Night Sky score and recording posted

Today I posted the complete score and recording of Night Sky.  The recording is from the premiere performance on May 31, 2011 by the Symphonic Band at Joaquin Moraga Intermediate School.  More details about Night Sky can be found at bicemusic.com.  Click her for a direct link to the page for Night Sky: http://bicemusic.com/?page_id=35.

Performance Blog: Joaquin Moraga Intermediate School Symphonic Band - May 31, 2011

Last night the Symphonic Band of Joaquin Moraga Intermediate School premiered Night Sky.  This piece was commissioned by Adam Noel, the band's director, for the Symphonic Band.  The band did a great job performing the piece.  It is not an easy piece, but they managed to do it justice.

One thing I noticed about this band and performers of this age is that you can definitely hear when they are comfortable and confident about the music they are playing and when they are not.  This was apparent in the first couple of minutes in my piece.  I do not fault the band for this.  The section after the introduction is more exposed and somewhat difficult to play.  The confidence was not there, however they did a good job getting through it.  The rest of the piece was a lot more confident and they took control of it.

I am very grateful to Adam Noel and the Symphonic Band at Joaquin Moraga Intermediate School for the opportunity to compose Night Sky.  This was a wonderful experience.  Adam and the Symphonic Band should be proud!

Upcoming Performance: Night Sky - May 31, 2011

On Tuesday, May 31, 2011 at 7:00 p.m. the concert band at Joaquin Moraga Intermediate School conducted by Adam Noel will premiere Brian Bice's Night Sky.  The program will also include Joseph Compello's Gypsy Dance, an abridged arrangement of Schubert's Unfinished Symphony, a medley from Les Miserables and Corsage for Winds by John Cacavas.

Night Sky was commissioned by Adam Noel for the Joaquin Moraga Intermediate School Concert Band.  This piece is Brian Bice's first journey back to composing wind ensemble music since he composed Homage in 1999.

Rehearsal Blog: Night Sky - May 25, 2011

Today I went to Joaquin Moraga Intermediate School in Moraga, CA for a rehearsal with the concert band for my piece Night Sky.  This was a very interesting experience.  As a composer I have not worked with performers of this age group.  I did not know what to expect.  I did enjoy watching my friend Adam Noel lead the rehearsal.  Though we were classmates as undergraduates, it was the first time that I got to watch him conduct.

I feel as if the group is doing a good job with my piece.  They seem to have the notes down, so most of my comments were directed towards the group playing as an ensemble.  Playing together as a group can be difficult at any level.  This group seems a little ways off in this department.  This is something that will be learned as they gain more experience.  With some more rehearsal over the next week I believe that the piece will sound good at the concert.  I am definitely looking forward to the concert.

Night Sky rehearsal session

On Wednesday, May 25, 2011 I will be working with the concert band at Joaquin Moraga Intermediate School.  We will be working on my piece Night Sky which they will premiere on May 31, 2011.

I am looking forward to this because it will be the first time I get to hear this piece performed.  My goal in this rehearsal session is to help fine tune the group's performance of my piece.  Based on what I have heard from the director, Adam Noel, the kids are doing a good job with this piece.  Hopefully I can add a little something to the performance.

Time in Memoriam: parts done and sent

Last weekend I finished editing the parts for Time in Memoriam.  At this point I feel like I am becoming a pro at extracting and editing parts.  Earlier this year I extracted and edited the parts for Night Sky for Adam Noel's concert band.  I still need to finish editing the parts for my Bass Trombone Concerto to send to Jonathan Warburton.

On Sunday night I sent the parts in PDF format via email to Lee Morrison, director of the New World School for the Arts High School Wind Ensemble.  Lee said that they will read the piece sometime this week and he would let me know how it goes.  I am looking forward to hearing feedback about the piece.

Program Notes: Night Sky

Night Sky is an aural representation of the journey to night time.  The journey is from the perspective of the moon.  The opening chords signal the sunset where the moon breaks through the horizon to start its ascent in the sky.  This is followed by twilight, the time where the sunlight has almost faded and the mysteries of the night awaken.  The ostinato that rises out of the mysteriousness symbolizes the rise of the moon as it marches forward in its ascent of the sky.  The themes and motives that appear around the ostinato represent other aspects of the night-time sky such as stars, meteors and birds.  The piece ends with the moon reaching the apex of its journey in the night sky.

First bits of feedback

I was happy to see an email from Adam Noel waiting for me when I got home from work on Monday.  He wanted to tell me that he had the band read through Night Sky and it was a success.  Some of the comments he heard from the students included "epic" and "cool."

