joyously viewing the Earth below, propelled by rocket fuel and the power of masterful ostinati. Thrilling lines for a spellbinding climax in this First Prize winning work. Set $165 | Audio | Virtual Score | Buy |
Gentle, jazzy, dancelike, Spanish-inflected, growly, swaggery, and always crystal clear is this trip of unbounded happy energy. At once lilting and light, yearning and upward ascending, moored by no earthly chains, Ticheli has crafted a symphonic dance of charm and supreme likability. Set $425 | Audio | Virtual Score | Buy |
by JONI GREENE
JONI GREENE
Greene’s music occupies a haunted world, delicate, refined, floating in space, astronomical in reference. Moonscape Awakening is about color and texture and motive and also melody and form, although to hear it, its melodies are far from ordinary. They are more like slow alien birdsong echoing over twilight landscapes. Nearly the entire work is at piano and pianissimo dynamic levels. The moon awakens, rises to its zenith, as if in a trancelike embrace of sound. Delicate percussion includes piano. Set $195 | Audio | Virtual Score | Buy |
by
STEVE ROUSE
To the stars and far beyond could be the motto of Rocket, Rouse’s carefully constructed and far-yearning work. A kind of music that excites the intellect, and moves the heart. Complex in its ideas, exciting to hear, unpredictable in direction, Rocket is quite the trip. Prepare for for 6/8, 7/8, 9/8, 2/4, 3/4 with Timpani plus six scintillating percussion parts. Listen all the way through, it goes to places you may not have visited before. Set $150 Audio | Virtual Score | | Buy |
A mysterious beginning, almost like insect calls at night, the “moderna” aspect immediately creates a wash of exotic sound. But suddenly high winds present a startling ostinato.That ostinato begins the Cumbia subject, which grows in strength and rhythmic clarity. Like players onstage, each motive takes its bow and moves off a bit for the next. It is not long before a submerged force begins to assert its dominance in an almost code-like insistence. Subsumed by the code, the Cumbia motive reasserts itself. It ascends higher in pitch and then becomes center stage. Brass repeat the opening idea, and then a real Cumbia surfaces. Dreamlike even when wide awake, Martínez’s music is transfixing. Set $195 | Audio |Virtual Score | Buy |
by TIMOTHYBROEGE
Four movements, the outer two (Aldeberan & Sirius) an homage to expressionism invoking the music of Alban Berg, while the inner two (Incantation & Waltz), looking towards the music ofVienna.Thus the first movement is fierce; the second is swirling; the third, waltzing, in canon; the fourth, after an AlbanBergian start, becomes almost a conga, finally returning to stargazing towards distant, remote, implacable Sirius.
Set $165 | Audio |Virtual Score | Buy
by FRANKTICHELI
Although you would never know it from the glittery opening, we are soon sailing straight through Texas skies for something like a hoedown-squaredance Also existing as a work for chorus and band (published by MBM) and chorus and orchestra (available from the composer), Sailing the Sky presents as a patriotic flyby over the majestic hills and mountains of America.This Ticheli’s most patriotic work —almost begs a theatrical production of banners and flags.
Set $265 | Audio |Virtual Score | Buy |
by WILLIAM RYDEN
Ryden’s ghosts have always seemed to be sophisticated French ghosts possessing a certain je ne sais quoi. No actual galloping, but many a grand entrance in jester’s garb in this endlessly clever & entertaining ragtime march. Featuring a charming lopsided trio, a morse-code dogfight, and a return to a grand-march finale. Cue the confetti canon, and éclairs for all. Set $95 | Audio |Virtual Score | Buy |
by MERLIN PATTERSON
Famous beyond measure is this, J.S. Bach’s Chorale Prelude, “Wachet auf.” In addition to Patterson’s magnificent and legendary arranging skills, Margolis (as editor) has put in a word on performance practice, helping to make this the quintessential Sleepers,Awake! Set $150 | Audio |Virtual Score | Buy |
by BRAHMS/BOB MARGOLIS
This is romantic music with a capital "R" and, unless there is another Brahms work on the program, this will stand out for its drama and harmonic sophistication. Sensitive scoring highlights the drama and brings out the varied colors of the band in a unique manner. A waterfall of triplets section is a change of pace, but the smoky harmonies return for a muted and expressively longing close. Set $95 | Audio | Virtual Score | Buy |
MUSIC
by JOHN FRANTZEN
With a firecracker swirl of rhythm, this is a train hurtling forward down a curving and dangerous track. The middle section remains a clockwork of intersecting rhythm, as a quiet perpetual energy whisks the work forward. Ideal for bands that are energized by exciting music and springloaded rhythms, this is a tour de force for your percussion section. Exciting parts for all! Set $165 | Audio | Virtual Score | Buy |
Allegro and weirdly effervescent it is, yet quite soon this Highland jig diverges from the beaten path to a cacophany of bizarre and stormy weather, of trumpet cascades, flugelhorn solos, and tuneful mayhem. Something of a palette cleanser, a good program spot would be penultimate. Set $150 | Audio |Virtual Score | Buy |
by FRANK TICHELI
With a whirl of triplet eighths and trumpet calls and a cascade of winds Nitro asserts its energy.This is one of Ticheli’s most miraculous works, a summoning of vast and deep composer chops to create an explosive cinematic main title. In its 180 seconds Ticheli creates more majesty and excitement than should be humanly possible. Don George’s great recording serves as a model.
