One Day Wonder #231

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

Now that all of my Christmas shopping is done I’m free to think about how I approach any given piece. Believe it or not, I was really worried about getting everyone the right present. In the past, I’ve had almost a sixth sense about what family and friends wanted, but this year, with the exception of my girlfriend, I just asked people point-blank what they wanted, reminding them that I’m poor this year, though, as usual, I’ll probably end up spending too much, which I did. While I was winding down my buying frenzy a few days ago, I came up with the simple and odd idea to write a tune in 4 and have the accompaniment in 5. That’s what happens here. There’s just a single bar of intro and then we’re at the A theme. I figured that the best way to express the 5 accompaniment was to have a repetitive eighth-note figure that descends from the first trumpet and eventually becomes a chord. This means that the trombone gets a very boring part for the A theme – just two eighth notes every so often. But still, it’s a nice effect, even though it doesn’t quite line up with my phrasing. After the A theme plays out in the first horn, the trumpets take over with the B theme, still in 5. The horns are in 4. That’s why they seem to hit the trumpet lines at odd times. The C theme goes to the trombone. It starts off as a bit of a meditation – and by “meditation” I mean that it’s not supported by anybody except the tuba. Help arrives soon enough and on the repeat there’s enough energy to bring us back to the A theme without it seeming like a jarring experience. I’m still in a more-or-less brooding pre-Christmas mood, but this tune really cheered me up.