Hill Dance
General Info
Year: 2009 / 2015
Duration: c. 6:55
Difficulty: V (see Ratings for explanation)
Original Medium: Clarinet Choir
Publisher: Raven Music
Cost: Score and Parts (print) - $150.00 ; (digital) - $65.00 | Score Only (print) - $25.00; (digital) - $15.00
Instrumentation
Full Score
Piccolo
Flutes I-II (may double)
Oboes I-II
Bassoon (may double)
E-flat Soprano Clarinet
B-flat Soprano Clarinets I-II-III-IV (doubled; at least 2 per part)
E-flat Alto Clarinet (cued)
B-flat Bass Clarinet
E-flat Contra-Alto Clarinet (cued)
B-flat Soprano Saxophone (optional)
E-flat Alto Saxophones I-II
B-flat Tenor Saxophone
E-flat Baritone Saxophone
B-flat Trumpet I-II-III
Horn in F I-II-III-IV
Trombones I-II-III
Euphonium
Tuba
String Bass (optional)
Timpani
Percussion (4 or 5 players), including:
- Afuche Cabasa (bead-wrapped canister)
- Bass Drum
- Crash Cymbals
- Glockenspiel
- Guiro
- Snare Drum (high)
- Marimba
- Tambourine
- Vibraphone
- Xylophone
Errata
None discovered thus far.
Program Notes
Hill Dance was originally composed in 2009 as a work for the Los Angeles Clarinet Choir. The piece served as he third and final movement of a larger work titled Three Outside. The work was meant to project three types of energy experienced in different settings: mechanical energy, natural energy and human energy, with the Hill Dance movement portraying the latter. According to the composer, Hill Dance was written in the style of a Bulgarian hill country dance that relies on rhythmic vitality to served its desired aesthetic. The work was transcribed for band in 2015 with the clarinet feature remaining true to its original form.
- Program Note from Teaching Music through Performance in Band. Volume 12,
A lively Bulgarian-style 5/8 folk dance up in the hill country. Showy solos for Eb, Bb, Bass Clarinet. Slower middle with Jewish-flavor circle-dance tunes, almost drunk. Wild loud fast ecstatic ending building to full band.
- Condensed Program Note by composer
Media
Performances
To submit a performance please join The Wind Repertory Project
- Banda Sinfónica Municipal de Valencia (Spain) (Matthew George, conductor) – 13 July 2019 - WASBE Conference (Buñol, Spain)
- University of North Texas (Denton) Wind Symphony (Jack A. Eaddy Jr., conductor) – 27 April 2017
- Woodbridge High School Symphonic Band (Irvine, Calif.) (Brad Harris, conductor - March, 2016
- Texas A&M University-Kingsville Band (Scott Jones, conductor) - Spring 2016
- Grand Symphonic Winds (Twin Cities, Minn.) (Matthew George, conductor) – 27 February 2016 (CBDNA 2016 North Central Division Conference, Ames, Iowa)
- University of Rhode Island (Kingston) American Band (Brian M. Cardany, conductor) - February 2016
- Middle Tennessee State University (Murfreesboro) Concert Band (Reed Thomas, conductor) - September 17, 2015
- Grand Symphonic Winds (St. Paul, Minn.) (Matthew J. George, conductor) - October 2015
Works for Winds by This Composer
- Air (1975)
- Around the Year (1965-2002)
- Cornucopia of Rounds (1976-80)
- Glockenspiel March (1968-97)
- Hill Dance (2015)
- Last Stand, The (2013)
- Lifeboat Variations (1970-79/2014)
- Nigun Prophecy (2018)
- Prime Time (Toccata Brillante) (2000)
- Principles (Oratorio) (2010)
- Rain Dance (2016)
- Rowboat Shuffle (1975/2014)
- Sacred Winds (2007)
- Savage Elements
- Savage Nature (2021)
- 3 Outside (2008)
- Siege (1969)
- Spring Rondo (1971)
- StarGazers (2015)
- Tipsy Waltz (1975/2014)
- Twinkle Boat (1975/2014)
- Vignettes for Concert Band (2015)
Resources
- David Avshalomov website
- Lopez, John. "Hill Dance." In Teaching Music through Performance in Band. Volume 12, Compiled and edited by Andrew Trachsel, 786-792. Chicago: GIA Publications, 2021.