Charm

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Kevin Puts

General Info

Year: 2012
Duration: c. 2:35
Difficulty: III (see Ratings for explanation)
Publisher: Bandquest, through Hal Leonard
Cost: Score and Parts - $60.00 | Score Only - $10.00

Instrumentation

Full Score
C Piccolo
Flute
Oboe
Bassoon (optional)
B-flat Soprano Clarinet I-II-III
B-flat Bass Clarinet
E-flat Alto Saxophone I-II
B-flat Tenor Saxophone
E-flat Baritone Saxophone (optional)
B-flat Trumpet I-II-III
F Horn
Trombone I-II
Euphonium
Tuba
String Bass (optional)
Timpani
Percussion, including:

Bass Drum
Claves
Cowbells (4)
Snare Drum
Tambourine
Tom-Tom
Triangle (2, similar in pitch)
Wood Block

Players clapping

Errata

In Parts:

Trumpets: Downbeat of letter B is missing; m. 64 should show F# and G# in all parts but shows naturals instead.
Percussion: After m.14, an empty measure was incorrectly inserted (an erroneous 15th measure). This incorrect measure of rest should be corrected in all percussion parts. All measure numbers in percussion parts are off by one number following the erroneous 15th measure.

Program Notes

The idea for Charm came to me immediately after I first met the Scarsdale (N.Y.) Middle School Band and its talented director, Nicholas Lieto. The school is only a fifteen-minute drive from my house, and on the trip home, I imagined a sort of mystical harmonic palette with triangles ringing over a pentatonic melody as if a spell had been cast. I realized when I got to my piano and began playing it that it would have to be written in the irregular (and difficult) meter of 7/8.

I decided to call it Charm because the music conjures up magic, good-luck charms, and such, and I was also thinking of the other meaning of the word, that intangible quality possessed by certain people places that truly can cast a spell.

Charm was commissioned by BandQuest® for the Scarsdale Middle School Band, Nicholas Lieto, conductor. It was premiered at Scarsdale Middle School on May 9, 2012. While my inexperience with this genre lead me to compose a more difficult piece than I had intended, the students in Scarsdale rose to the challenge brilliantly.

- Program Note by composer

Composed by 2012 Pulitzer Prize-winner Kevin Puts, Charm is a short, joyful piece written in the meter 7/8. Of the title, Puts writes, “I decided to call it Charm because, for me, the music conjures up magic, good-luck charms and such, and I was also thinking of the other meaning of the word, that intangible quality possessed by certain people and places that truly can cast a spell.”

- Program Note from publisher

Winner of the Pulitzer Prize in 2012 for his opera Silent Night, Kevin Puts is hailed as one of the most important composers of his generation. Charm was commissioned by the American Composers Forum in 2012 as part of their BandQuest® series, with the intention to create and promote new, fresh music to the middle school repertoire by today’s leading composers.

- Program Note by the Clear Creek High School Wind Ensemble concert program, 20 December 2013

Media

Audio: Reference recording. Ensemble and conductor unknown

State Ratings

Georgia: IV

Performances

To submit a performance please join The Wind Repertory Project

The Ohio State University (Columbus) University Band (Sarah Baker, conductor) - 5 October 2023
Indiana University of Pennsylvania Symphony Band (Zach Cheever, conductor) - 9 March 2023
Shenandoah Conservatory (Winchester, Va.) Concert Band (Tim Robblee, conductor) - 4 December 2022
California All-State Junior High School Symphonic Band (Cheryl Floyd, conductor) – 20 February 2022 (2022 CASMEC Conference, Fresno)
Mineola (N.Y.) High School Wind Ensemble (Christopher Toomey, conductor) - 2 February 2022
Luther College (Decorah, Iowa) Varsity Band (Cory Near, conductor) - 29 April 2021
West Virginia University (Morgantown) Symphonic Band (Cheldon Williams, conductor) - 17 November 2020
University of Alabama (Tuscaloosa) University Band (Rebecca Cichy, conductor) – 26 March 2019
Los Banos High School Concert Band (Danielle Cavazos, conductor) - 16 March 2019 (2019 Sutherland Wind Festival (Fresno, Calif.)
Wartburg College (Waverly, Iowa) Meistersinger Ninth-Grade Honor Band (Russell Kramer, conductor) – 3 February 2019
University of North Georgia (Gainesville) Wind Ensemble (J. Ashley Jarrell, conductor) – 4 December 2018
Westbrook (Me.) High School Band (Kyle Smith, conductor) – 8 November 2018
The Ohio State University (Columbus) University Band (Brent Levine, conductor) – 9 October 2018
Indiana University (Bloomington) All-Campus Band (Sean C. Phelan and Ryan M. Yahl, conductors) – 17 April 2018
Association of Texas Small School Bands (ATSSB) Concert Band (Matthew McInturf, conductor) - 17 February 2018 (2018 TMEA Conference, San Antonio)
W.F. West High School (Chehalis, Wash.) Wind Ensemble (Adam Campagna, conductor) - 7 March 2017
University of Minnesota (Minneapolis) Gold Campus Band (Cory Near, conductor) – 23 February 2017
Association of Texas Small School Bands (ATSSB) Concert Band (Jeff Gershman, conductor) - 11 February 2017 (2017 TMEA Conference, San Antonio)
Macalester College Wind Ensemble (Shelley Hanson, conductor) - 22 November 2015
Scarsdale (N.Y.) Middle School Band (Nicholas Lieto, conductor) - 9 May 2012 *Premiere Performance*

Works for Winds by This Composer

Charm (2012)
Chorus of Light
Elegy (arr. Ward) (2006/2011)
Millennium Canons (arr. Spede) (2001/2003)
Network (tr. Kelly) (1997/2013)

Resources

Cardany, Brian M. "Charm." In Teaching Music through Performance in Band. Volume 11, Compiled and edited by Richard Miles, 152-158. Chicago: GIA Publications, 2018.
Puts, K. (2012). Charm [score]. American composers Forum: St. Paul, Minn.