Set $165 Audio |Virtual Score | Buy |
by ROBERT STARER
For piccolo (or flute) and band, also existing in a piano reduction (pictured), Starer’s jaunty and joyful variations are giddy fun. Being a composer of vast skill and wide experience, his stealthy orchestration always allows the piccolo to shine through.The variations (or fantasy) traverse quite the soundscape of rhythmic possibilities, in a cohesive and beautiful storytelling, always contemporary and effortless.A work of harmonic sophistication, melodic variety, structural integrity, and superb piccolonic vitality Set $150 | Version for piccolo or flute and piano: $35) | Audio (band) | Audio (piano) ||Virtual Score (band) | Virtual Score (piano) | Solo Part | Buy |
by FRANK TICHELI
Rest gathers its strength from its ghostly elements of longing, of distance, of a yearning; a work of unexpected perfection of form and harmony will envelope the audience in this most exquisite music. Surely this remains one of Ticheli’s most perfect works, a quiet cousin of his remarkable An American Elegy. Set $175 | Audio | Virtual Score | Buy |Also published in a version for Strings: Set $150 | Virtual Score Strings |
by JACK STAM P
A feast for percussionists, Stamp’s Antithigram captures the spirit of angular neoclassicism in a dashing and flashy overture. Where Ticheli’s Fortress is a march to the scaffold, Stamp is more interested in arraying the percussive weapons of attack in a dastardly clever rhythmic barrage Sure to wake everyone up and please the percussion section, too. Set $145 | Audio |Virtual Score | Buy |
by FRANK TICHELI
Music with multiple layers and rhythmic motives: At first, alive, active, with a folkmusic feel, exploring ... swimming ... flying. Then, abating to a quiet, gentle and yearning section, yet always winding and unwinding itself in sophisticated rhythmic interplay. Those motivic elements sometimes repeat in synchrony, but more often are at different rates. At the close, the dance of life fades into the distance. Set $395 | Audio |Virtual Score | Buy |
FRANK TICHELI
A brass chorale’s reflective introduction, a haunting solo in French horn, an extended, plaintive English horn solo (cued in Alto sax), are just some of the hallmarks of this work.The "Hoedown" that comes is a not just a roudy cowboy jambouree, but a place for brilliant soloists (particular mention to solo trombone, and to solo euphonium) to shine.The jauntiness is constant, but varied, as this is a work of flashy rhythmic surprise. Quite naturally percussion are stage front, with especially choice parts for tam tam (what is a hoedown without a tam-tam?) and briefly and effectively, for woodblock, plus every other member of the percussion team. Set $265 | Audio |Virtual Score | Buy |
MICHAEL MARKOWSKI
When 19-year old Michael Markowski won first prize in our first Contest, no one was surprised that great things would continue to come from his pen. Shadow Rituals is spectacular work. Vibrant. Explosive. An ice-storm of ideas and a thrilling climax. Rhythmically powerful, cinematically brilliant, this is one of those cannot-fail works. And lots of powerful percussion!
