Getting to work on this new piece has proven to be difficult. It lands at a very busy time in the semester (the end of it). However, I feel I have a pretty strong vision of what I want to do. It's all a matter of having enough time.
My piece is taking the form of a recontextualized military march. The instrumentation is: Trumpet, Trombone, Tuba and Drum Set (/Percussion). I am also playing with the idea of using an electronic ostinato of troops marching. I am writing from the perspective of troops marching into war, starting optimistically, and as events happen during their time on the battlefield, the march becomes harder to march to, and less and less optimistic. I think it's an idea that's worth exploring. I am happy with what I have so far, but I'm especially happy to have the ideas of Dr. Ross and my peers to help shape it a little more.
This weekend, after a few other assignments and events, I should have a good amount of time to really put several hours into this piece. I'm excited!
Really cool idea. Reminds me of that Charles Ives piece that's entirely in 2/4 but slips out of groove since it's meant to depict 2 marching bands coming together. What I like the most though is the idea of making it less and less optimistic. You can almost start in a major key, and as it goes along, hint at notes from the parallel minor or something. This will definitely help with the mood change to less optimistic!
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