Category: Composition/Theory

Armed Forces Medley for Big Band

~ wilktone ~ 17 Comments

Back in 2006 I was commissioned to write an arrangement of all the U.S. armed forces themes into a medley for the San Luis Valley Big Band.  I always enjoy doing things like this, taking non-jazz tunes and putting them into a jazz context.  I had also done this with the Adams State College alma mater back when I taught music there (2000-2003).  ASC is located in the San Luis Valley, which is my connection with this group.

Watch the above YouTube video to hear the San Luis Valley Big Band play through my arrangement.  The SLV Big Band started up after I moved from the area, so I never was personally involved with them.  If you’ve never been to this part of southern Colorado, it’s a beautiful part of the country, but pretty rural and towns are relatively far away from each other.  I’m very impressed that the SLV Big Band has gotten 17 jazz musicians in the area to commit to getting together frequently enough to put together a big band like this.  Kudos to the SLV Big Band!

I’ve gotten a couple of inquiries from band leaders looking for an arrangement like this and wondering how they can get it.  While I’m always willing to do business personally, what I need to do is get a high quality recording done of this arrangement so I can get it published.

101 Habits of Highly Effective Writers (and Composers)

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I recently came across this list of 101 habits that can help the aspiring writer.  A lot of these suggestions are good for the academic or student writer, but I was also stuck by how much of the advice was similar to what I recommend to my composition students.  Some translate perfectly to composition, such as setting goals, keeping a schedule, and rewriting.  Others may need a little tweaking to make work for a composer.  For example, I generally wouldn’t advise a student composer to work while listening to other music.  Then again, that might make for an interesting exercise, put some music on that is unrelated in style to the piece you’re composing and try to draw elements from the recording into the new context of your project.

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Perfect Fourths Patterns

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The ascending perfect fourth interval has a very strong harmonic implication that can be useful for both composers and jazz improvisers (as well as being good exercises for technique development).  The perfect fourth interval has the sound of a V-I (authentic) cadence.  This sound is so ingrained in western music that even without any other pitches sounding we can hear the cadence when it’s set up right.  Additionally, stacking perfect fourth intervals together create a characteristic sound when used to voice out chords.  One of my old teachers, Frank Mantooth, was the first person to introduce me to this concept.  Voicings with only perfect fourths can imply a number of different chords, depending on what bass note sounds at the same time.

The above voicing could be used for an F69 chord (containing the root, 5th, 9th, 6th, and 3rd), a Bbmaj9 chord (5th, 9th, 6th, 3rd, and 7th), a Dmin11 chord (3rd, 7th, 11th, root, and 5th), a G7sus (7th, sus 4th, root, 5th, and 9th), and even some others.  Mantooth referred to this style of piano voicing as “miracle voicings” because they allow the pianist to play so many different chords without changing any pitches.

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The Composition Process: Sonatina for Brass Quintet

~ wilktone ~ 2 Comments

I’ve already written a bit about my composition process a bit, specifically some strategies I use to overcome “composer’s block.”  While the general strategies I discuss there have been useful for my students, I’ve found it to be much more helpful if I clarify some of this advice using actual examples.  With this in mind, I kept a journal detailing the steps I took to completing a composition for the UNCA Brass Quintet, including saving different drafts of the piece as I went.  You’ll be able to see here how I got from simple handwritten sketches of basic thematic and motivic material to a completed composition.

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Overcoming Composer’s Block

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Virtually everyone who has composed music for long enough will experience mental blocks to getting projects started or completed. As this is a very familiar experience for authors, I thought it would be useful to compile some suggestions for overcoming writer’s block along with some of the things that I’ve personally found helpful for working my way out of composer’s blocks. Continue reading “Overcoming Composer’s Block” →