I can imagine that playing this piece would be a special event for many of the students because they know it was composed for them.  There is a sense of pride that comes from such an event.  There will likely be a different energy behind the performance because the student might be more excited to play this piece.

I am very excited to hear Night Sky.  I know the students are going to put their all into the performance.  I am also looking forward to working with the students.  It is very encouraging to hear positive things after the first rehearsal.  There was one minor mistake in the score, specifically in the tenor sax part.  However, I will gladly take that minor mistake over a disastrous reading since it was a quick and easy fix.

Thank you Adam for making this possible!

Night Sky score and parts delivered

Yesterday, I delivered the score and parts for Night Sky to Adam Noel.  This is an exciting time.  It is a point where the piece and the project is definitely real.  I am looking forward to working with Adam and the Joaquin Moraga Middle School Concert Band on this piece.  This will be a new and exciting experience for me.  I cannot wait for the performance at the end of the school year.

Composing Session: January 13, 2011

Ahhh... to be composing again.  The holidays were busy, but fun.  However, I am glad to get back to composing.  Yesterday, was a very productive day.  Often I find that my first day back is slow going.  I think I was able to get a lot done in part because I started off by editing parts.  In a way it eased me back into the right mindset.

I spent the first half of my day editing the parts for Night Sky.  After completing the parts I started to look at Time in Memoriam.  I began by looking at the B section.  Since I have some clear ideas of how to proceed it was a good place to start.  In the end I was able to sketch the first twenty measures of the B section.  Then I went back and finished orchestrating the final six measures of the A section leading into the B section.  In all I have composed about six minutes and fifteen seconds of music.

I am very happy with the progress I made yesterday and I am excited to continue to work on Time in Memoriam.

Night Sky score and part completed

This morning I finished editing the score and parts for Night Sky.  After I have them printed and copied I can deliver them to Adam Noel.  I am really excited to hear the results of my efforts and get feedback from Adam and the students.

2010 in review

Looking back at this past year I have come to see it as a year of transition.  I decided to compose more music for high school and junior high concert bands.  Rather than just composer the music and hope that someone will perform it I contacted people I know who direct concert bands and asked if they are interested in me composing a piece for their band.  I also felt that contacting the conductors was important because it gives me a goal and a timeline in which to compose this piece.  The plan is for me to compose four or five pieces and then create a mailer to try to market these pieces.  Of course I will still compose more wind ensemble pieces.

This past year I completed two pieces.  The most recent piece is Night Sky for concert band.  This is the first in the series I have listed above.  This piece is composed for Adam Noel and Joaquin Moraga Intermediate School Concert Band.  Night Sky was a big undertaking for me as it had been quite awhile since I have composed for a large ensemble.

The other piece I completed was Book 1 of Ètude Scéniques for solo trumpet.  These ètudes started off as exercises designed to retrain me to compose in a more tonal style.  I needed to do this in preparation for composing Night Sky.  My typical compositional style would likely have not been appropriate for this age group.

There are also two pieces that I am currently composing.  The first is my next wind ensemble piece Time in Memoriam.  I am writing this piece for Lee Morrison and New World School for the Arts High School Wind Ensemble.  I have recently begun work on the second half of this piece.  The other piece is my second collaboration with photographer Micheal Vickers, Trackings No. 2.  So far I have composed three of the six planned movements: numbers 1, 2 and 4.  The third movement is currently in progress.

In 2010 I received only one performance (that I know of), but it was worth it.  My piano piece 4-5 was beautifully performed by Stacey Barelos at the 8th Annual Festival of Contemporary Music.  I composed this piece in 2002 and it finally received its premiere performance in 2010.

There are a few non-compositional projects that I have started or continued in 2010 that I am proud of.  First is this blog.  This has been a great outlet for me to organize my thoughts and keep myself accountable.  I have also revamped and kept current the New Music Forum website.  In November I started a new blog focusing on an area of research in which I am interested: Color Music.  Through this blog I hope to define color music and further my research.

2010 was a challenging year for me on so many levels.  However, I do see this past year as a transitory year for me.  I have made a lot of decisions as to my direction and I have been able to keep up with multiple projects while working full time.  I am looking forward to seeing what 2011 brings.

Back to work

The holidays are always a terrible time for me to accomplish anything compositionally.  I get busy running errands, working or spending time with family.  Now that the holidays are over and I have had time to decompress I am going to get back to work.  My first priority is to extract the parts for Night Sky, get them printed and deliver the package to Adam Noel.  His concert band is scheduled to perform this piece in the spring so I need to finish the parts within the next two weeks.

