Immersion
Subtitle: Symphony for Winds, Percussion and Pre-Recorded Soundscape
General Info
Year: 2010
Duration: c. 23:00
Difficulty: IV (mvts. 1 and 3); V (mvt. 2) (see Ratings for explanation)
Publisher: Activist Music
Cost: Score and Parts (digital) - $350.00 | Score and Tracks Only (digital) - $60.00
Movements (may be programmed and played separately)
1. Depth – 7:50
2. Surface – 4:05
3. Beneath - 10:05
Instrumentation (varies among movements)
Full Score
C Piccolo
Flute I-II
Oboe I-II
Bassoon I-II
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
B-flat Trumpet I-II-III
Horn in F I-II-III-IV
Trombone I-II
Bass Trombone
Euphonium I-II
Tuba I-II
String Bass
Percussion, including:
- Bass Drum
- Marimba
- Tam-Tam (large and small)
- Tubular Bells
- Vibraphone
Electronic Track
Errata
None discovered thus far.
Program Notes
Immersion brings listeners on a sonic journey into a private, aquatic realm. Beneath the surface of the ocean is a world of liquid beauty and grace hidden from our eyes and from our imagination. Even in this habitat of life and hope, exquisite creatures remain vulnerable to events triggered from beyond their fragile sanctuary. Follow your ears and your heart to the depths of a place we sometimes forget to look.
- Program Note from publisher
Immersion is a three-movement symphony that can be presented as one longer piece, or modularly, in any combination of movements together or separately. Depth, and Beneath, are moderate in tempo, while Surface is very fast and percussive, and even suitable as an encore.
The sea has been a constant in my life, and I have always lived on or next to the water. From my upbringing by the rivers flanking Manhattan, to my earlier adult life on the Pacific Ocean in Malibu and Santa Barbara, living on the beach and also on a sailboat, to my current existence on the Salish Sea in the Pacific Northwest where I can kayak from my home in the San Juan Islands to outlaying atolls, I’ve spent a lot of time observing water and water-based life.
My studio on San Juan Island is in a largely glass house built on the very edge of the sea with an enormous view across the Salish Sea from the San Juans to the U.S. mainland, and as I composed Immersion, the ocean and its fascinating wildlife were my constant companions. Had I not been a musician, I might have become a marine biologist, and my interest in these sciences is reflected by my participation on the board of directors of University of Washington's Friday Harbor Laboratories, a preeminent marine science research center. I have a deeply fortunate life, to be a composer with an inner view to working scientists, and most of all, to have a window to the daily lives of wild creatures whose private existence is often beneath the surface, in the depth of the sea. I seek to share this private world, through music.
Immersion would not have been possible without the endless support, enthusiasm and collaborative work of Jerry Luckhardt, whose vision and assistance are deeply appreciated.
- Program Note by composer
Media
State Ratings
None discovered thus far.
Performances
To submit a performance please join The Wind Repertory Project
- University of Southern Maine (Gorham) Concert Band (Jacqueline Townsend, conductor) – 31 March 2019
- Mid America Freedom Band (Kansas City, Mo.) (Lee Hartman, conductor) – 7 May 2017
- University of Michigan (Ann Arbor) Concert Band (Courtney Snyder, conductor) – 8 February 2017
- Rowan University (Glassboro, N.J.) Wind Ensemble (Paul Higgins, conductor; Denis DiBlasio, bass flute) – 8 December 2016
- Georgia Music Educators Association District 1 - 11-12 Honor Band (Don Schofield, conductor) – 6 February 2016
- 207 Wind Orchestra (Portland, Maine) (Timothy Burns, conductor) - 1 July 2015
- Oregon State University (Corvallis) Wind Ensemble (Christopher Chapman, conductor) – 15 March 2012 (CBDNA 2012 Western/Northwestern Division Conference, Reno, Nev.)
- University of Minnesota (Minneapolis) Symphonic Band (Jerry Luckhardt, conductor) – 16 February 2011 *Premiere Performance*
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 28 November 2016
- The Horizon Leans Forward…, compiled and edited by Erik Kar Jun Leung, GIA Publications, 2021, p. 469.
- Pease, Andy. "Immersion by Alex Shapiro." Wind Band Literature. Web. Accessed 12 March 2019
- Shapiro, A. (2010). Immersion : Symphony For Winds, Percussion and Pre-Recorded Soundscape [score]. Activist Music: [Friday Harbor, Wash.?].