Myaku

From Wind Repertory Project
David Dzubay

David Dzubay


General Info

Year: 1999
Duration: c. 4:50
Difficulty: V (see Ratings for explanation)
Publisher: Pro Nova Music
Cost: Score and Parts - $175.00   |   Score Only - $35.00


Instrumentation

Full Score
Piccolo
Flute I-II
Oboe I-II
English Horn
Bassoon I-II
E-flat Soprano Clarinet
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
C (or B-flat) Trumpet I-II-III-IV
Horn in F I-II-III-IV
Trombone I-II
Bass Trombone
Euphonium I-II
Tuba I
Timpani
Harp (optional)
Piano (optional)
String Bass (optional.)
Percussion I-II-III-IV, including:

  • Bass Drum
  • Crash Cymbals
  • Glockenspiel
  • Marimba
  • Snare Drum
  • Suspended Cymbals (small and large)
  • Tom-toms (4)
  • Tubular Bells
  • Vibraphone
  • Xylophone


Errata

None discovered thus far.


Program Notes

This work was commissioned by the Musashino Academy of Music, Tokyo, Japan, in honor of their 70th anniversary, and is dedicated to Ray Cramer.

In April and May of 1999, Ray Cramer conducted the first performances of Myaku, with the Indiana University Wind Ensemble and the Musashino Academy of Music Wind Ensemble.

Opening with gentle waves of woodwind oscillations and building to powerfully repetitive arpeggios near the end, this fanfare for wind band takes two main ideas as themes: Pulse (Myaku, in Japanese), and the number seven (from the 7 decades the Musashino Academy is celebrating). The pulses occur on many levels, often as groups of seven evenly spaced articulations, but also as rhythmic underpinnings. Working the number seven into the fanfare in various ways accounts for the tempo markings of 140, 160, and 77.

The principal musical motive is a four-note subset of a pentatonic scale: A, B, D, and E. There is also extensive use of diatonic clusters (built by stacking up transpositions of the above motive) and the ascending melodic minor scale.

Myaku is dedicated to Ray Cramer, director of bands at Indiana University and tireless supporter of contemporary music for wind band. I send the fanfare to the Musashino Academy with best wishes for another 7 decades of fine music making.

- Program Note by composer


Media


State Ratings

((none))


Performances

To submit a performance please join The Wind Repertory Project

  • Truman State University (Kirksville, Mo.) Wind Symphony I (Curran Prendergast, conductor) - 9 March 2023
  • Colorado State University (Fort Collins) Wind Symphony (Rebecca Phillips, conductor) – 10 October 2019
  • University of Illinois (Champaign) Wind Symphony (Stephen G. Peterson, conductor) - 7 December 2015
  • Oregon State University (Corvallis) Wind Ensemble (Christopher Chapman, conductor) – 15 March 2012 (CBDNA 2012 Western/Northwestern Division Conference, Reno, Nev.)


Works for Winds by This Composer


Resources

  • Dzubay, D. (1999). Myaku [score]. Pro Nova Music: Bloomington, Ind.
  • Miles, Richard B., and Larry Blocher. 2002. Teaching Music Through Performance in Band. Volume 4. Chicago: GIA Publications. pp. 854-861.