Tuneful Celebration (2024)
Instrumentation: concert band
Grade Level: 2.5 (Medium Easy)
Duration: 5 minutes
Commissioned by the Burnsville High School Concert Band—director, Keith French 2024
Grade Level: 2.5 (Medium Easy)
Duration: 5 minutes
Commissioned by the Burnsville High School Concert Band—director, Keith French 2024
Program Note:
Tuneful Celebration was commissioned by Burnsville High School (BHS) to honor the legacy of band director Molly Holmes. Ms. Holmes taught band in the district for over three decades and was my school band director in 2010–2013. I wanted my composition to capture her positivity and humor in band class, and the great memories I have of her directing the high school pit orchestra (my favorite BHS experience.) In line with my goal, Tuneful Celebration opens with optimistic fanfare and counterpoint, then closes with a series of faster, playful melodies. These melodies are actually based on a musical cryptogram where note names and letters are used like the alphabet to spell out words (e.g. Molly Holmes). Besides the usual note names, “A B C D E F G” composers also use solfège syllables, “Do Re Mi Fa So La Ti” (Remember The Sound of Music song?), and German pronunciations of chromatic pitches that mimic the letters H, S, and more.
Tuneful Celebration was commissioned by Burnsville High School (BHS) to honor the legacy of band director Molly Holmes. Ms. Holmes taught band in the district for over three decades and was my school band director in 2010–2013. I wanted my composition to capture her positivity and humor in band class, and the great memories I have of her directing the high school pit orchestra (my favorite BHS experience.) In line with my goal, Tuneful Celebration opens with optimistic fanfare and counterpoint, then closes with a series of faster, playful melodies. These melodies are actually based on a musical cryptogram where note names and letters are used like the alphabet to spell out words (e.g. Molly Holmes). Besides the usual note names, “A B C D E F G” composers also use solfège syllables, “Do Re Mi Fa So La Ti” (Remember The Sound of Music song?), and German pronunciations of chromatic pitches that mimic the letters H, S, and more.