Some feedback on Night Sky

The other day I received an email from Adam Noel.  I had sent him a draft of the score for Night Sky.  I wanted him to see how the piece is progressing and to get some feedback about the piece.  He gave me a lot of great feedback.  There were a few things he pointed out that I just did not know and there are some things that fall into the oops column.  The one thing about his feedback that I truly appreciated was that his comments were not just from the perspective of his band, but from the publishing stand point.  This is important to me as I am thinking about the life of this piece after the premiere with Adam's group.

The main thing I did not realize was that E minor and G major are considered "advanced" key signatures.  Typically middle school bands play in flat key signatures like F major, B-flat major, etc.  This means that I will need to rethink the key of this piece.  If I really wanted to I could leave it in e minor.  It is not as if it would be impossible to play.  It would provide a different set of challenges that may not necessarily be good for the ensemble.

Adam gave me some other great comments about watching for and avoiding extended passages.  As this level the kids are not accustomed to playing for long periods of time.  He also gave me suggestions about range for some instruments.

All-in-all Adam's comments make me excited to work on Night Sky some more.