Composed 2011 for Multi-instrumentalist with piano accompaniment
Solo For Narcissist and Mirror was premiered with the wonderful Nancy Jo Galusha at the piano on February 27, 2011. It was edited and performed again in 2015, featuring Maggie Doane (also wonderful) on piano.
The inspiration for this song comes from the everyday life of a band director: we are expected to be masters of all instruments in our ensembles, and in an average week I play at least five different instruments in rehearsal. I decided to write a solo in honor of all of the world’s band directors and their need to play everything. The piece starts on flute, then moves to clarinet, alto sax, tenor sax, bari sax, French horn, oboe (but only one note, because that’s all I was certain I could play), trombone, tuba, and back to trombone.
The melody is a common one, Haydn’s Symphony No. 94 (The Surprise Symphony). Stylistically it moves from traditional to a variation, to jazz, to flowing ballad, to pep band, with some New Orleans jazz thrown in for good measure. It’s a crowd pleaser and a joy to perform, but you’ll probably need assistants to help you move from one instrument to the next.
Watch the 2015 performance:
(featuring minimal reed squeaks and a very excited 4-year-old in the audience)
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