This is Anatoly Liadov’s Polonaise, Op. 49,“in memory of A.S. Pushkin” (1899) originally for orchestra, in a festive transcription by Don Wilcox. Liadov, himself a pupil of Rimsky-Korsakov, and a teacher of Sergei Prokofiev, is a splendid composer with yet a relatively small output.Wilcox’s dazzling arrangement for band actually gains in strength and sonic pizzazz (band sometimes can!) as compared to the original. Set $250 | Audio |Virtual Score | Buy |
by
The first movement emerges like a polished gem, but the second, a quodlibet on “Fire and Ice,” is quite the startler. It is as if Broege has been transported back a couple of hundred years, but with full memory of all the 20th century possibilities.And plenty of these occur! By the time the third movement rolls around, we are not sure what to expect.This one is a delightful look at undulating arpeggiating motives and gentle interrupting rhythmic comments. Next, a waltz, a gentle one, sparkly and effervescent, remarkable in it variety and surfeit of rhythmic and registral exploration. Neat. Finally, the last movement begins with a clarion call to arms, resplendent in motion and motivic clarity Set $250 | Audio |Virtual Score | Buy |
by JOHN W. STOUT
It is safe to say that your band may never have played anything like Stout’s majestic and shadowy voyage beyond the solar system in which grey clusters share the ether with startling space events. It is best to read the composer’s program notes online to fully appreciate how remarkable and different this work is. In our recording, H. Robert Reynolds fully achieves the necessary blend (it is not an easy feat!) to bring this challenging work to life Important parts for percussion and winds as frightening objects dart by This is a trip your audience will not soon forget.What courageous state list will be the first to adopt something so different? Set $150 | Audio |Virtual Score | Buy |
by ARNOLD ROSNER
Rosner, that fiercely independent voice of counterpoint and drama, has penned this sharp and uncompromising work that unfolds on multiple levels in its three movements. Be sure to read Walter Simmons’ online biography (www.arnoldrosnermusic.com) to better understand the strength and courage of this remarkable composer, of which the present work, Dances of Initiation, Op 98, is but one of many For bands, we are fortunate to have this exciting and somewhat mysterious contrapuntal thrust to enliven and enrich our proud heritage. Set $165 || Audio |Virtual Score | Buy |
by BOB MARGOLIS
This is quite the festival for percussion, and for high chirping winds (in imitation of a Renaissance consort of recorders and krummhorns, in both normal and quite high register). Whereas brass and winds elsewhere are alternating partners, throughout the work it's the high winds and unusual repeated notes (or octave jumps) in xylophone, and in orchestra bells (or celesta, if you have one), and ever-changing choirs and registers that give this work its unique appeal — and it is over in flash! Set $165
| Audio | Virtual Score | Buy |
by STEPHEN KENT GOODMAN
A very fast rag of unexpected elements,Gold-Rush is a rag of the modern century with more than a glancing salute to the prior one. A trio-like reprise sounds like it's bringing back the roaring twenties and the silent movie era (live orchestras, remember?), followed by grand march finale. SKG, a remarkable tunesmith indeed!
Set $95 | Audio | Virtual Score | Buy |
Get ready to place half the band in the balcony (or behind the audience, or arrayed laterally onstage) for this, among Gabrieli’s most important antiphonal canzonas — it is the music of Venetian cathedrals by the 16th century master of the art in a lavish setting for band: Brass vs. winds, earth vs. sky, in percussion-enhanced glory Set $150 | Audio |Virtual Score | Buy |
by ARNOLD ROSNER
Imagine this solar eclipse on an alien landscape of windswept dunes and mysterious marshes. Evoking ancient Egypt and gleaming pyramids ... Rosner conjures a religious atmosphere of foreboding awakening as the Sun itself ceases its light, and we move to a land of darkened spirit.Vivid and shocking, modal and frightening, cinematic and explosive. Set $150 | Audio |Virtual Score | Buy |
by FRANK TICHELI
Do bands and players and audiences ever love this! At once captivating and elemental and like a wild ride in an action movie,Vesuvius rings all the bells. It has even spawned a version for Flex band (or Flex orchestra) so groups of all sizes can play it.Vesuvius has earned a prominent spot in the band’s core repertoire for its relentless energy and brilliant exposition. Set $295 | Audio | Virtual Score | Flex Score | Buy |
by GREGORY B. RUDGERS
As if summoning the Roman legions to battle, 200 B.C. enters with a bang.Well, the Greek legions in fact, but it has still that “Spartacus” feeling to it. Rudgers writes superbly for solo alto saxophone, and it's featured in the lyrical and expansively heroic 2nd movement.Next, on to a jittery, angular dance at breakneck speed (in 5,don’t trip).And last, a steadfast march to victory (again, Roman legions in sound, but in fact ancient Greek melodies taken from really old clay pottery is the source material!). Set $150 |Audio |Virtual Score | Buy |
