One Day Wonder #248

For 1 horn, 1 trumpet, 1 trombone and tuba.

Just when I thought that the “join-in” was a thing of the past, along comes this piece. OK, it’s a bit of a letdown (I’m sick, so gimme a break!) from #247, but it does have its bright spots. For those of you who have tuned in a little late, the “join-in” is a piece whose parts join in to the fray until everyone’s in the mix. Only then can we have a coherent musical statement. In case you’re interested, prominent join-ins from the past include #19 and #46. At least those two come to mind. This doesn’t rank among those, but I like what happens here. There’s some familiarity, some strangeness and we finish a good distance from where we started. I guess it’s worth mentioning that I managed to get this tune written despite the fact that I woke up at 3 AM, couldn’t get back to sleep and then began to get deathly ill. Don’t worry, nothing too serious. All that tea has kicked my system into overdrive, and my system doesn’t like it much. Yeah, it’s kind of tough to sleep when you’re having severe stomach cramps. Because of that, I resolved to keep this piece simple. I’d chip away at it for a time, then I’d have a bout of cramps and have to lay down, write some more, then get so tired I couldn’t hold up my head, lay down, have a nap, then get up and write some more. I could have just taken the day off, hung out on the couch and watched The Steve Wilkos Show (it’s like ickier and more serious version of Jerry Springer), but I’m getting so close to the finish here, I feel the need to get things done. I’m going to give myself a day off after I finish #250, although that’s really not much of a milestone – 5/6 of the way through – but the occasional day off is good. But being sick and sitting around didn’t seem like enough of an excuse, so instead this piece was born. I still don’t feel any better. In fact, I feel much worse than yesterday, but I hope that this will pass soon.