PROGRAM NOTES
AYO
Katahj Copley Music
2022 • Grade 3.5 • 4:10
Salutations
Greetings.
Hello.
Hi.
Hey.
Yo.
Ayo.
These terms along with countless others have been used to greet people throughout history.
However the term "AYO" is different.
Rooted from hip hop and jazz culture, AYO is built in the black language. It's used to tell when something is right, when something is wrong, when something is awesome, and when something is too sweet for words. It's use is seen with your closest people, your family, or people who know you best. It's personal. In short "AYO" is a personal embrace that can represents life.With this piece I wanted to build the kind of embrace you would get from this word alone while also honoring its beginnings- using hip hop rhythms and colorful harmonies. By the end of the piece, we the listeners go from uncertainty to home; and with the uniqueness of the piece, we in turn celebrate not only a word like AYO but also celebrate life.
Beauty Broken
Metaphor Music Works
2015 • Grade 5 • 9:45
I visited the Columbus Museum of Art and met a work titled “Blow Up #1” by Ori Gersht. This work captured my attention and insisted I give it a great amount of thought. Gersht used high-speed photography to capture a moment in time of an arrangement of flowers exploding. In that one short moment Gersht captured a profound truth about this world and the human condition.
At first sight the photo looked amazing. It was beautiful and exciting. Yet when I looked closely, I realized it was beauty that was broken. The photo was a visual display of the tension that exists between beauty and violence, or life and death. When I first saw the work, I was attracted to the beauty. Then I saw the violence and wanted to turn away. However, once I accepted both and was able to hold the paradox of these two realities, I was able to see the photograph for what it truly was. A sense of hope emerged as I felt a longing for beauty to be restored.
"Beauty Broken" begins with a chorale in the brass. This chorale leads into a celebratory section that ends in a state of brokenness. Alternating slow and fast sections follow this moment of breaking. These sections incorporate what I call the "Broken Theme". This theme is intense at times, while it is somber with a sense of longing at other moments. The chorale melody also appears at various times throughout the piece, often in subtle ways. This chorale becomes most apparent at the end as the woodwinds play celebratory flourishes over the brass chorale. Finally, the broken theme returns for one final statement.
The Picador
US Marine Band Music
1889 • Grade 3 • 2:55
Composed in 1889, The Picador is one of John Philip Sousa’s most colorful and character-driven marches. Unlike many of Sousa’s patriotic works, this march draws its inspiration from Spanish bullfighting traditions. A picador is the horse-mounted torero who opens a bullfight, testing the bull’s strength and agility before the matador enters the ring.
Sousa reflects this dramatic role through music that is bold, rhythmic, and full of flair. From the very first strain, listeners will hear strong, confident melodies supported by crisp articulation and driving percussion, evoking the spectacle and pageantry of the arena. The contrasting middle sections provide moments of elegance and poise, while the trio brings a broader, more lyrical character before returning to the march’s commanding energy.
The Picador showcases Sousa’s gift for storytelling through music, blending precision, excitement, and theatrical charm. Though less frequently performed than some of his more famous marches, it remains a vivid example of Sousa’s ability to transform cultural imagery into compelling concert music.
Heroes & Villains
Comic Book Suite for Winds & Percussion
i. Prologue - “Peace No More”
ii. “Versus”
Spencer Navin, Soprano Saxophone
Gabe Smith, Soprano Saxophone
PlayWriteMusic
2014 • Grade 3/5+ • 4:40
The piece opens on a dark and rainy night in the city. The Hero and Villain are meeting, as is customary on this day of the year, to uphold the truce they agreed to so many years ago; a truce that brought the city peace it had almost forgotten. This truce came at a cost to both sides, the Hero having lost the trust and faith of his beloved city, and the Villain having lost his true love at the hands of the Hero.
Tonight was expected to be just like every other meeting: they would shake hands, the truce would be upheld, and life would go on as normal. But that expectation is shattered when the Villain ambushes the Hero, his henchmen appearing like wasps from behind every dark corner, shouting and cursing the Hero as they batter him again and again. By the end, the Hero is left collapsed in a heap, the Villain laughing before delivering the knockout punch... .
- Program Note from Flower Mound High School Wind Symphony concert program, 18 December 2015
Only Light
Aaron Perrine Music
2014 • Grade 4 • 7:30
Winner of the 2015 ABA Sousa/Ostwald Award
The melodic material for Only Light originally came from Beneath a Canvas of Green, a large-scale work of mine written for wind ensemble. At the time, I was not quite comfortable with how this music fit within the larger work—it passed by much too quickly—and I knew it was something I would eventually like to revisit.
In the fall of 2012, one of my best friend’s mother lost her battle with cancer. A year later, while thinking of ideas for what was eventually to be Only Light, I found myself thinking him and his family quite often. At about this same time, I was on social media late one night—procrastinating rather than composing—and discovered a post written by another friend, written in reference to his wife. Here is an excerpt:
A timeline. Oh, the dark places I’ve dwelt this morning. The “hows,” “what ifs,” and “whys” pouring over me. But, I digress. There is no timeline at this time. There is only, “we aren’t done with you yet.” There is, “we’ve got more things to try.” There is, in a word, hope. I need me some of that. Toni has pointed out that there are times that I can find the dark cloud behind any silver lining. (Had you only known me before I met you, young lady. Now that Tim could really find darkness where there was only light.) The medical team is set to battle on.
In an instant, I was reminded of how delicate life is and how things can change at a moment’s notice. Reflecting upon these events inspired me to expand upon and ultimately finish this previously composed music. Only Light is meant to convey a sense of hope and healing.
Black Tie Blu-Bop
J. Scott McKenzie Music
2023 • Grade 5 • 4:45
When asked to write a piece for a high school honor band my first inclination was to write something challenging but fun. My first sketches for the piece were comprised mainly of blues scales and dance rhythms. After a while, I began to realize that the music sounded very much like something Bela Fleck and the Flecktones would play. Generally speaking, there’s two kinds of people in this world; those that have never heard of the Flecktones and those that think they’re amazing.
Their music is impossible to classify—how do you describe music combining elements of bluegrass, jazz, funk, blues, and just about everything else in between? The band itself coined a phrase to name their own unique genre of music—blu-bop!
So, dress it up for the concert hall, and you have a truly unique piece that your band (especially the saxophones) will love!