by
FRANK TICHELI
FRANK TICHELI
Ticheli takes his multiple rhythmic & motivic elements as if shaking them in an exploding box for a richly clever start.Wild Nights! does not settle down, it just grows in scuttle and wildness, in yet a focused and mindful way, catapulting new melodies and ideas in a shot-from-a-cannon fashion. Quite the metropolitan work, firmly footed in the cityscape of glitter and speed, it’s off to the top of the World in this very wild, very brilliant ride. And the shortest and snazziest Coda you can imagine to end it. Set $265 | Audio |Virtual Score | Buy |
by FRANK TICHELI
A work of subtle motion, given quite the brilliant and clear performance online by The Pershing Winds conducted by Christopher Brandt. Korean Folksongs from Jeju Island is an outlier in the Ticheli oeuvre in that it is clear-going and rather than being a wild ride, it is multi-dimensional and richly detailed. Opening in 9/8 it is full of scintillating activity The 2nd mv’t. is one of innocence and delicacy, an almost antique politeness; but the finale is one of scintillating rushes of winds and clanging chimes in a return to a 9/8 of swashbuckling action. Set $295
Audio |Virtual Score | Buy |
by JOSEP H EIDSON
A fury of telegraphic brass momentum, Frenetico opens with a extravagance of electric energy. Eidson’s supremely enthusiastic scoring is crystalline and brilliantly delineated.This is work of nonstop and propulsively sharp rhythms, given not only to brass (and the trumpets had better be strong) but to the higher winds supported by xylophone (a vital and effective part throughout the work).The lucky Euphonium solo is cued to Tenor Saxophone, and later to Bassoon. Set $145
| Audio |Virtual Score | Buy |
by FRA NK TICHELI
A work of restless and angular energy, a world of shouts, gorgeous chorale, and multivariate motivic elements:This is one of Ticheli’s most balletic and decidedly contemporary (yet accessible) works.An ascending and heartfelt horn melody is accompanied by a speedy counterpoint in chirping winds. In many ways this work foreshadows the brilliance of Lux Perpetua.A mysterious episode featuring plaintive alto saxophone ensues with threateningly deep tones; the heartfelt horn melody rises from the depths; a surprising clarion from horns in a clock-chime motive (m. 191) ushers the work to its satisfying close — amid crashes and booms as if summoning the Heavens themselves. Emotionallly powerful! Set $295 | Audio |Virtual Score | Buy |
by FRANK TICHELI
A languid dance redolent of stucco and sandstone slinks its way gently sideways in this calm ballet. But it grows increasingly dramatic and soon towers in strength. How is this achieved? It’s magic.And then:A second dance appears, equally gentle, but suffused with a more forward-arching slyness. Briefly the dance takes on a musicbox delicacy. But not for long! Mariachi-themed tunes sweep around the musical stage, growing ever more raucous and brilliant in this subtle and detailed suite of dances. Set $265 | Audio: mvt. 1 | Audio: mvt. 2 |Virtual Score | Buy |
Manhattan Beach Music
Inhabiting an otherworldly realm, soaring from earth to heaven, Net Luck’s trip is metaphysical, from the here to the beyond. The program notes will describe who Net Luck was, and how the work came to be written. But judged simply as a tone poem, it probes life’s mystery but does not seek a solution. Set $195 | Audio |Virtual Score | Buy |
Ticheli’s compellingly moving work is surely unequalled in the repertoire. From its majestic and stately opening to the its elegiac and confident theme, the work is transfixing. After the “We Are Columbine” alma mater is quoted in a powerful climax, a lonely off-stage trumpet takes the work to its serene resting place. A textbook in effective scoring, with especially beautiful writing for horns, the work is an international classic. Set $195 Audio |Virtual Score (band) | Buy |
presenting the original sketch of blue shades
in a series of color reproductions of frank ticheli’s original, complete manuscripts
“It’s almost like looking over the shoulder of Frank Ticheli,witnessing the art of composition” - Bob Margolis
by TIMOTHY BROEGE
Restless and questioning, a rhythmic motif is rapidly handed among sections while a jungle fanfare motive howls overhead.A new, rocking motive serves up the first chorale hymn, an almost baroque canon that leads, with dignity, to a shocking rondeau. Is it ancient Rome; is it Ragtime, why is there a police whistle? There is a 19th century gospel hymn sung by the band.Words: “I love to tell the story of unseen things above, of Jesus and his glory ...” It took 37 years for the band version (originally for 25 winds), and the work can be played by either ensemble in this 2-for-1 edition, C Trumpets or Bb, your choice. Optionally antiphonal, and the singing is meant to be unpolished. Set $265 | Audio |Virtual Score | Buy |
by JEFFREY HAYMAN
