more on Chippewa Falls

You may've noticed that I haven't been blogging much lately, and for that, I apologize. I was really sick, I've been REALLY busy, and I've been really, really focused on the new piece I was writing for Chippewa Falls -- so focused, in fact, that it was hard to write about it while I was actually writing IT. So to make up for that, I figured I'd write about now...

It's finished! I can't wait to hear the band play it. For the most part, it's an extremely simple piece of music, but within the simplicity, I've tried to create some very special, unique moments. Part of that is the orchestration -- I wanted to add some less-common colors to the ensemble, and do some things I would NEVER normally do. For one thing, there are crystal glasses being played, by rubbing the rims... and it's not just going to be a few punters in the percussion section -- it's going to be almost the entire band. And I also stole an oft-used John Mackey percussion technique -- in one section, I'm having the timpanist play the drums with regular wood drumsticks (evidently, this can be very damaging to the drum-heads, so we'll see how this goes over when they get the music!)... there's also some very naked piano parts, and I never write much for piano...

In the meantime, I've got to get back to copying out the score and parts!!!