Count to Ten
General Info
Year: 2021
Duration: c. 1:15
Difficulty: 1/2 (see Ratings for explanation)
Publisher: Activist Music, through Murphy Music Press
Cost: Score and Parts (print) - $50.00
Instrumentation (Flexible)
Full Score
Part 1
Part 1 in C
- Flute
- Oboe
- Violin
*Part 1 in B-flat
- B-flat Soprano Clarinet
- B-flat Trumpet
*Part 1 in E-flat
- E-flat Alto Saxophone
- Violin
Part 2
*Part 2 in C
- Flute
- Oboe
- Violin
*Part 2 in B-flat
- B-flat Soprano Clarinet
- B-flat Trumpet
*Part 2 in E-flat
- E-flat Alto Saxophone
- Violin
*Part 2 in F
- Horn in F
- Cello
Part 3
*Part 3 in B-flat
- B-flat Tenor Saxophone
*Part 3 in C
- Bassoon
- Trombone
- Euphonium
- Cello
*Part 3 in C lower
- Tuba
- String Bass
Percussion, including:
- Bass Drum
- Bells
- Snare Drum
- Suspended Cymbal
Audio track (optional)
Errata
None discovered thus far.
Program Notes
By the time a person is four years old -- long before their first fun wind band class -- they can count to ten. So I've never understood why beginning music students are only given pieces in rigid, often plodding, 4/4, 3/4 or 2/4 meters. Music, like life, is neither rigid nor plodding (well, at least not interesting music!). Thus, Count to Ten is my contribution to the repertoire for beginning musicians who have a lifetime of wonderful, compelling pieces ahead of them that will be filled with chromaticism, syncopations, and mixed meters.
The premise is simple: count up, then down again from a grand peak of 9/4. This is not a time signature I would normally choose even for professionals, because it's easier to read subdivisions. But there's an important and purely psychological reason I opted for it here: if beginning musicians can achieve playing in 9/4, it may forever dispel any fear they'll have of large meters, and playing in 5, and maybe even in 7, will seem like a relative breeze. In other words, in addition to being a primer for contemporary repertoire, Count to Ten is a middle school psyche-out: if you can count to ten, you certainly can count to nine!
- Program Note by composer
For Robert Ambrose and Sean Murphy.
- Program Note from score
Performance Notes
With its built-in drone and percussion parts, the piece is designed to sound good acoustically, but it will sound many times better when the students are paired with any of the cinematic-style accompaniment tracks -- especially the "full" version that combines all three elements of the percussion (strong downbeats and steady quarter beats), the B-flat drone (for tuning and atmosphere), and the groove ostinati weaving through the music and adding a modern syncopation.
Media
State Ratings
None discovered thus far.
Performances
To submit a performance please join The Wind Repertory Project
Works for Winds by This Composer
Adaptable Music
- Count to Ten (Adaptable Band) (2021)
- Kitchen Sync (Adaptable Band) (2021)
- Kitchen Sync. See also: Suite Treats
- Passages (Adaptable Band) (2020)
All Wind Works
- Ascent (2020)
- Beneath. See: Immersion (2010)
- Bioplasm (flute choir) (2004/2012)
- Bioplasm (flute quartet) (2004)
- Breathe (2020)
- Count to Ten (Adaptable Band) (2021)
- Depth. See: Immersion
- Even Deeper (2014)
- Free (2022)
- Homecoming (2008)
- Immersion (2010)
- Kitchen Sync (Adaptable Band) (2021)
- Kitchen Sync. See also: Suite Treats
- Lights Out (2015)
- Liquid Compass (2014)
- Moment (2016)
- Off the Edge (2019)
- Paper Cut (2010)
- Passages (Adaptable Band) (2020)
- Pop Music (2022)
- Rock Music (2016)
- Surface. See: Immersion (2010)
- Suspended (2021)
- Tight Squeeze (2012)
- Train of Thought (sextet) (2015)
- Trains of Thought (concert band) (2015/2017)
Resources
- Alex Shapiro website Accessed 31 March 2021
- Perusal score