Lights Out
Subtitle: For Concert Wind Band and Pre-recorded Soundscape
General Info
Year: 2015
Duration: c. 4:25
Difficulty: IV (see Ratings for explanation)
Publisher: Activist Music
Cost: Score and Parts (print) - $80.00 | Score Only (print) - $15.00
Instrumentation
Full Score
C Piccolo
Flute I-II
Oboe
Bassoon
B-flat Soprano Clarinet I-II
B-flat Bass Clarinet
E-flat Alto Saxophone
B-flat Tenor Saxophone
E-flat Baritone Saxophone
B-flat Trumpet I-II
Horn in F I-II
Trombone I-II
Bass Trombone
Euphonium
Tuba
Electric Bass
Percussion, including:
- Bass Drum
- Egg Shaker
- Glockenspiel
- Suspended Cymbal
- Tam-Tam
- Tom-Tom (3)
- Vibraphone
- Xylophone
Audio accompaniment track for conductor
Errata
None discovered thus far.
Program Notes
I suppose you could call Lights Out an "opto-physico-electro-acoustic" work for wind band, because it was conceived from the onset as a visual media piece. While it can be performed in any normal concert setting, it's most compelling when presented in the dark, slightly disorienting the audience and dazzling them with the beautiful colored aura from glowsticks, smart phones, and small LEDs placed inside the instruments and on the musicians' mallets and fingers. Mesmerizing!
Composing this piece, I treated the visuals and movement the same way I treat the audio track -- as an equal and additional "section" in the band, organically incorporated into the piece just like the woodwinds, brass and percussion.
The physical and lighting aspects of the work were composed simultaneously with the music, and the score includes two additional staves devoted to movement and visual effects, leaving space on the score page for bands to add their own ideas as well.
Even before writing a single note of the score, I conducted Skype sessions with the majority of the 19 bands involved in the commissioning consortium, to elicit the musicians' creative ideas about what staging concepts might make a performance particularly unusual and engaging. Roughly 200 of these gems are published in the score, for bands around the world to use and be inspired by.
The indications for movement and lighting that found their way into the score due to this wonderful initial collaboration are a jumping off point for many other ideas, and I'm excited to discover what each ensemble is going to choose for their interpretation. I encourage every band to post their performance on YouTube, because each concert will be unique!
- Program Note by composer
Media
State Ratings
None discovered thus far.
Performances
To submit a performance please join The Wind Repertory Project
- Memorial University of Newfoundland (St. John's) Wind Ensemble (Dylan Rook Maddix, conductor) - 21 October 2023
- University of Manitoba (Winnipeg, Mb., Can.) Concert Band (Jacquie Dawson, conductor) - 2 December 2022
- University of Arkansas (Fayetteville) 5 p.m. Concert Band (Jason Marshall, conductor) - 27 April 2022
- Appalachian State University (Boone, N.C.) Symphony Band (Jason Gardner, conductor) - 23 February 2022
- University of Iowa (Iowa City) University Band (Kara Metzger, conductor) - 6 December 2021
- Brigham Young University (Provo, Utah) University Band (Fred McInnis, conductor) - 6 April 2021
- Manhattan (N.Y.) Wind Ensemble (Sarah Fernandez, conductor) – 23 November 2019
- Southern Illinois University (Carbondale) Wind Ensemble (Christopher Morehouse, conductor) – 28 April 2019
- Louisiana State University (Baton Rouge) Symphonic Band (Cliff Croomes, conductor) – 12 March 2019
- Texas Woman's University (Denton) University Band (Carter Biggers, conductor) – 1 March 2019
- University of Illinois (Champaign) University Band (Joe Clark, conductor) – 14 November 2018
- University of Oklahoma (Norman) Concert Band (Brian T. Wolfe, conductor) – 26 February 2018
- University of Chicago (Ill.) Wind Ensemble (Chip De Stefano, conductor) – 18 February 2018
- California State University, Stanislaus, Wind Ensemble (Alicia Wilson, conductor)– 8 December 2017
- University of Minnesota (Minneapolis) Maroon Campus Band (Cassandra A. Bechard, conductor) – 30 October 2017
- University of British Columbia (Vancouver) Concert Winds (Christian Reardon MacLellan, conductor) – 1 April 2017
- California All-State Junior High School Symphonic Band (Michael Boltz, conductor) - 19 February 2017 (2017 CASMEC Conference, San Jose)
- University of Arkansas Symphonic Band and Concert Band (Jamal Duncan, conductor) – 7 March 2016
- University of Colorado (Boulder) Concert Band (Matthew Dockendorf, conductor) – 22 February 2016
- University of Memphis Symphonic Band (Armand Hall, conductor) - 29 April 2015 – *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 8 March 2016
- Creative Repertoire Initiative
- Shapiro, A. (2015). Lights Out: For Concert Wind Band and Pre-recorded Soundscape [score]. Activist Music: Friday Harbor, Wash.