After that is done I will resume work on Time in Memoriam and Trackings No. 2.  I would like to finish Time in Memoriam by the end of March.  Trackings No. 2 should be completed by mid-to-late-February.  At least this is the plan.

Between now and the end of the year

Over the past few weeks I have come to the realization that I have a lot to do between now and the end of the year.  I want to finish Time in Memoriam.  At this stage I figure that this piece is about forty percent complete.  Now that I have connected the A and B sections and have a couple of clear ideas for the last part of the piece it should not be too difficult to finish the sketch soon.

I need to make a couple of final edits for Night Sky.  This includes making sure all of the markings and dynamics are consistent and present.  I also need to transpose the score.  The most time consuming thing for this piece will be to extract and edit the parts.  This alone will take a couple of hours.

Ideally I would like to finish Trackings No. 2.   However, with three movements left to compose, I do not see this happening.  I do think that I can finish as least one more movement.  With my deadlines approaching I need to spend the majority of my composing time finishing Time in Memoriam and Night Sky.  So if Trackings No. 2 continues into the new year then that is not a problem.

I have also been thinking about what to compose next.  I have been enjoying composing music for younger ensembles.  I am excited to hear how these pieces will turn out.  I am debating if I want to compose another high school or junior high piece right away.  Or if I want to try to compose for a professional or college ensemble.  I need to continue to think about this and send out some "feeler" emails to people I know to see if there is any interest for me to write a piece for them.  There is still plenty of time to figure this out.

Score for Night Sky is finished

Tonight I finished entering the dynamics, expressions and edits for Night Sky into Finale.  I have sent the completed score to Adam.  There may be some small changes that need to be made based on Adam's comments.  Otherwise the piece is done!  At this point, the only thing left to do is transpose the score and extract the parts.  This is something I will do later in the summer.

Being consistent with the percussion

One aspect of Night Sky that I am trying to be consistent with is the doubling and the use of the percussion. In particular, how often do I use the instruments and which mallet instruments double which wind group.

In regards to the first question: "How often do I use the instruments?" I am primarily concerned with using the instrument multiple times.  I do not want to have the ensemble bring out, for example, a marimba if it is going to be used to accent just one note in the entire piece.  I have known composers who have done this and it is such a waste of time and effort.

In Night Sky I have found that I did this with the triangle at measure 9.  While it is a small instrument I do not think that it is imperative that measure 9 needs that sound.  Before I replace the triangle with another instrument I will search the score to see if there are other places in which I can utilize the triangle.

As for the mallet instruments, I am not interested in using only the vibraphone or only the glockenspiel with certain wind groups throughout the piece.  Rather, in addressing this second question I am referring to specific sections.  If the vibraphone doubles the clarinets in one section of the piece, then do not want it to double, for example, the alto sax in the same section.  When the music reaches a different section, then the vibraphone can double other instruments.  Often this is an easy problem to fix as I can shift the mallet doubling to another instrument.

These are all things that I try to focus on during the editing process in hope that my piece will sound better.

Composing Session: July 3 & 5, 2010

This holiday weekend I made a lot of progress towards finishing Night Sky.  As the piece stands right now, the form is complete and there are only a couple of sections to edit.  After that all that is left is to enter in the dynamics and expressions.

The primary thing that I am looking for at this stage of editing is consistency.  Am I being consistent with the doublings?  Am I being consistent with the register in which the instrument is playing?  To me there are  important questions because I do not want the piece to be "all over the place."  I am certain that band directors look at these types of things when shopping for a new piece.  In addition the piece will sound better when these elements are consistent.

While looking through Night Sky for inconsistencies I did find problems with the introduction.  The main problem lies within the doublings.  Throughout the piece I have tried to stick to the suggestions that were recommended to me by Adam Noel.  For example the bass clarinet, baritone sax and tuba tend to play together.  Also the bassoon, tenor sax and baritone tend to play together.  As Adam has told me these are only suggestions and not rules.  However, since I have been following these suggestions throughout the piece I wanted to make sure I apply them to the introduction.  This was an easy fix.

Editing the introduction is the last major issue that I needed to address.  The dynamics and expressions are pretty much complete.  They just need to be entered into Finale.  I am sure that there will be other little things I will want to tweak.  Otherwise the piece is in good shape.

Cutting the fast section

Over the past few days I have been thinking about the scope of Night Sky.  In particular the section marked "lively, almost floating."  As I have been orchestrating the piece I have been starting to wonder how this fast section fits into the overall concept of the piece.  At first the fast section was going to be bookended by two ostinato sections, an ABA form.  After it became apparent that the ternary form would make for a very long piece I decided on a binary form, slow and fast (AB).  Now I am starting to think that Night Sky does not need a fast section.

