One Day Wonder #122

For 2 horns, 2 trumpets, 1 trombone and tuba.

Once again, I remind myself that when uncertain, write in an odd meter. If that doesn’t work out, write a chorale. Luckily, it didn’t get to that. You know, to my enduring shame, I still neglect the trombone. For one thing, it can’t play very fast. All of its brass brothers have valves; it has that cumbersome slide. OK, sure, there are valve trombones, but for me, the true trombone has a slide. Allowances have to be made for it. In the absence of blistering tempos, the trombone can be a wonderful lead instrument. And I often forget that. On this day, I didn’t. This is a really nice piece that does three things: it features an odd meter (10/8 throughout), has the trombone as the primary lead voice and highlights sevenths (both major and minor) throughout – being a jazz musician, those are the money intervals, why not bring them out? Well, here they are.