Parade Day
For Wind Ensemble
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Written: 2025
Duration: ca. 18:00 Instrumentation: 3 Flutes/2 Flutes + Piccolo, 2 Oboes, 2 Bassoons, 3 Clarinets, Bass Clarinet, 2 Alto Saxophones, Tenor Saxophone, Baritone Saxophone, 3 Trumpets, 4 Horns, 2 Trombones, Bass Trombone, Euphonium, Tuba Percussion: Timpani, Hi-Hat, Suspended Cymbal, Slapstick (whip), Ratchet, Guiro, Snare Drum (concert and marching if available), Floor Tom, Bass Drum, Tam-Tam Glockenspiel, Xylophone, Vibraphone, Marimba Crash Cymbals, Marching Tenor Drums (if available), Marching Bass Drum (if available), Triangle, Cabasa, Crotales Movements:
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Program Notes
Parade Day is a reflective and nostalgic sonic portrait of some of the highlights of my otherwise average but drudging high school experience: the parade competitions the marching band competed in against the other schools in the Northern California Band Association. The band never placed spectacularly well, but the pride and camaraderie has stuck with me for much longer.
The first movement depicts in a rather literal, (and hopefully humorous!) manner the sounds of me waking up, getting in the car, listening to the radio, and arriving at the school early in the morning. Once we arrive at the school, the second movement uses impressionistic colors and textures to sketch all the morning tasks necessary to get ready. Gotta say “hi” or “good morning” to everyone, get into uniform, load the trailer, and on and on, a fondly remembered set of stresses. Then onto the bus and we hear the engine roar to life. The 3rd movement brings my best re-creation of the sounds of competition warm-up lot. Etudes, scales, and snatches of other school’s marches collide and drift in a jumble of routinely nervous anticipation, and adolescent excitement. The sounds of the lot fade out as the band gets into contest flow, moving along to the taps of the snare drum, and then the competition starts. Directors may feel free to use the original march I’ve written, an old favorite, or even their competition march for the year if the opportunity presents itself. After the march, the 5th movement lets us hear the relieved celebration of the competitors followed by the other events of the day. Conversations, food, an awards ceremony, the journey home, and finally falling asleep alone, the best kind of tired.
The first movement depicts in a rather literal, (and hopefully humorous!) manner the sounds of me waking up, getting in the car, listening to the radio, and arriving at the school early in the morning. Once we arrive at the school, the second movement uses impressionistic colors and textures to sketch all the morning tasks necessary to get ready. Gotta say “hi” or “good morning” to everyone, get into uniform, load the trailer, and on and on, a fondly remembered set of stresses. Then onto the bus and we hear the engine roar to life. The 3rd movement brings my best re-creation of the sounds of competition warm-up lot. Etudes, scales, and snatches of other school’s marches collide and drift in a jumble of routinely nervous anticipation, and adolescent excitement. The sounds of the lot fade out as the band gets into contest flow, moving along to the taps of the snare drum, and then the competition starts. Directors may feel free to use the original march I’ve written, an old favorite, or even their competition march for the year if the opportunity presents itself. After the march, the 5th movement lets us hear the relieved celebration of the competitors followed by the other events of the day. Conversations, food, an awards ceremony, the journey home, and finally falling asleep alone, the best kind of tired.