One Day Wonder #184

For 2 trumpets and tuba.

Unlike #183, I did have a plan for this piece before I started out. I wanted to pair up two trumpets, one Harmon-muted and the other not. To show off the timbres and provide some warmth of tone, I threw in a tuba for company. It’s low enough so that it doesn’t get in the way. The 6/8 time signature gives the piece a nice lilt and there’s a lot of interplay between everyone, as well as some dotted-eighth vs. regular eighth-note action that I'm fond of. Writing this was another instance of beginning it, working on it, finishing it and realizing that several hours had passed. It’s like going to sleep, then waking up, except that you’re conscious the entire time. I really like when that happens. It generally means that things have gone well. When they’re not, time passes at a crawl, my ideas are unworkable and I tend to stare out at the Belltown traffic just to get my eyes off the atrocity I’m creating. But this piece almost seemed to write itself. Sure, it’s no masterwork, but it justifies its existence and then some. It’s got – as they say in the business – moxie.