Songs Without Words

Dan Welcher

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Subtitle: Five Mood Pieces for Large Wind Ensemble

General Info

Year: 2001 / 2007
Duration: c. 15:30
Difficulty: IV (see Ratings for explanation)
Publisher: Theodore Presser
Cost: Score and Parts (print) - Rental | Score Only (print) - $60.00

Movements

1. Manic – 1:50
2. Reflective – 4:15
3. Giddy – 2:20
4. Stunned - 3:05
5. Confident – 4:45

Instrumentation

Full Score
C Piccolo
Flute I-II
Oboe I-II
English Horn
Bassoon I-II
Contrabassoon
B-flat Soprano Clarinet I-II-III
B-flat Bass Clarinet
B-flat Contrabass 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-III
Euphonium
Tuba
String Bass
Piano
Celeste
Timpani
Percussion I-II-III-IV

(percussion detail desired)

Errata

None discovered thus far.

Program Notes

Commissioned by the College Band Directors' Association, Songs Without Words includes five short movements, each a musical exploration of a specific mood (1. Manic, 2. Reflective, 3. Giddy, 4. Stunned , 5. Confident), as expressed by winds, brass, and percussion. The finale quotes themes from the previous movements, then, says Welcher, "ends in a bouyant cloud of optimism."

- Program Note from publisher

Dan Welcher writes,

Since the very nature of a piece entitled Songs Without Words would be destroyed by too many words about the piece, it seems best to let the movement titles speak for themselves. Mendelssohn's set of celebrated piano pieces in this genre establishes a precedent for short, mood-oriented works with simple titles attached... I began this composition imagining five moods that could be portrayed in wind, brass, and percussion colors – then expanded on the idea of linking the separate motives together in the fifth "song." The effect would be one of looking at separate elements of a personality, then looking at the whole person.

- Program Note from Teaching Music Through Performance in Band

Media

Audio CD: North Texas Wind Symphony (Eugene Migliaro Corporon, conductor) - 2002

State Ratings

None discovered thus far.

Performances

To submit a performance please join The Wind Repertory Project

CBDNA National Small College Intercollegiate Band (Denton, Tx.) (Allen McMurray, conductor , conductor) – 24 February 2001 (CBDNA 2001 National Conference, Denton, Tx.) *Premiere Performance*

Works for Winds by This Composer

Arches (1985)
Castle Creek (1989/2009)
Downshifting (2014)
For the Mystic Harmony (2017)
Glacier (2003)
Hauntings (1986)
Laboring Songs. See: Symphony No. 3, "Shaker Life"
Minstrels of the Kells (2002)
Perpetual Song (2008)
Songs Without Words (2001/2007)
Spumante (1998/1999)
Symphony No. 3, "Shaker Life" (1997)
- Laboring Songs
- Circular Marches (1997)
Symphony No. 4, "American Visionary" (2005)
Symphony No. 6, "Three Places in the East" (2017)
Upriver (2011)
The Yellowstone Fires (1998)
Zion (1994)

Resources

Miles, Richard B., and Larry Blocher. 2002. Teaching Music Through Performance in Band. Volume 4. Chicago: GIA Publications. pp. 555-565.
Welcher, D. (2007). Songs Without Words : Five Mood Pieces for Large Wind Ensemble [score]. Elkan-Vogel: King of Prussia, Penn.