One Day Wonder #245

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

I had another grocery list of what should go into today’s soup. I wanted it to be a waltz so that I could stage the melody in the first A section to come off a beat early. And that’s why it sounds kind of odd – the accompaniment is in line with the action, but the tune isn’t. This all comes to an end when the trumpet comes in for the B section. It just becomes a regular waltz. There isn’t some great moment of epiphany where the listener says: “Gosh, it was kind of off-kilter there for a while; now it seems less so.” There’s none of that. And when the A section returns with the trumpet playing the melody, it barely sounds anything like the previous A section. For one thing, the trumpet is playing the tune, and for another, it’s playing it in time with the accompaniment. But it’s also playing it a little too high. Yeah, that’s what happens when you have the first iteration of a tune played in the horn. In retrospect, I should have changed keys, but it didn’t occur to me at the time. Now it’s too late. Anyhow, this piece does manage to function. It’s just that it doesn’t function on very interesting levels. I thought that straightening out the feel would make it sound like a new piece; it doesn’t, but I still like it more than #244.