Snarl

From Wind Repertory Project
John Mackey

John Mackey


General Info

Year: 2018
Duration: c. 2:50
Difficulty: II+ (see Ratings for explanation)
Publisher: Osti Music
Cost: Score and Parts (print) - $119.00   |   Score Only (print) - $20.00


Instrumentation

Full Score
Flute I-II
Oboe
Bassoon (div.)
B-flat Soprano Clarinet I-II
B-flat Bass Clarinet (div.)
E-flat Alto Saxophone I-II
B-flat Tenor Saxophone
E-flat Baritone Saxophone
B-flat Trumpet I-II
Horn in F
Trombone I-II
Euphonium
Tuba (div.)
Timpani
Percussion I-VIII, including:

  • Assorted Cymbals (3: Suspended Crash, China, Splash)
  • Bass Drum
  • Crash Cymbal
  • Hi-Hat
  • Marimba
  • Snare Drum
  • Tam-tam (optional)
  • Triangle
  • Vibraphone
  • Vibraslap
  • Xylophone


Errata

None discovered thus far.


Program Notes

In March 2016, I attended a rehearsal featuring students from the United Sound mentoring program -- a program to encourage musicians with special needs to play side by side with general education musicians in the same ensemble. The empathy I experienced in that room was overwhelming. I cried, regained my composure, and asked if I could write a piece for United Sound. The result is Snarl.

Everyone gets picked on at some point -- I know I did, especially in gym class. It’s a horrible feeling. Snarl refuses to be bullied, from the opening saxophone section multiphonic, to the flutter-tongued winds and the crashes of cymbals.

Snarl is a gift to United Sound in thanks for making those mentored students feel not only special, but strong.

- Program Note by composer


Snarl adds to the growing amount of repertoire composed in responses to social and/or cultural issues. The piece reaches out to a typically unrepresented population in the concert band: those students with disabilities. Not only does the piece reflect the experience of being bullied, a common experience for students with disabilities, but it welcomes them into the ensemble.

- Program Note from Teaching Music through Performance in Band. Volume 12


Media


State Ratings

None discovered thus far.


Performances

To submit a performance please join The Wind Repertory Project

  • Abilene (Tx.) Christian University Concert Band (Steven Ward, conductor) - 20 April 2023
  • Patrick Henry High School (Roanoke, Va.) Wind Symphony (Alexander Schmitt, conductor) - 20 December 2022
  • Poth (Tx.) High School Wind Ensemble (Chase Failing, conductor) - 21 April 2022
  • University of Arkansas (Fayetteville) White Concert Band (Jamal Duncan, conductor) – 4 March 2019

Works for Winds by This Composer

Adaptable Music


All Wind Works


Resources

  • Perusal Score
  • Prendergast, Curran. "Snarl." In Teaching Music through Performance in Band. Volume 12, Compiled and edited by Andrew Trachsel, 278-282. Chicago: GIA Publications, 2021.