Score-The suggestion that I write my autobiography was made at a time when anyone who did not write one risked being called eccentric. It became and still is a major sport among the oldsters. Some of the contemporary books are goodreading indeed. One of the best of them is the result of an enormous research job as is brought out in the introduction to the work. Imagine spending long hours and traveling many miles to find out about oneself: I am sure Iwould be one of the first to be utterly bored by the subject. It was not so easy however to dismiss the whole idea as my friends presented it.The only answer I could think of with any degree of enthusiasm was this one written purely for whatever pleasure it could give. My own part of the pleasure is mostly in utilizing the musical language of the concert band with its apparently inexhaustible colors and its fabulous vitality.The form(if the term has any right being here) is seven short pictures each about two minutes long of my own personal seven ages. The two-minute idea may be the result of the loudspeakers spread all over the hotel in Arizona where thepiece was composed. There was no getting out of ear-shot of those two-minute gems - in the dining rooms around the swimming pools by the putting green everywhere-but I honestly do not believe any of them crept into what I waswriting. I do not believe I paid much more than passing attention to them.Part One:I. 1894: Cherry StreetII. 1899: South OmahaIII. 1900: Corn Cows and MusicThe three of my seven ages inPart One took us to the legal end of my youth. Gathering up my unspectacular belongings including my entire fortune of less than two hundred dollars I swooped down on New York for no more reason than that it was New York and hada street in it called Broadway. The music borrows two or three rhythms from the era but the only note-for-note quote is what the bugler at Camp Funston played every morning while we put on our shoes. Later when we get to Paris

Score-The suggestion that I write my autobiography was made at a time when anyone who did not write one risked being called eccentric. It became and still is a major sport among the oldsters. Some of the contemporary books are goodreading indeed. One of the best of them is the result of an enormous research job as is brought out in the introduction to the work. Imagine spending long hours and traveling many miles to find out about oneself: I am sure Iwould be one of the first to be utterly bored by the subject. It was not so easy however to dismiss the whole idea as my friends presented it.The only answer I could think of with any degree of enthusiasm was this one written purely for whatever pleasure it could give. My own part of the pleasure is mostly in utilizing the musical language of the concert band with its apparently inexhaustible colors and its fabulous vitality.The form(if the term has any right being here) is seven short pictures each about two minutes long of my own personal seven ages. The two-minute idea may be the result of the loudspeakers spread all over the hotel in Arizona where thepiece was composed. There was no getting out of ear-shot of those two-minute gems - in the dining rooms around the swimming pools by the putting green everywhere-but I honestly do not believe any of them crept into what I waswriting. I do not believe I paid much more than passing attention to them.Part Two:IV. 1916: Mo. to N.Y.V. 1919: The Merrill MiracleVI. 1926: A Parisian in ParisVII. 1935: What Was theQuestion?The three of my seven ages in Part One took us to the legal end of my youth. Gathering up my unspectacular belongings including my entire fortune of less than two hundred dollars I swooped down on New Yorkfor no more reason than that it was New York and had a street in it called Broadway. The music borrows two or three rhythms from the era but the only note-for-note quote is what the bugler at Camp Funston played every morning

Par SPARKE PHILIP. This piece was inspired by the composer watching his young son, Benny, playing ‘soldiers’ with his collection of teddy bears - how appropriate!But it made him think of the many character pieces which take the form of a ‘toy march’, the most notable examples being by Haydn, Tchaikovsky and Leon Jessel. Parade of the Clockwork Soldiers is in the form of a ‘patrol’ (starting and ending quietly with a louder middle) and aims to represent a band marching past the listener. In fact, where the hall layout permits it, it could be possible to add a little choreography to the piece, starting and ending with only a few instruments on stage. / Niveau : 2 / Pièce de concert / Répertoire / Concert Band ou Harmonie