Program Notes

Imagine, if you will, the perfect Spring day.  The air is cool but the sun is warm on your skin.  The sound of newly awakened fauna chatter about the lush, verdant landscape.  The blue sky seems to go on for miles.  How could you feel anything but happy on a day like that?

Hillside March is a concert march for young band with a sunny, yet quirky, disposition.  It draws inspiration from British marches, but filtered through my own particular American lens.  The work starts as a pleasant walk in the countryside as we take in the beauty all around us.  A darker theme creeps in later (a nod to the style of Ralph Vaughn Williams and his fantastic English Folk Song Suite), but a chorale melody answers it with an overwhelming sense of hope.  We finish our promenade as we began it, whistling and strolling along our country path.

Peace, Love, and Music

Educational goals of the work:

-Explore March Style

-Articulation differences between:  Tenuto, Accents, Staccatos, slurs

-Noticeable dynamic shaping.

Rehearsal suggestions

-The tempo of this work is critical to its character.  When planning your preparation, make sure to allow time for proper technical development to achieve the written tempos, lest the work come off as “boring.”

-I would strongly recommend having your performers listen to professional recordings of marches by Vaughn-Williams, Holst, and Grainger to assist in developing their sense of intended style.

-In m.33-40, the low voices should have a heavy, edgy quality.

-in m.41-49, the style should be chorale-like in nature, very connected and very cantabile.