One Day Wonder #208

For 3 horns, 1 trumpet, 2 trombones and tuba.

After the small miracle of #207, I wanted to go for something a little more ominous. And this piece could serve well as a soundtrack to when the captives are brought to the dreaded Temple of Disembowelment. That’s not what I had in mind when I was writing it, but it serves as a good description for it now that I’ve heard it a few times. There’s nothing complicated about it. The horns provide the accompaniment throughout the A section. The tuba and trombone chime in a half beat and an octave apart. The time signature employs two bars of 4 and two bars of 3 for the entire piece. The melody enters, played by the trumpet, the horn (an octave down) and the bass trombone (another octave down). So the tune plods forward in massive fashion. The form is intro-ABACA-outro. Since the A theme is the most important part, I have to offer contrasts in the B and C sections. The B is just serves to build back to the A, because it doesn’t have anything resembling a tune, but the C does offer some thinner textures and even creates some space for the return with a brief interlude featuring the trumpet and tuba. I mean, it can’t be all massive all the time. Overall, I’m very satisfied with this piece, but I’m feeling a little guilty because it all seemed just a little too easy. That’s at the heart of my post-#200 malaise. It seems like I know how to write short pieces now, but I want to spend as little time as possible on them. But the things is that I could have spend twice as much time on this tune and it could have been half as good. There’s just no way to predict what’s going to happen on any given day. Sure, #207 was a joy to write, but more and more, I find myself taking the most expedient route. Like I said, though, that may not necessarily be a bad thing.