One Day Wonder #247

For 3 horns, 2 trumpets, 1 trombone and tuba.

I recently watched The Magnificent Seven and was thinking about Leonard Bernstein’s soundtrack. I thought it would be nice to draw from that and write a piece. I was particularly keen to embrace the more “rootin-tootin” parts of it. Well, that was the plan. It starts off well enough, with a potential hoe-down forecasted in the horns. Funny thing, it kind of takes a different direction and I couldn’t be happier about it. After the short intro, the trombone comes in with some things to say. The form is officially AABA for this first part, but if you listen carefully, you’ll hear that the measures get jumbled up and are never really the same until the last go-through. I cut’n’paste all kinds of measures from all over and put them in front of each other, in back of each other and practically to the side and so forth. And it all pretty much makes sense. Sure, that A section (or AABA section) is nice, but the real money is in the next segment. The trumpets lead into what is a series of five-beat phrases. The accompaniment stays in 4 until the trombone again becomes the dominant voice. Following that we’re back to the semi-rootin-tootin. This is really an unexpected gem. I didn’t know what to think of it during the first section, but in the second section, it came into its own. I honestly don’t know how that second section came about. It’s sometimes a mystery as to how these things happen. I can’t chart its creation to any higher brain functions. It was just there and I went with it. I’m not exactly ready to declare this one of my greatest hits, but since my expectations were so low and it turned out so very, well, good, I might possibly consider it one of my best in a little bit.

It’s quite fortunate that it turned out as good as it did, since I was feeling extremely rough during the final stages of this piece’s creation. You know, I’ve never had a problem with caffeine in the past, but recently, it’s hit me very hard. See, I got this great teakettle from my sister for Christmas and so for the last week, I’ve been drinking an entire pot of delicious jasmine green tea for breakfast. It was such a great experience. Mornings were cold (so was my apartment); the tea was hot. It was heaven. Well, the cumulative effects of drinking so much tea have manifested themselves in a really alarming way. I’m always extremely tense, my head feels like it’s going to explode, I shiver almost convulsively, I wake up in the middle of the night and I feel just awful. I didn’t think that yummy jasmine green tea could put me in such a state, but here we are. The thing is that all this stuff gradually crept up on me until I was a near-wreck. I guess I should say that I am a near-wreck. I went downstairs to play poker this evening (there’s a game in the building every week) and felt so rotten that I lost my bankroll on purpose, so I could come back up to my apartment and lay down. So much for that 10 bucks! A few years ago, I used to drink five or six cups of coffee at work. It didn’t affect me at all. Now I’m suddenly laid low by tea. Tea! Well, I’m going to give up all caffeine for the short term. But for the moment, I have to wait for all that accumulated caffeine to leave my system. I have a feeling it’s going to be a rough ride.