$60
Duration: 5 min., 35 sec.
Instrumentation: Trumpets 1 &2 in Bb, Horn in F, Trombone, and Tuba
Commission/dedication: written for, commissioned, and premiered by the Gaudete Brass Quintet as part of New Music Chicago's 2021 Ear Taxi Music Festival
Excerpt from Program Notes:
"When I was initially approached by the Gaudete Brass Quintet to write a piece on a neighborhood in Chicago, I naturally thought of South Shore, Chicago — the neighborhood where I currently live. At the time that I am writing this, I have lived in South Shore for 7 years (going on 8), and it feels more like home than anywhere else I've ever been. Still, when pondering how I would write a piece about a location, just one of all 77 officially defined "community areas " that exist in Chicago, it proved to be quite challenging.
The form was the easy part: I would write "scenes" from South Shore; I would take a listener through my neighborhood in the same way Smetana takes the listener through the course of the Vltava River in the symphonic poem "Vltava (The Moldau) " from Má Vlast (though, on a smaller scale, of course; I even have a wedding scene of my own). This idea seemed as natural as choosing to write a composition based on the neighborhood I live in. Through this form, it freed me from having to come up with one melody or motive that represented the neighborhood as a whole (something I felt would have been necessary if I didn't take this route). I could now explore different areas of my neighborhood and still maintain a sense of cohesivness in the piece because each scene resembles a portion of the personality that makes South Shore what it is; They all come from the same place. My goal of giving the listener a general " taste" or " tour" of what my neighborhood is about is possible with such a form.
The hard part was several-fold:
- For someone who hardly goes outside, I realized that I didn't know as much about my neighborhood as I thought (or should, rather) . How could I write about it, then? Am I an "authentic" enough voice to take on such a task?
- There are many places and things to do in South Shore, but, what places would I write about? I can't possibly capture everything. What areas in South Shore should I choose to explore? What would I leave out?
- Then, the big one: What would the music for each area sound like? How do I capture what I see with melody? Is what I see even the same perspective as what others who reside here see?
I could either dwell on these questions forever and ever, or I could get to work. I had to realize that as nice as it would be to take an objective, outside perspective look at my neighborhood, perhaps what gives the piece meaning, what makes it unique, relies on me telling my story and my perspective about the neighborhood I live in. I could capture the " broad scope" of my neighborhood for outsiders by highlighting the notable areas with music, and I can give it purpose by writing based my experiences with the areas as well. I can't avoid my compositional voice, anyway, and if my heart is not in what I'm writing, then it would sound like it. That combination of writing about some notable areas in my neighborhood, that I myself have experienced as well, is what brought this fun, special, and personal project to you. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did."
The full program notes describe all the "scenes" of South Shore present in the piece, with the extended version having additional scenes as well.
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