News & Views Friday, March 29, 2024

New OMEA Required Concert Band Preview #6 – Junior High Class B Thursday, January 12, 2012

Our next preview of the new required pieces on the OMEA junior high/middle school concert band lists features the new Class B titles.  You can view and listen to the complete OMEA required concert band lists by clicking on the OMEA Required Music Lists option on our concert band webpage, and selecting the list you wish to view.  We hope you find this preview to be useful, and look forward to helping you plan a successful contest program.


New OMEA Junior High Class B Required Selections

Accolade – William Himes
Splendid textures, rhythmic counterpoint and touching melodies combine in this exciting but accessible new work by William Himes. A wide range of musical styles and colors make it a great choice for festival or a strong centerpiece for the concert program. You will enjoy this rich and varied work for young bands.

Dance of the Spirits – Michael Sweeney
The Native American Cree tribe refers to the aurora borealis (or northern lights) as the dance of the spirits. Using a variety of unusual sounds and effects, quickly changing textures and surprises, Michael Sweeney has created a musical impression of this phenomenon’s stunning beauty and unpredictable nature. An exciting and unique addition to the young band repertoire, this will be enjoyable to rehearse and perform.

Fanfare and Triumph – James Swearingen
True to its title, Fanfare and Triumph is an energetic concert opener in A-B-A form with a majestic introduction.  Perfect for developing bands, this work provides opportunities to address dynamics, contrasting accented and lyrical styles, articulation markings, moving from 4/4 to 3/4, and back to 4/4, as well as standard 8th note and 16th note rhythmic groupings, and plenty of mallet and auxiliary percussion will keep your percussionists busy.  Ideal as a concert opener or festival selection. 

La Madre de los Gatos – Brian Beck
As its Spanish title implies, La Madre de los Gatos will add some fiery Spanish flair to your next concert or contest performance.  Characteristic style and rhythms abound thanks to harmonic accidentals, 8th and 16th note rhythmic patterns, punchy bass rhythms, plenty of Latin percussion, and duple syncopations against the triple meter.  Brian Beck presents plenty of opportunity to develop your band’s rhythmic concept and articulation precision with this fun to play piece! 

Selections from Leroy Anderson’s Irish Suite – Leroy Anderson/arr. Douglas Wagner
Introduce your developing band to the joy of many of the recognizable themes from Leroy Anderson’s six movement standard for wind band. Although in medley form and made accessible to young bands, the style and character of the original melodies and settings remains. Douglas Wagner’s arrangement provides a perfect opportunity to introduce students to the skills necessary to play more advanced music: key changes; time signature changes; changes in style, phrasing and articulation, etc.

Mountain Country Dances – Johnnie Vinson
Inspired by the musical tradition of early American folk songs, Johnnie Vinson has composed this appealing suite of three contrasting dance styles. The movements include Tar Heel Two-Step, Woodland Waltz, and Blue Ridge Reel. Sure to be an entertaining and rewarding work for young bands.

Sketches on a Kentucky Hymn Tune – Todd Stalter
Chosen for its artful simplicity and interesting harmonies, the hymn Salvation provides the basis for the various settings that make up this work.  Beginning with simple statements of the tune in call and response form between the brass and woodwind ‘choirs’ within the band, the theme is then set in varying keys and tempi.  Rhythmic variety, contrasting articulations, and call and response figures are present throughout, and this work is a great introduction to theme and variations compositional form.                     

Voltage –David Shaffer
Voltage is the total energy required to move an electrical charge between two points. Scored to showcase both the winds and percussion, David Shaffer captures this energy with striking dynamics, accessible syncopation, and forward rhythmic motion.

All of these titles can be ordered via Stantons.com, or by phone (1-800-426-8742).  Don’t forget to order your judges’ scores – ordering now can save you stress come contest time (avoid them being out-of-stock, or worse, temporarily out-of-print).  Keep following the Stanton’s blog for our remaining concert band previews.

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