Wickedness is underway — or is it? In what could otherwise be bizarro-Mystery’s! main title, Ludvik’s supersonic melodies fly by in amazing concord. Capital C., add an e,‘cause it’s jolly flying romp, with impressive solos by clarinet, by soprano saxophone (featured throughout in virtuosic form), and many of the usual suspects.The score is a wild zoom of intersecting lines moving at breakneck pace, with amazing parts for everyone, even for the conductor, who will have enough entry cues to be very busy. Set $165 | Audio |Virtual Score | Buy |
FRANK TICHELI
Angels Rising is a moving exploration into darkness, light, depth and height. Using French horn to move slightly toward the light, Ticheli molds a threatening melody to bring us more deeply into the mysteries. Partway through, a chorale announces the arrival of angels and an ascension of hope. A rescue of souls has begun. Emotionally moving, beautifully scored, mysterious in its manners, now begins the Ascension (though the circle of 5ths). Wind flourishes, like dashed off streaks of light, mark each progression. The music ascends, the progressions increasing in speed and fervor. As we arrive at Heaven, the gates close, and what lies beyond is forever hidden. Set $195 | Audio | Virtual Score | Buy |
FRANK TICHELI
The forces of good and evil are woven throughout this thrilling piece. Ticheli’s magnum opus, a cataclysmic battle of elemental forces, his most performed and best loved large-scale work.The music is bookended by whirlies and soprano (or boy soprano) and reaches a thunderous climax for pipe organ, wild chimes, and the arrayed forces of the full concert band. Set $465 | Audio |Virtual Score | Buy | Orchestra Virtual Score (rental) | | Orchestra Audio | Rent Orchestra version |
by BOB MARGOLIS
Before you can enter this SUBWAY you must first walk the lonely, desolate city streets at 4 a.m., accompanied by a wash of whole-tone clusters in an enlarged clarinet section. (If you don’t have that many, just fill the top parts … no one will know.) Then, the city subway itself clatters into view to take you on a crazy ride through the neighborhoods. Extreme ranges, boisterous (basically, outof-control) percussion, and a lot of noise for a thrilling ride. Do not succumb on the hill of dead trumpets… but make it to the end as a sparky motive is handed down from the highest to the lowest note. Set $195 | Audio Mvt. 1, 4 a.m., city streets … | | Audio Mvt..2, Subway |Virtual Score | Buy |
by MICHAEL MARKOWSKI
A jittery, if not stochastic panoply of accents, a vamping hemiola-fastic bass line, an off-beat series of jabs, is the starting gun to the Travels. Like a speeding train through stations, through vistas, guided by some unknown internal itinerary, we are swept along on a swift ride, cinematic, jazzy, thrilling. Powerful percussion throughout. Set $250 | Audio |Virtual Score | Buy |
by FRANK TICHELI
FRANK TICHELI
This is the work from which Earth Song was indirectly created — at least the melody. But one needs to also experience this music in its original form. From the soaring French horn melody and the subtle scoring, to the dramatic denouement, Sanctuary is a serene masterpiece. Set $265
| Audio (H. Robert Reynolds | Audio: (Allan McMurray)
| Virtual Score | Buy |
www. ManhattanBeachMusic .com
by FRANK TICHELI
Published in this reduction for solo trombone, two pianos, and percussion; on rental (in the composer’s original MS) for trombone and concert band, this virtuosic triumph for solo trombone has been performed by the world’s foremost players.The solo part is available for free download on FrankTicheli.com (as are all the solo parts to his concerti). Set $165
| Virtual Score | Solo Part | Band version Virtual Score | Buy | (Solo is Grade 6)
Rent the version for Trombone & Concert Band
by
Three extraordinary movements, any of which can be played by itself — Ticheli’s Symphony is a rare musical banquet for band. Shooting Stars is off to a bang with an elephant-call motive and a series of sonic blasts and crashes. Ideas cascade over a thrilling ostinato and burst into a cataclysmic finale. Dreams Under a New Moon is more than a meditative contrast, it is a spellbinding trip to a mystical land of vapors and rapidly-shifting motives.Textures of sophisticated harmonic complexity rise to a resplendent resolution. Finally, Apollo Unleashed pulls together a series of agitated motives to overlay a chorale theme (yes, it’s Bach, grandmaster of all chorale themes). Extremely interlocked motives (and a duel of trumpets) fight for dominance and gather to a statement of the chorale in unmatched brilliance.The Coda is unmatched in brilliance. Set $465 | Audio Mvt. 1 | Mvt. 2 | Mvt. 3 |Virtual Score | Buy | (Mvts. 1 & 2 are Grade 6; Mvt. 3 is Grade 5)
by
FRANK TICHELI
From the brilliant fanfare opening, and in the perfect orchestration by Gary D. Green,Ticheli’s first symphony announces its serious intent.The menacing and violent third movement, Profanation, is surely performable by itself, although the 4-movement arc of the work (OfYouth; Of Wisdom; Profanation; Prayer) is an ideal way to hear it.The final movement features solo tenor voice and band. Parts Set $595 | Score $125 | Audio Mvt. 1 | Mvt. 2 | Mvt. 3 | Mvt. 4 | |Virtual Score | Buy |
Mvt 3 is Grade 6, the others are Grade 5
Set of parts and condutor score are for separate sale.
