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Paper Cut by Alex Shapiro American Composers Forum (www.composersforum. org/program/bandquest) Publisher Grade Level: 3 Approximate Length: 5:30 Over the last decade, the American Composers Forum has invited some of the world’s leading classical composers to write for the BandQuest series, which has produced remarkable pieces by such noted composers as Chen Yi, Michael Daugherty, Libby Larsen, Stephen Paulus, and Pulitzer Prize winners, Jennifer Higdon and Michael Colgrass. The latest addition to their catalog by Washington-based composer Alex Shapiro may be the series’ most innovative piece yet. In Paper Cut, Shapiro creates an ethereal sonic world that marries the traditional band with pre-recorded electronic sounds. The piece gets its title by the manipulation of printer (or, as the composer recommends, recycled) paper that the students “play” in a variety of ways. The result produces a surprisingly diverse amount of timbres that effectively bridge the gap between the traditional and the electronic. This is a piece rooted in rhythmic independence and timbral exploration, with the students’ responsibilities equally split between their use of the paper and actually playing their instrument. For those hesitant about the use of electronics, the setup utilizes equipment found in most band rooms and is explicitly detailed by the composer in the score (as are the instruction about how to create the different timbres using the paper). Paper Cut produces an aural and visual experience that is unmatched for music at this grade level and is easily one of the most original and interesting pieces written at any grade level in the past year. Lauda by Timothy Miles Manhattan Beach Music (www.manhattanbeachmusic.com) Publisher Grade Level: 3 Approximate Length: 4:00 The second prize winner of the last International Frank Ticheli Composition Contest, Category One (Music for Younger Players), Timothy Miles’ well-crafted Lauda effectively synthesizes traditional compositional techniques with the melodic and rhythmic structures of contemporary pop music.
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Set largely against a driving high-hat pattern, this highly rhythmic piece is somehow both heavily fragmented, and yet, impossibly catchy. Don’t let its instant accessibility fool you however, because, behind its groove lay a piece that has much more in common with Beethoven than with the popular music that inspired it. A perfect concert opener or closer, Lauda is easily one of the best Grade 3 works of the year. Liadov Fanfare by Brian Beck Alfred Music Publishing (www.alfred.com) Publisher Grade Level: 3 Approximate Length: 2:00 Brian Beck has produced a striking fanfare that utilizes original themes by the 19th Century Russian composer Anatoly Liadov. Set in a brief Fast—Slow—Fast form, the piece will expose your students to the tuneful, grandiose music of Romantic period Russia, popularized by composers like Mussorgsky and Rimsky-Korsakov. In stark contrast to many of the percussion and pretense-heavy fanfares currently available, the simplicity of Beck’s work makes for a genuinely stirring way to start any concert. Meditation by Dwayne S. Milburn Neil A. Kjos Music Company (www.kjos.com) Publisher Grade Level: 3 Approximate Length: 5:00 Written in memory of a popular and much beloved student who passed away, Dwayne Milburn’s Meditation demonstrates the genuine power and catharsis that can occur when a tribute piece chooses to honestly address loss and reflection instead of masking it in false sentimentality and bluster. Built upon the presentation and combination of the Lutheran hymn “If Thou But Suffer God to Guide Thee” and the 19th Century spiritual, “Poor Wayfarin’ Stranger,” Milburn’s piece is brilliantly orchestrated and harmonically sophisticated, including some very unusual and unique progressions. Finding a Grade 3 work of this kind of poignancy and depth is indeed rare and, if carefully done, this piece has the potential to be profoundly moving.