Chamber Music alto Flute
SKU: PR.114423380
Composed by Christine
Potter. Performance
Score. 4 pages. Duration
3 minutes. Theodore
Presser Company
#114-42338. Published by
Theodore Presser Company
(PR.114423380).
ISBN
9781491135129. UPC:
680160686988.
Inspi
red by her
friends’
beatboxing and
exploration of jazz,
flutist Chris Potter
joins the fun and brings
us along in this
introduction to swing
rhythm and the basics of
beatboxing. Playing off
the multiple meanings of
“mode†and
“à la
modeâ€, Dr. Potter
fashionably explores a
world of varied scales
and modern percussive
sonorities where the ch-
ch- ch- beatboxing attack
leads players to chant
about
ch-ch-chocolate!.
A
Few Words from ChrisThis
title came to me out of
nowhere at 4 AM one
morning, and I just had
to write a piece to go
along with it! I love
words with multiple
meanings, and
“mode†has
three!The French term
à la mode means in a
current, fashionable
style: in other words,
popular. The alto flute
certainly fits that
description!For
Americans, the phrase is
used when describing the
dessert pie à la mode,
meaning pie with ice
cream, typically vanilla.
Pie à la mode has an
interesting history! The
phrase and the American
dessert is attributed to
John Gieriet. He was born
in Switzerland, later
moved to France, and must
have studied cooking
because two years after
moving to the U.S. in
1854, Gieriet was put in
charge of all the food
service at the White
House. He served under
two presidents, Franklin
Pierce and James
Buchanan. When that job
ended, he moved to
Duluth, Minnesota and
bought a hotel. In 1885,
a menu for the hotel
offered a dessert called
pie à la mode, the
first time this phrase
had appeared in print.
Originally it was
blueberry pie with
vanilla ice cream.In
music, the term mode
means a series of notes
that have an identifiable
pattern of intervals
encompassing an octave.
Major and minor scales
are modes, as are other
scale forms such as
pentatonic, dorian,
phrygian, and lydian.
ALTO À LA MODE uses
three modes, all based on
D. In this piece, you
will find the D blues
scale (D F G Ab A C D),
the D dorian (D E F G A B
C D), and the D minor
natural form (D E F G A
Bb C D).In addition to
the three melodic modes,
I wanted a rhythmic idea
or two to unify the
piece. I decided touse
the rhythms of the word
vanilla: three short
notes with emphasis on
the second note, and
chocolate: two short
notes with emphasis on
the first note. Also
please notice that the
spoken syllable cha is
the beginning sound of
chocolate! All this and
no calories!I credit my
fabulous friend Ali
Ryerson for the jazz
influence, and the
wonderful composer Nicole
Chamberlain for the
beatboxing
inspiration.
Chris Potter
