Kaki Lambe translation

Protector of the harvest, come to me, come to us

Organ, Minjung Kim

Harp, Anya Pasowicz

Percussion, Ethan Cowburn

Soloists: Sarah Calgaro, Maia Orlovsky, Sondos Hassan

Soloist: Jonathan Rivera

Following on the success of Arturo Márquez’s Danzón No. 2 adapted for band, Oliver Nickel’s transcription of Conga del Fuego Nuevo (Conga of New Fire) gives an added kick to the concert band repertoire. In contrast to the elegant, sinuous Danzón, Conga is an uptempo, celebratory piece, bright and catchy, with the percussion section providing the signature kick at the end of the conga pattern. Márquez slows things down in the middle section to spotlight the first trumpet in a melody that recalls the mariachi tradition. The alto saxes pick it up and relax into a ritard … only to be interrupted by the return of the opening material. The piece ends in fiery fashion.

– Program Note from publisher

Fortress of Peace was completed in January of 2015, commissioned by the Southwest Community Concert Band, Ray Florenza, conductor.  This very fine community ensemble performs in a variety of churches on the southwest side of Chicago, and specifically asked me to create a work that combined traditional hymn tunes in a contemporary wind band setting.  The three songs selected were “A Mighty Fortress is our God” written by Martin Luther, “It is Well with my Soul” lyrics by Horatio Spafford and music by Phillip Bliss, and a traditional hymn tune known as “Fairest Lord Jesus” or “Beautiful Savior”, and many other names as well. 

The first was selected in honor of Pastor Steve Andres, one of the pastors at Calvary Church in Naperville, Illinois whose wife unexpectedly passed away at a young age.  Our whole congregation watched Pastor Steve struggle with his loss, and since he often led worship, the struggle was often public.  Although he was best known among the youth for his exciting renditions of contemporary worship songs, in his time of grief Pastor Steve turned to many of the old hymns of the faith, commenting on how the substance of these older songs helped sustain him.  “A Mighty Fortress” was one of his favorites during this time, and I was deeply moved each time I heard him sing it.  Steve is now fully restored to ministry at Calvary Church, and preaching and singing more passionately than ever.  I included this song as a tribute to him and his willingness to share his journey with the members of our church. 

“It is Well” is a favorite tune for both my wife Erica and I.  The words and the story behind them are equally profound.  Lyricist Horatio Spafford lost a fortune in the great Chicago Fire of 1871, then two years later lost all four of his daughters in a shipwreck at sea.  The lyrics to this beautiful song were penned when he visited the site of the shipwreck.  Finally, “Fairest Lord Jesus” was one of my earliest musical memories from high school.  I heard an All-District Treble Choir sing a wonderful arrangement of this hymn at a festival in Springfield, Misssou when I was 14 or so and the music has stayed with me ever since.  Notes by Thomas Bough 

Mighty Fortress

A Mighty Fortress is our God, a bulwark never failing. 
Our helper he amid the flood of mortal ills prevailing. 
The prince of darkness grim, we tremble not for him. 
His rage we can endure, for lo his doom is sure. 
One single word shall fell him. 

It is Well With my Soul

When Peace, like a River, attendeth my way.  
When sorrows like sea billows roll. 
Whatever my lot, Thou hast taught me to say, 
It is Well, it is well, with my soul. 
It is well, with my soul. 
It is well, it is well, with my soul. 

Fairest Lord Jesus 

Fairest Lord Jesus, 
Ruler of the Nations 
O, Thou of God, and Man the Son. 
Thee will I cherish, 
Thee will I honor 
Thou, my Souls glory, joy, and crown. 

This intrepid concert fanfare for advanced bands exudes feelings of exhilaration and resilience from beginning to end. The work opens with sparkling melody lines and brilliant technical passages before settling into the rhythmic dance section. Hereafter, the music once again asserts itself with the powerful statements from the beginning before coming to the dramatic close.

– Program Note from publisher

Variations on a Korean Folk Song is based upon a folk tune that the composer learned while serving the U.S. Army in Seoul, Korea. The tune is known as Arrirang, a song of love and heartbreak that can be found in many variations, with an origin that may date back 1000 years. In autumn 1966, for the Journal of Band Research, Chance said: “I became acquainted with the folk song while serving in Seoul, Korea, as a member of the Eighth U.S. Army Band in 1958-59. The tune is not as simple as it sounds, and my fascination with it during the intervening years led to its eventual use as the theme for this set of variations.”