by CLINT NEEDHAM
As if glitter could make music, Legacies opens to a scintillating mix of motives, rhythmic virtuosity, and melodic charm. Music of woodland sprites, through mist and angry charm — the legacy seems to be one of magic. It is also a music of triumph, of clouds of musical wizardry careening forward. Set $195 | Audio | Virtual Score | Buy |
by FRANK TICHELI
Conductors, hold on to your baton, you ’ re going to need it.A Postcard to Meadville, Pa. (the original title) will not make up its mind what meter it’s in, and that’s on purpose. In the very first seconds it’s 2/4, 6/8, 3/4, 7/8, 5/8, 2/4, and never settles down in this super-intricate totally-interlocked motivically palindromic jigsaw puzzle of a piece. Like an unmoored train speeding down the track, Postcard hurtles from its pipsqueak start through its thundering moments of spectacular virtuosity to its satisfying thunderclap of a Coda. Set $325 Audio |Virtual Score | Buy |
by FR ANK TICHELI
Completely revisited and meticulously revised (laserlike attention to dynamics, articulations, yield a new 3-D soundscape) the 25th Anniversary Edition of Blue Shades has been newly engraved by the composer himself. This is the quintessential publication of Ticheli’s breakthrough crossover work. H. Robert Reynolds gives a spot-on performance (hear it on www.virtualscoresystem.com). This is a striking and unique contemporary work with the flavor of jazz. Set $465 | Audio | Virtual Score | Buy |
by MICHAEL MARKOWSKI
With an oceanic wash of color and swagger,Tidal Forces launches us into Markowski’s spectacular world of visionary sound. It’s kinda fantastic! Beautifully bold horn writing, swirling high winds, pounding percussion — the tidal forces carry us out to sea to a remarkably grand and moving ending.Timpani, and 5 very busy percussionists are prominent in this cinematic fantasmo of an extravaganza. Set $250 | Audio |Virtual Score | Buy |
CONCERT BAND
MANHATTAN BEACH MUSIC
In all of 54 seconds, Bach’s famous 2-part invention splayed and ‘sploaded for band in a rapidfire handoff of motives from section to section and player to player.
