Jordan Pavlica

12/16/18

MUS 383

Dr. Heidenreich

Background

I decided that this band would be in an urban, inner city school district that lacks

financial resources. They meet five times a week but are slightly limited due to instruments being

in poor quality and no one taking private lessons. This is the type of district I would like to teach

in so it seemed the most appropriate. The band that I designed this program for is an eighth grade

band that floats around a 2-2.5 skill level. They started playing their instruments in sixth grade so

they have had two and a half full years of playing before receiving this music in the first

semester of their eighth grade year. This is their december concert.

When selecting these pieces, I wanted to challenge my students while also expanding

their horizons beyond traditional wind band music. My goal was for students experience playing

a type of music that they haven’t played before and to learn about different cultures and time

periods along the way. This Program includes one contemporary piece, one broadway selection

(that ended up as a jazz standard), one jazz medley for concert band and one Latin piece. The

slight emphasis on jazz is to get students interested in the genre in hopes that they’ll join the

schools after school jazz band the following semester. The concert is titled “Unorthodox” and the

selections are as follows.

 ‘Unorthodox’

SNARL - John Mackey ​(Grade 2.5)

Tribute to Count Basie - Count Basie, arr. John Moss ​(grade 3)

Summertime - George Gershwin, arr. Robert Longfield ​(grade 2)

Havana - Camila Cabello, arr. Matt Conaway ​(grade 2)

SNARL

I chose to play this piece because it fits the theme for being untraditional and it introduces

some less common techniques in a fun way. Students have the opportunity to flutter tongue and

play rips at fortissimo while maintaining the appropriate musical style for this contemporary

piece. Every instrument gets to play the melody or a variation of it at some point. The majority of

the piece is scored fairly thick, and there is only one part for most instruments. This limits

exposed playing but it gives students the chance to work on blending with their sections.

Tribute to Count Basie

This medley for concert band is meant to serve as an introduction to jazz and as

recruitment for the schools jazz ensemble. Although this is the hardest piece on the program, I

think that the arrangement makes many difficult aspects of the featured tunes more accessible.

For example, many of the busier parts are written in unison within sections. The piece is also

scored in a way that generally makes use of instruments ranges, so the highest parts are typically
given to flutes rather than trumpets. I believe the biggest challenge of this piece will be balancing

and intonation. This piece is a good introduction to thicker harmony because there’s never too

much going on at once.

Summertime

Summertime serves as the ballad for the concert while also maintaining a heavy jazz

influence, fitting the theme for unorthodox wind band music. I believe this is a very good

arrangement. The lush orchestration gives students a chance to really work on the shaping of

phrases as well as dynamics. The key signature is Ab so students can play in a key that they may

not see as often. Like the Count Basie medley, there’s only one part for most instruments with

the occasional split part. There is a lot to be learned from this piece, mostly in terms of phrasing,

blending and the jazz influenced style.

Havana

This is an arrangement of a latin pop song which provides a completely new style of

music for students to work on. There is an emphasis on legato articulation and syncopation in

this piece. It is scored thinner than the other selections and it often has more going on at once.

The percussion section will get to play in a style that keeps them busier than many concert band

pieces. The piece itself is fun, catchy and a good snapshot into the rhythms and styles of

traditional latin music.