There are a few factors to consider when looking to cut a whole section of a piece.  First of all is the scope. Will this piece sound complete without this section?  Or will this piece feel as if it is missing something?  Another factor is duration.  Will the piece be too short if cut?  Will the piece be too long if it is left in?  These are the two factors I have considered when making this decision.

I believe that the first half is strong enough to stand on its own.  The thematic materials are varied enough to not become monotonous.  There is also a part of me that feels as if this piece would be stronger without the fast section.

As for duration, up to the fast section the piece is approximately six and a half minutes.  If were to leave in the fast section then the piece would easily be eleven to twelve minutes in duration.  While this duration is not bad, this scenario assumes that I will not need to add any measures to revise the fast section.  At this point I know there is some substantial revision to be done in order for this section to feel balanced.  This could easily add two to three minutes to the piece, which I think is getting to be too long.

Another consideration I have is the life of this piece beyond the premiere.  My goal is to compose a piece that is marketable.  I would like to try to get this piece out there so that I can receive more performances and possibly get some commissions.

It is because of all the reasons stated above that I have decided to cut the fast section of Night Sky.  I think this is a good decision because now I have some strong material to use as the basis for another band piece.

Clarifying the "mysterious" section

Beginning at measure nine of Night Sky these is a section labeled "mysterious."  In this section I am trying to infuse my personal compositional voice into the context of the music.  One style in which I like to compose is reminiscent of Bela Bartok's "night music."  Color and timbre are the two primary elements in this style.  For this section my intent is to juxtapose long tone in the upper voices with short fragments in the other voices.

Another goal in this section is to feature the percussion section a bit more.  I want the percussion to be more that just decoration, accenting the melodies played by the wind instruments.  I feel that all too often in band music percussion becomes an afterthought or just another layer of the melodies.  I want to bring the percussion forward in this section.  This way if the percussion parts are missing then there would be a hole in the music.

As I orchestrated the mysterious section I became concerned with the way it was coming together.  I noticed some problems that I am certain Adam would have pointed out had I not revised this section before sending him a copy of the score.  The first issue was the long tones in the upper woodwinds.  Each note lasted four measures and continued on with other notes for sixteen total measures.  If this piece were for orchestra, then the long tones could have worked in the strings.  However, for a band in this age group, the fatigue factor and lung capacity prohibits such a relentless passage.  My solution was to have the long tones fade out after two measures with rests the following two measures.

The other primary issue I had was the harmonic language.  I tried to add some dissonant elements to the piece.  The long tones were more like note clusters than chords.  This did not work for me.  I ended up changing some of the notes in the long tones to create diatonic chords.  I did this so that the harmonic language does not unnecessarily stray away from the key area.

I am still finding parts in this section that I am still tweaking.  A couple of examples are rhythmic content and metric placement.  Sometimes I feel as if the melodic ideas do not start on the right beat or measure.  This is all apart of the editing process.  I am liking the changes I have made to this section.  All have helped to strengthen the piece.

Increasing playability

Another of Adam's comments about Night Sky was in regards to the ostinato starting at measure 33.  The instruments that play the ostinato do not get a break for at least twenty four measures. (see example #1)  This is something that I forgot to consider.  I am accustomed to writing for college or professional performers and they know how to handle these types of situations.  I need to consider the fatigue factor.  Kids who are in that age group do not have the training or in some instances the lung capacity to play for long durations.

Example #1 - in the original key: E minor

There are two parts to this ostinato.  The tenor line which consists of primarily quarter notes.  Te bass line which either plays a pedal tone or an ascending half note line, depending on the measure.  I took a look at the instruments that play the ostinato and I made a list of those instruments.  I then redistributed those instruments into four groups.

Group 1: Bassoon, Tenor Sax and Baritone
Group 2: Bass Clarinet, Bari Sax and Tuba
Group 3: Alto Sax and Horn
Group 4: Trombone 1 and 2

I broke to ostinato into four measure sections.  Then I charted out which groups will play what part and section of the ostinato at what time.  Each group plays every other section with the exception of groups 1 and 2.  Groups 1 and 2 play the first eight measures of the ostinato as all groups play the first four measures. (see example #2)

Example #2 - in the new key: C minor

I like the effect this change will have.  I think the integrity of the ostinato remains.  I have smoothed out the transition between the sections as each group plays four measures plus one beat.  This change will also allow for variety and contrast which is needed in this section.  The different groupings will create color and textural changes which will make this section more interesting to listen to.  It does not hurt that the score looks more interesting as well.