An ideal encore piece when 2 minutes is just too long! Set $45 (two parts per page) | Audio |Virtual Score | | Buy |
BENJAMINDEANTAYLOR BENJAMINDEANTAYLOR
Third Prize Winner (Tie) of the 3rd International Frank Ticheli Composition Contest
Harnessing the power of a combinatronic sense of layering and elemental rhythm, being equal parts of whiz and bang, of slyness and transcontinental signaling,Taylor has whipped up a merengue of rare rise.A musical fireworks of dazzling pop and scintillating light. Set $165 | Audio |Virtual Score | Buy |
by FRANK TICHELI
Lux Perpetua represents one of Ticheli’s most significant works, and while it does not have the melodrama of Angels in the Architecture, it excels in power of a different sort.A study in maximum effect with minimum motivic effort, it rides on swells and currents difficult to identify but sublime to appreciate.This is a magnificent work of unparalleled craft in which two notes, or two chords, oscillate in an atomic universe of bizarre and in-explicable motion, finally bursting forth in majestic super-nova.There is his An American Elegy, and this, an elegy for time and space, for perpetual light. Set $395 Audio |Virtual Score | Buy |
by M ICAH LEVY
Levy is the trickster from the get-go in his off-kilter downbeat-or-upbeat? opening Well, settle down for a joyride of squirgly target practice in this wildly wacky and stunningly smiley ride. Like Lux with its 2 notes, Levy too juggles 2 directions (up; down; lots and lots of eighthnotes) in a current of rapidly shifting accent to make a great and gregarious music. Even the Coda: 2 measures, who needs more? Conductors please note: mostly 4/4, lots of 7/8 and 1/4 — a feast of metric mischief. Set $165 | Audio |Virtual Score | Buy |
A series of clarions of a fascinating and mysterious kind start this monumental and spacey journey (prerecorded electronics enrich the humans). Like a wild party (gather ye electrons, today is atomic) Hass assembles his elements in uniquely powerful columns of sound. Echoes of exoticism trade places with unabashed power, purely original motives, sinuous light, and rhythmic outbursts of unabashed power. The electronic soundtrack functions as a second band, and the percussion section (the human players) are extremely active in this tour de force. Set $235 | Audio |Virtual Score | Buy |
by DEBUSSY/MERLINPATTERSON
No one can equal Debussy in painting a picture in music, and in this monumental transcription Patterson has attended to detail and orchestration at a profound level. This is a transcription of exceptional power and grandeur, which calls forth every resource of instrumentation the modern band possesses.There are many who say the band has more resources of color than the orchestra, and here is proof. Set $250 | Audio |Virtual Score | Buy |
FRANK TICHELI
Blue Shades meet mambo dance hall. BASH (a wild FIESTA!) knows how to party. This is a world of propulsion and wild abandon, of twitters and sly motives, of sneaky fun and headstrong prowess. Many solos, with saxes (successively standing) to take their spotlight. Towards the end we are launched into the sky to a whirl of winds heralding a triumphantly defiant close. Set $465 | Audio | Virtual Score | Buy |
by STEVE ROUSE
For three minutes this tightly controlled multi-triadic work constructs skyscraping vistas of power and ferocity. It’s work of visceral excitement, of muscular angularity. You will hear rhythms three over two, and four over three, and polychords, this is within a work of severe cohesion, of stark effort, and unmistakable effect. The ride is to an electrifying ascent to the final chord, consisting of major triads (stacked bottom to top) of C, D, E, and F#. Set $150 | Audio | Virtual Score | Buy |
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An antiphonal work in tribute to the music of Giovanni Gabrieli (which see elsewhere in this catalog) the setting is in the three choirs with two offstage players, French horn and Trumpet (alternative parts provided for Bb, C, and Eb Trumpet).As fanfares go, this one might herald a Roman emperor to the ancient Senate.Your audience will hear music fanfares in canon, fanfares preceded by rapidly repeated notes, including polychordal harmonies that resolve to a grand, consonant, glorious epiphany. Set $195 | Audio |Virtual Score | Buy |
by FRANK TICHELI
A joyous romp in 9/8 and 6/8 is the cheerful start to Acadiana. (Acadiana is the third work in the 27year Cajun Folk Songs trilogy.) Soon enough an abrupt shift to 4/4, with swing-eighths, moves to a sassy and bluesy section and then a grand Cajun two-step. The next movement is a wash of intertangled wisps of sound, in which a piccolo and tuba intone a dirge, as if from another time and place (in memory of the victims of Hurricane Katrina); a wail of wild trombones sum-mon the horror of the catastrophe.Attacca the next movement — the triumphant and jubilant procession with the spirit of Mardi Gras. Set $395 | Audio |Virtual Score | Buy |
by TIMOTHY BROEGE
Imagine you have two old-time radios and you are fading one in and one out, changing stations — what could you hear? SinfoniaV: Symphonia Sacra et Profana takes you on this unique musical journey.This music is both sophisticated & approachable, sacred and profane. SinfoniaV is perhaps Broege’s most well-know and most famous Sinfonia: Superbly unpredictable, subtle, gallant, and even quoting music over a 600-year span. If you do not know this, there is no better introduction to Broege’s oeuvre. Set $195 | Audio |Virtual Score | Buy |
