Rachael Gros

Conducting

Wind Band Literature Review

Festival Prelude by Bach arr. Bob Margolis

Manhattan Beach Music 1999

Opener $85.00

This piece has a lot of running eight notes in the woodwinds with

fanfare sections in the brass. It has a lot of sections that are

similar in melody and harmony. It has a simple harmony and

utilizes different sets of instruments at different times. It is also a

good tempo with a dramatic slow down at the end, which makes

this an interesting opener.

Afterburn by Randall D. Standridge

Grand Mesa Music 2009

Opener $65.00

This piece has some good high and low points in the music. It

employs some syncopation but it has running eighth notes in the

percussion, which will help a band hold together. This piece

utilizes the dynamic differences in the louds and softs as well as

 the dramatics of having everyone play the same rhythms for a

bar or two.

Aces of the Air by Karl L. King arr. James Swearingen

C L Barnhouse Company 2011

March $65.00

This piece is a good march for a high school band. This version

doesnt have any complex rhythm and is a march that some

students or audience members may recognize. This is a good

march to start with because this is a standard way to write a

march. It also has a lot of the students playing together but still

individual lines going throughout the piece.

Autumn on a White Lake by Samuel Hazo

Hal Leonard Cooperation 2010

Ballad $85.00

This piece has a good balance of simple harmonies and lush

chords. It is also a slower tempo with easier rhythms, which frees

up the students to be musical with the piece. It uses the ideas of

starting with few instruments and building up to more while

increasing the dynamics. It does a great job of creating many

fine musical moments.

Simple Gifts: Four Shaker Songs by Frank Ticheli

Manhattan Beach Music 2002

Multi-Movement $195.00

This piece has four movements that are not extremely long. The

first movement is a light and flowing folk tune. It has some

legato and more separated passages in it as well as different

instrumentation groups at the same time. The second movement

is a dance that is light and staccato. It also utilizes accents to

create a more dramatic effect. The third movement is a ballad

that starts with a full dark sound at the beginning and lightens

up a little at the end. The fourth movement starts with a simple

statement and then builds into a sort of chorale tune with the

melody going basically throughout.

Our American Heroes by Steve Rouse

Manhattan Beach Music 2003

Big $80.00

This piece starts out with slow and somewhat quiet. It slowly

builds throughout. It has a section near the middle a well-known

lullaby melody is played then expanded on. Then later on in the

piece it sounds as if it goes through a grand key change and it

becomes more of a fanfare piece. It ends big and loud with all
 the instruments playing similar rhythms and at a loud dynamic.

It ends with a forte-piano held note.

House of Horrors arr. Tom Wallace

Arrangers Publishing Company 1992

Novelty $75.00

This piece combines many well-known Halloween themes such as

Bachs Toccata and Fugue in d minor. It has good percussions

parts that help the music along. It has abrupt changes to the

different songs as well as sound spoken dialogue from the

students and other special effects. With the special effects and

well-known melodies students would find this piece a lot of fun.

The Rooster Lays Eggs in Kansas by Mayhew L. Lake ed. Robert Foster

Carl Fisher LLC 1938

Novelty $80.00

This piece has a lot of solos and some spoken dialogue. You could

easily give the solos to any instruments you wanted. The piece is

definitely a novelty piece and it is a relatively short one at that.

When everyone plays they usually play close to the same rhythm

and the tempo is a strict march tempo.

Accolade by Brady Massey

 Daehn Publications 2013

Closer $76.00

This piece would be a good workout for duple and triple because

it mixes some triplets into the melody. It also starts on with a

brass choir, which you can use to highlight some brass players.

Then it also switches to a woodwind feature after the brass choir

and a short interlude with all the instruments. It also has some

faster rhythms such as sixteenth note runs in the upper

woodwinds. This piece also has some fun percussion parts in that

they get to play the sleigh bells and the gong.

Curtain Call by John Wasson

C L Barnhouse Company

Closer $76.00

This piece has a fun and light attitude to it. It also has some fun

percussion effects in use such as woodblock and a refs whistle. It

also throws in a well know patriotic melody in the middle of the

song. There also some syncopated rhythms but that hardest part

would be to get it to a fast tempo not necessarily the difficulty of

the notes. It also ends with a well-placed stinger, which makes a

great last note of the concert.