A concert 'centerpiece' this major work from James Curnow explores the spiritual perspectives of the First Nations of the Pacific Northwest in North America. The five movements investigate the 'Cosmos' and its four 'Worlds'. With such complete contrasts as 'The Undersea World' and the ceremonial dance in 'The Mortal World' an authentic First Nations melody in 'The Spirit World' and the ethos of 'The Sky World' the wonders are many. Your performance of 'Down From The Shimmering Sky' will be meaningful and memorable for musicians and audience alike. This is a landmark piece for concert band.

I wrote The Nonantum Bulgar in response to a request for a klezmer-style piece for middle school band. Since my local middle school (F. A. Day) is located in close proximity to Nonantum the oldest area of Newton MA I decided to imagine the dedication of the Adams St. Shul our city's oldest synagogue which took place around a hundred years ago (December 15 1912). According to the Yiddish and English poster announcing the dedication the event featured the a prominent Boston cantor and choir and a klezmer orchestra leading a 'Grand March' down Adams St. The piece tries to re-create what the klezmer band might have played on that occasion. A Bulgar is a Romanian Jewish Dance thatwas very popular among Jewish immigrants at the beginning of the twentieth century. The trumpet solo that opens the piece is a typical rubato prelude with the trumpet playing 'cantorial-style' Jewish ornaments and phrasing in the manner of Eastern-European Jewish prayer leaders. Once the dance starts the piece is underscored with a Romanian Jewish 'Bulgaresca' rhythm heard in the trombone snare drum and tympani. The 'bulgar' section of the piece begins with a typical klezmer band orchestration of the time featuring solo clarinet (played with a somewhat nasal tone) trumpet (or even more ideally cornet) trombone saxophone tuba and percussion. The percussion section is prominently featured in the third strain. In the final round of the opening melody the band slows down in the manner of a Russian 'Grand March ' bringing the piece to a proud and majestic conclusion. --Hankus Netsky

From the Snow Maiden-From Rimsky-Korsalov's opera Snow Maiden Dance of the Tumblers is considered to be one of this composer's most well known themes. Although brief in duration this vibrant and energetic dance contains a wealth of music and with its light-hearted spirit is a perfect teaching tool for young players. Dur: 1:35

Sword Dance from Hymn of the Highlands-Strathcarron is a movement from Philip Sparke’s Hymn of the Highlands in which each movement reflects a different location in the beautiful Scottish highlands. Stratcarron named after a village at the head of Loch Carron near the Isle of Skye takes the form of a sword dance which alternates between fast and slow tempi.

Sword Dance from Hymn of the Highlands-Strathcarron is a movement from Philip Sparke’s Hymn of the Highlands in which each movement reflects a different location in the beautiful Scottish highlands. Stratcarron named after a village at the head of Loch Carron near the Isle of Skye takes the form of a sword dance which alternates between fast and slow tempi.

For Solo Clarinet and Concert Band-As in the original soundtrack from The Terminal a featured solo clarinet is used to portray the warmth and friendliness of the main character Viktor Navorsky. This appealing dance-lke composition also captures something of his colorful ethnic background.

Durkle Bandrydge is the name of the composers imaginary world but it could very well be anyones invisible dream world with a different name. In this very versatile suite by Bruce Fraser 8 characters are featured each with its ownpeculiarities making Durkle Bandrydge such a colourful place. Do these characters differ that much from us? That is for you to find out! In the last part all characters come together in a special way.Durkle Bandrydge exists at the end ofyour street. It is invisible to humans but Durkle Bandrygators can watch us with great interest. The music will introduce you to some of the characters who live in this unusual place. The parts: Somnanbulyss who is a giant trollguarding the entrance to Durkle Bandryde. At least he is supposed to but he tends to sleep most of the time. His music is therefore very slow moving and sleepy. Long Gwysteen is a tall mysterious and somehow sophisticated character who walls around with a shell on his back. His music glides along rather gracefully. Squelfitch is a rather unpleasant and smelly character who lives in a bog which is why his music sounds rather slimy and a bit like trying to walkthrough quicksand. Perfydlia is a meddling old woman who gossips about everybody and squeals with sudden delight at the small exciting bits of tittletattle about others in the village. In the music you can hear her sudden little squealsof delight. Maryann Lovely is a beautiful young lady graceful gorgeous absolutely devine and her music is obviously just the same. Thistledoo Nicely is a lively character who spends and spends and spends with her credit card buying the latest fashion and never worries about having to pay the bills. Her music reflects her excitement when shopping and het ‘happy go lucky’ approach to life. Marsyn Edginton is the Lord of the manor the richest man in town the‘big cheese’ the man with all the power and of course the biggest house. He is very grand and his music like he could be a king. Jimmy McScotsmyn is a red haired scotsman wearing tartan cap. He misses his home country terribly and eatslots of shortbread oatcakes scotch eggs porridge and drinks an enormous amount of Scotch Wisky which helps him to have fond memories of the kind of music he would like to dance to when he was a younger man. His favourite dance is a Jig andthis is the music he remembers. Grand March of the Durkle Bandrydgators. We hope that you have enjoyed meeting these characters from Drukle Bandrydge and would invite you to listen to all the villagers now march along in a grand parade -it is a pity that you can not see them what is a wonderful sight. If you listen carefully you will hear the melodies which belong to the characters as they march past. Oh what a grand spectacle!

Using a recurring four-note motif and a variety of textural punctuations here is a stunning and fresh-sounding overture from Richard Saucedo. A slow and lyric middle section featuring woodwind colors and rich emotional contoursprovides a stark contrast to the rhythmic intensity of the opening and closing sections. Dramatic and powerful! Dur: 4:15

Use this work in place of a concert march in your next performance. Centering around a ragtime theme this lighter selection also provides opportunities for the band to stomp their feet. Very easy to put together and reinforce basic rhythmic concepts at this level.