by ARNOLDROSNER
At eleven minutes, Rosner’s amazing Raga! — unique in the band repertoire — captures the essence and form of the ragas of India. It is also a work for dueling timpani (two players are required on opposite sides of the band). Like all ragas, it begins with a meditative exposition of its themes, but gradually grows in speed and complexity, and in this band setting, percussive force.A rocking rhythmic regularity asserts itself over which the dueling timpani and intricately weaving melodies fly by. With clarity and unanimity the work’s themes unite for a powerful close. Set $250 | Audio |Virtual Score | Buy |
by BOBMARGOLIS
Five monophonic English country Dances are the source for this contemporary take on antique but lively music In mv’t. 1, Margolis sets up layered accompaniments, with abrupt shifts in harmonic language and with sudden slowdowns. In mv’t. 2., a rollicking seafaring dance grows faster and faster and is overtaken by a minimalist force. But in mv’t. 3 a hymn with rich timbres gradually grows and ascends to a resplendent chord (think: Holst). In mv’t. 4 xylo and marimba and bassoon act as accompaniment to an Arabian nights melody. In the final mv’t. an otherwise straightforward anthem is given a spirited and surprising dash of élan. Set $250 | Audio |Virtual Score | Buy |
Ticheli’s virtuosic work for flute and band bursts forth to showcase everything a flute can do. You can see it performed online by UNT. Yes, this must have a flautist of flawless technical aplomb, and a drum set player of experience and rhythmic security. If the first movement is expressionist, the next is impressionist. The final movement, Silver Lining, turns toward a snappy happiness, an extended cadenza, and Ticheli’s patented surprise ending. Set $395 | Video |Virtual Score | Solo Part (free download) | Buy |
by FRANK TICHELI
Only now have many begun to worry in earnest about the existential threats to the planet.Ticheli’s ecologically-inclined work, written towards the start of his career, focuses of Gaia, the earth goddess of ancient Greece. Foreshadowing the composer’s Symphony No. 2 in certain stylistic elements, the visions here are threatening and dire.As if overlooking a barren planet, we are presented with vistas of silence, shockingly punctuated by destructive energy and themes of mechanistic energy. Is the message at the end of the work one of hope, or one of resignation? Set $265 | Audio |Virtual Score | Buy |
by BEN HJERTMANN
The cat is cool in this jazzy music featuring complex rhythmic interplay set within changing meter. The band is led by a virtuoso part for drum set, and while this is a work for advanced players (and conductor) it remains fascinating in its audacity and originality Set $195 | Audio |Virtual Score | Buy |
M ATTHEW PETERSON
Peterson’s imposing work probes the depths of lament, loss, and love. Extraordinary attention to gesture, to texture, to tonality and sonority, and a very careful notation make this work a startling vivid creation. I should like to see it on a program with Stout’s mysterious work,Voyager, as one is a voyage outward, and the other, inward. Set $365
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by JODIE BLACKSHAW
Emerging from a forest of tinkling metallic sounds, a lone clarinet intones a baleful melody, answered in kind by horn, and then a choir of brass. So begins Blackshaw’s journey through a hurricane of torment, sorrow — a veritable storm of the soul in this singular work. It is a swirl of emotion in which a sole voice, alone in the world, speaks, and is joined by other souls to create a music of prayer, of anguish, and of triumph.
Set $365
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Praetorius’ huge collection of dances from the Court of Henry IV of France is the source for this gargantuan, swashbuckling parade of tim-bres, textures, and tintinnabulations. Every section of the ensemble has its druthers, sometimes standing. A xylophone and bassoon duet starts one movement (cues for the Bassoon of course); and, should you be lucky enough the have a harp, it will be heard (cued, etc.) or a pipe organ (likewise). But do try to have the tenor recorder at the start of the work and the blast that unexpectedly follows. Legendary for its unbridled orchestration! Set $650
by FRANK TICHELI
Forceful ostinati spring forth from the jungle, aggressive gestures punctuate their foray in this very early work of Ticheli. A ceaseless span of nonstop nervous energy, of machine-gun force—a battle royale There may be echoes towards the future Angels in the Architecture, and this tiger will pretty much knock out any audience near ground zero. Note: brass, you’re on; percussion, fire in the hole! Set $250 | Audio |Virtual Score | Buy |
by FRANK TICHELI
We are fortunate to have online a spectacular performance video by Anthony McGill (principal clarinetist, NewYork Philharmonic) and the United States Air Force Band, with Frank Ticheli as guest conductor The concerto’s movements: Rhapsody for George [Gershwin]; Song for Aaron [Copland]; and Riffs for Lenny [Bernstein] give an idea of the terrain traversed in this splendid, virtuosic Concerto by our favorite composer. Also published in a version for solo Bb clarinet and piano. Set $395 | Audio |Virtual Score | Buy | Solo Part | | Virtual Score of version for Clarinet and Piano | (Version for clarinet and piano: $95)
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