One Day Wonder #253

For 2 horns, 2 trumpets, 2 trombones and 2 tubas.

I had an interesting idea for this piece; I thought to write a simple diatonic tune in intro-AABA form for half the group and have the other half of the group play the same tune at a different speed and then have everybody meet up at the end. The result? Wonderful, wonderful chaos! In the intro, you can hear what’s in store, then the first group plays and the second lets loose a bit later. The melody loses almost all distinction as the melodic lines and accompaniment blend and clash. The closer they come to each other, the more dissonant things become. I really enjoyed writing this piece. I set it up in 6/8 and had the first group play their tune using all dotted rhythms, so really the thing is in an altered 2/4. When the second group enters, they’re playing the same thing without the dots. True, the tempo is a little slow, but I wanted it to be manageable for the second group that comes in at a seemingly quicker tempo. In case you want to hear what the whole original tune sounds like, it’s here. Yeah, it's pretty sedate, but when both groups are in the mix, it turns into a wild man! Although not as cutting-edge as Ives’ Civil War band experiment, this is almost as good. And by the way, this is the first piece of the entire project that features two tubas.