– Program Note adapted from University of Texas Wind Symphony concert program, 30 November 2016

As a member of, and musical arranger for the Eighth U.S. Army Band, John Barnes Chance served in Seoul, South Korea, during the Korean War. It was during this time that he became familiar with a traditional Korean folk song called Arirang. Chance explains, “The tune is not as simple as it sounds, and my fascination with it during the intervening years led to its eventual use as the theme for this set of variations”.

Arirang is a tune based on the pentatonic scale, and it can be dated back to the 18th century as a song of love and heartbreak. It was utilized in the 20th century as a resistance anthem during the Japanese occupation of Korea, when the singing of patriotic songs, including the national anthem, was criminalized. Chance’s set of variations, written for concert band in 1965, begins by presenting the Arirang theme, and proceeds to develop it through five variations. The piece alternates between fast and slow variations, with the final variation being marked “Con Islancio” (“with impetuousness”), and it uses a variety of time signatures and rhythmic motives to alter the theme. Chance maintains the Eastern influence of the original tune through his use of the pentatonic scale, as well as prominent use of distinct percussion instruments, such as temple blocks, cymbals, and a gong.

The piece was awarded the Ostwald Award in 1966 by the American Bandmasters Association.

– Program Note adapted from Baylor University Symphonic Band concert program, 15 September 2022

Rhythm Stand pays tribute to the constant presence of rhythm in our lives, from the pulse of a heart beating to the rhythmic sounds of the world around us. Celebrating the “regular order” we all experience, Jennifer Higdon incorporates traditional and non-traditional sound within a 4/4 meter American style swing to heighten student awareness and enhance their creativity. Organized in unique compositional and rhythmic patterns, this work invites students to explore multiple ways of organizing sounds and making music.

In the composer’s own words:

“Since rhythm is everywhere, not just in music (ever listened to the tires of a car running across pavement, or a train on railroad tracks?), I’ve incorporated sounds that come not from the instruments that you might find in a band, but from ‘objects’ that sit nearby … music stands and pencils! Music stands are played with pencils, which are both ‘objects’ at hand. Not only that, but some of the performers in this piece get even more basic … they snap their fingers. Because music can be any kind of sound arranged into an interesting pattern, I decided to add sounds that you wouldn’t normally hear coming from band instruments, sounds which are created out of ordinary things that might be sitting nearby. Composing is merely the job of combining interesting sounds into interesting patterns. And interesting patterns create cool rhythms. So … I’m making a STAND FOR RHYTHM!”

Program Note from score

Bough’s diverse performance background includes wind bands, brass bands, orchestras, chamber music, jazz bands, Dixieland, the Walt Disney World All American College Band and the Phantom Regiment Drum and Bugle Corps. He is a Yamaha sponsored artist, and performs on the Yamaha 822 CC tuba and Yamaha 822 F tuba. In this capacity, he served as a brass consultant and guest instructor with the Cavaliers Drum and Bugle Corps for six years. He was also an instructor with the Phantom Regiment Alumni Corps in 2016. Bough has contributed over twenty articles and hundreds of new music reviews to the Instrumentalist magazine, School Band and Orchestra magazine, and DCI Today, as well as articles to five volumes of the Teaching Music Through Performance series as well as Teaching Music Through Performance in Jazz. He is also an ambassador for the Denis Wick company, and a lifetime performer on their mouthpieces and mutes.

Bough is an active conductor, arranger, composer, clinician, and adjudicator for concert band, marching band, and brass band, with dozens of appearances per year to his credit across the United States. His music is published by Alfred Publications, Cimarron Music and GPG Publications. He has served as a frequent masterclass clinician and/or conductor for the Music For All Summer Symposium and the Music For All National Concert Band Festival for over fifteen years. He has presented masterclasses at the Eastman School of Music, the Crane School of Music, Arizona State University, the University of Michigan, the University of Toledo, and UNC-Greensboro, among many others. Bough has presented four times at the Midwest Clinic and twice at the U.S. Army Band Tuba-Euphonium Conference, as well as the International Society for Music Education Conference in Beijing, China, and Helsinki, Finland, four NAFME multi-state regional conventions, the International Horn Society Conference, the International Women’s Brass Conference, and the Midwest Regional Tuba Euphonium Conference. In addition, he has presented at Music Educators Association State Conventions in Illinois, Arizona, Texas, Iowa, Tennessee, Alaska, Missouri, Kentucky, Ohio, Colorado, Nebraska, Arkansas, North Carolina, Indiana, New York, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, South Carolina, Alabama, Georgia, Washington, Florida and the Texas Bandmasters Association.

