Summer Nights
at the Bandstand
for virtuoso euphonium with Grade 3 band
Commissioned by the Michigan City Municipal Band,
Dr. Jeff Doebler, conductor, and Quincy Ford, assistant conductor,
and GySgt Hiram Diaz, Assistant Principal Euphonium of "The President's Own" United States Marine Band
(solo part, band accompaniment, and piano accompaniment available separately)
Summer band concerts in the United States are the essence of community music making, bringing people together on a summer evening with a little something to appeal to all ages and tastes. Community bands encourage young musicians just getting started, as well as offer a fun opportunity for adult and older musicians who still love their instrument and want to play. Especially influenced by the style and repertoire of John Philip Sousa’s touring professional band at the turn of the 20th century, community bands likewise usually play an upbeat program of marches, popular music, folk songs, patriotic tunes, and “showpieces”: virtuosic solos of beautiful lyricism and dizzying technical skill that used to be written especially for a particular soloist, then taken up by others all over the country.
Today, however, it’s a lot less common for living composers to write showpieces. This important tradition should not be allowed to fade away, and especially not for the noblest of all instruments, the euphonium.
As someone who has played the euphonium in my hometown municipal band for almost two decades, I was thrilled when GySgt Diaz approached me about contributing a new showpiece for him to premiere with the outstanding Michigan City Municipal Band. What a challenge to write a lyrical and beautiful solo that is also technically demanding for a world-class performer, coupled with a band part easy enough to come together in just one 20 minute rehearsal. But this is the magic of community bands!
Summer Nights at the Bandstand is a theme and variations, as many of the traditional showpieces were. The euphonium soloist opens the work with a bold statement of theme, somewhat in the style of Copland’s Fanfare for the Common Man or John Williams’s Summon the Heroes (it is an Olympic year, after all):
What follows are five variations, each touching on part of the summer band experience: cheerful togetherness, languorous summer sweat, a blistering circus march, a ballad, and a fanfare.
Instrumentation
Virtuoso Euphonium Solo Trumpets 1, 2, 3 Timpani (4 drums)
Flutes 1 & 2 Horns 1 & 2 Percussion 1 (1 player): chimes, crotales,
Oboe Trombones 1, 2, 3 bells, xylo, vibra-slap
Bassoon Euphonium Percussion 2 (1 player): crotales, xylo,
Clarinets 1, 2, 3 Tuba vibes, chimes , hi-hat, bells,
Bass Clarinet vibra-slap, woodblock, SD
Alto Saxes 1 & 2 Percussion 3 (1 player): triangle,
Tenor Sax cr cym, tambourine, vibra-slap,
Bari Sax tam-tam, sus. cymbal, woodblock