Poster design by Cierra Goldstein
This one has been a long time coming! Around May of 2011, a friend of mine in the CSU, Chico Wind Ensemble asked me to write a piece for them. Not long after that, my composition teacher at the time, Professor Dvorin asked the same question, saying that members of the Wind Ensemble had approached him about performing a student composition.
I began work in the fall of that year (hey, I was busy that summer!) and began to sketch ideas for a 6-8 minute piece. Fall here in Chico is a beautiful time of year, with so many trees around the entire town turns into nature’s fireworks display. I came up with the name before I’d even put a note to paper, and began to write a semi programatic work based on a leaf falling from a tree.
Seven months later, I presented my “first draft” to the band. Keep in mind this was my first time writing for many or most of these instruments, and so I had to teach myself every step of the way. My Professional Orchestration textbook was my bible for those months. The first draft was understandably taken apart by the band as each section in turn gave me advice on how to write for them better, and suggestions on what passages did or didn’t work.
About a month after that, I submitted my ‘final’ draft. I use the word final hesitantly because I feel that no piece is truly done, the composer just runs out of time. A few weeks later the piece premiered at a concert entitled “Band Classics” on April 7th 2012, conducted by Dr. Royce Tevis.
I began work in the fall of that year (hey, I was busy that summer!) and began to sketch ideas for a 6-8 minute piece. Fall here in Chico is a beautiful time of year, with so many trees around the entire town turns into nature’s fireworks display. I came up with the name before I’d even put a note to paper, and began to write a semi programatic work based on a leaf falling from a tree.
Seven months later, I presented my “first draft” to the band. Keep in mind this was my first time writing for many or most of these instruments, and so I had to teach myself every step of the way. My Professional Orchestration textbook was my bible for those months. The first draft was understandably taken apart by the band as each section in turn gave me advice on how to write for them better, and suggestions on what passages did or didn’t work.
About a month after that, I submitted my ‘final’ draft. I use the word final hesitantly because I feel that no piece is truly done, the composer just runs out of time. A few weeks later the piece premiered at a concert entitled “Band Classics” on April 7th 2012, conducted by Dr. Royce Tevis.
My hearty thanks go out to everyone who made this possible, especially the members of the band who worked very enthusiastically to help me better understand writing for them. I’d also like to recognize Dr. Tevis who was not only very excited about getting this piece performed alongside more traditional concert works, but gave me resources to learn more and pointers on how to write in some places. Also, thanks to Professor David Dvorin who helped me translate my chicken scratch ideas into something worth listening to.