In May of 2014, his first compact disc was released, entitled, Concertos for Brass: The Music of Thomas Bough. This disc features three original concerti for solo brass instruments and wind band, as well as a transcription of the Concerto in Eb by Neruda. It is available on the Summit Records label at www.summitrecords.com. Since then, recent commissions have included “Ring the Bell” for The University of Texas, Rio Grande Valley; “Esse Quam Videri” for Olivet Nazarene University; “Chester’s Diadem” for Hauser Junior High School; “Musings on Mahler” for Solo Trumpet and Band; “Legacy of Luther” for Concordia University in Chicago; “Air Mobility Fanfare” for the U.S. Air Force Band at Scott Air Force Base; and “Poorest of the Poor: Music for Mother Teresa”, for the University of San Diego.

Learn more about his work at www.TomBough.com.

An initial version of Pulled from Time was composed in 2020 during the globally devastating COVID 19 pandemic and during the final months of my only sister’s decline and ultimate death. This piece is dedicated to the memory of my sister, Pamela, and the strength she showed throughout her life. She passed well before her time.

This was commissioned by and composed for Anthony DiSanza, Professor of Percussion Studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. I appreciate the humility, tenderness, precision, joy and ferocity with which he approaches music and hope future performances of Frida Kahlo’s

Tweetstorm will continue to celebrate these qualities. Images of Kahlo’s paintings referenced in Wahlund’s piece can be found below. (BW)

In operating with three musical strata (tonally and metrically different and usually without rhythmic congruence), the music might be described as conflicted-polyphony, where the interruptive nature of the independent lines tear at the fraying linear perspective.

Sometimes the composer chooses to let one strata dominate, or weaves notes from different strata creating new, boundary-crossing melodies and motifs. Often it is up to the listener to choose the foreground and the background of the music.

The work opens with three clear statements of the core melodic fragment (comprised of six pitches) set in unique metric/rhythmic configurations. This angular, yet simple melody, and the three metric/rhythmic identities serve as the basis for Nørgård’s ever-changing yet seemingly static music.

Following the opening melodic statements, Nørgård wastes no time in digging into the polyphonic underpinnings of the composition. Using synthesized drum and chime sounds, the multiple layers of the music are plain to hear. In persistent reference to the Golden Ratio, the rhythmic material consists of layered subdivisions of 3, 5 and 8 notes per beat.

Nørgård ultimately explores the polyphonic layering of melodic, metric and rhythmic material using an acoustic multiple percussion set-up (which presents the opening melodic material, in inversion, on six tuned drums with counterpoint woven on a metal pipe), as well as a combination of keyboard percussion instruments (MalletKAT, vibraphone and bass marimba).

Nørgård abandons the conflicted-polyphonic texture for a brief period while applying his minimalistic “waves” principles to the six-pitch inverted melodic fragment on tom toms, bringing emerging melodies to the fore through gradual dynamic and rhythmic change.

Near the end of the work, Nørgård quotes the end of a simple waltz melody by Adolf Wölfli as the basis of a kaleidoscopic fabric of tones. Wolfli spent most of his life institutionalized where he painted, wrote poetry and composed works of art that demonstrated a combination of madness and genius.

The tension between the simple melody and the ambivalent polyphony experienced at the end of the work points back to Nørgård’s vision of his boyhood years: the pre-sentiment of “a music that arose out of a single melody that rushed around through all the instruments of the orchestra.” Energy Fields Forever was composed for – and in collaboration with – Gert Sørensen. (Notes by G. Sørensen & A. Di Sanza)

The seed for Walking on Stones was planted in my mind while walking on a stone beach in Door County, WI. I recorded the amazing sounds of the rocks beneath my feet and immediately started thinking about a musical environment in which to use the recording. I collaborated with my friend Marc Hill to create the fixed media file, initially giving him only vague musical parameters for each section. We worked through many revisions of the fixed media material as I built the solo drumming ideas. This is our second collaboration in the realm of drumming solos with fixed media having previously created Wood & Water for solo frame drum and fixed media