Tears

David Maslanka

General Info

Year: 1994
Duration: 13:25
Difficulty: VI (see Ratings for explanation)
Publisher: Carl Fischer
Cost: Score & Parts - Rental | Score Only - $25.00

Instrumentation

Full Score
Piccolo
Flute I-II
Oboe I-II
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
B-flat Trumpet I-II-III
Horn in F I-II-III-IV
Trombone I-II
Bass Trombone
Euphonium
Tuba
String Bass (optional)
Piano (optional)
Celesta
Timpani
Percussion I-II-III-IV, including:

Bass Drum
Crash Cymbals
Glockenspiel
Gongs (4) (small to medium)
Marimba
Suspended Cymbal
Tam-Tam
Temple Blocks
Tenor Drum
Triangle (small)
Tubular Bells
Vibraphone
Xylophone

Errata

Percussion II (Vibraphone), m.48, beat 3: Quarter note should be rolled.
Percussion II (Vibraphone), m.49, beat 1–2: Half note should be rolled.

Program Notes

The title Tears comes from my reading of the novel Monnew by the African writer Ahmadou Kourouma. His story tells of the dissolution of a traditional African culture as Europeans overran it. The native people were made to endure the "monnew" -- the insults, outrages, trials, contempts, and humiliations –- of colonialism. A chapter heading in Kourouma's book reads, "Our tears will not be abundant enough to make a river, nor our cries of pain sharp enough to extinguish fires." This is the external motivation for the piece, but I don't know anyone in Africa directly. I have come to understand that fascination with something in the external world means that a thing deep inside has been touched. So the piece is about something in me. Over the years my music has acted as predictor for me. It gives me advance nonverbal messages about things I don't understand yet –- movements of my unconscious that are working their way toward the light.

Tears finally is about inner transformation, and about groping toward the voice of praise. As St. Francis and St. Ignatius have it, the proper function of the human race is to sing praise. Tears is about inner breaking, and coming to terms with the pain that hinders the voice of praise; Tears is about the movement toward the heart of love.

My dear friend Richard Beale has captured these thoughts in a brief and powerful poem:

Unless tears come to wash my eyes
I will not see again.
Unless I lift my arms in gratitude for pain
They will lack the strength to harvest daffodils.

from Silence and the Gift by Richard Beale, St. Andrew's Press, Big Island, Virginia.

- Program Note by composer

Media

State Ratings

None discovered thus far.

Performances

To submit a performance please join The Wind Repertory Project

Western University (London, Ont., Can.) Wind Ensemble (Colleen Richardson, conductor) - 31 March 2023
San Francisco Wind Symphony (Martin H. Seggelke, conductor) – 28 September 2019
Lawrence University (Appleton, Wisc.) Symphonic Band (Matthew Arau, conductor) – 2 March 2019
The Hartt Wind Ensemble (West Hartford, Conn.) (James Jackson, conductor) – 2 November 2018
Central Michigan University (Mount Pleasant) Symphonic Wind Ensemble (John E. Williamson, conductor) – 17 October 2017
University of Colorado Boulder Symphonic Band (Michael Roeder, conductor) - 9 February 2017
Bethel College (North Newton, Kansas) Wind Ensemble (Chris David Westover, conductor) – 23 November 2015
California Polytechnic State University All-State Festival Wind Orchestra (William V. Johnson, conductor) - 21 April 2013
University of California, Los Angeles, (UCLA) Wind Ensemble (Lawrence R. Sutherland, conductor) - 7 November 2012
Florida International University Wind Ensemble (Catherine Rand, Conductor) - 26 February 2011
Idaho State University (Pocatello) Wind Ensemble (Patrick Brooks, conductor) – 11 March 2010 (CBDNA 2010 Western/Northwestern Division Conference, Reno, Nev.)
Pennsylvania All-State Concert Band (Eric Hinton) - 2009
The Eastman Wind Ensemble (Rochester N.Y.) (Mark Davis Scatterday, conductor) – 26 February 2005 (CBDNA 2005 National Conference, New York, N.Y.)

Works for Winds by This Composer

Alex and the Phantom Band (2002/2015)
Angel of Mercy (2015)
California (2016)
A Child's Garden of Dreams (1981)
Concerto for Alto Saxophone and Wind Ensemble (1999)
Concerto for Marimba and Band (1990)
Concerto for Clarinet and Wind Ensemble (2015)
Concerto for Piano, Winds, and Percussion (1979)
Concerto for Saxophone Quartet and Wind Ensemble (2012)
Concerto No 2 for Piano, Winds, and Percussion (2002)
Concerto No 3 for Piano and Wind Ensemble (2016)
Concerto for Trombone and Wind Ensemble (2007)
Crown of Thorns (1991)
Desert Roads (2005)
Fanfare-Variations on the Chorale Melody "Durch Adams Fall" (Through Adam's Fall). See: Recitation Book
First Light (2016)
Four Pieces for Band (1980)
Give Us This Day (2005)
Golden Light (1990)
Heart Songs (2001)
Hell's Gate (1997)
Hohner (1999)
Hosannas (2015)
Husa (2016)
Hymn for World Peace (2014)
Illumination (2013)
In Memoriam (1990)
Laudamus Te (1995)
Letter to Martin (2015)
Liberation (2012)
Little Concerto (1990)
Mass (1995/2005)
Montana Music: Chorale Variations (1993)
Morning Star (1997)
Mother Earth (2008)
Mountain Roads (1997)
On This Bright Morning (2013)
Peace (2012)
Prelude on a Gregorian Tune (1981)
Procession of the Academics (2008)
Quintet for Winds Number 2
Recitation Book (2006)
- Fanfare-Variations on the Chorale Melody "Durch Adams Fall" (Through Adam's Fall) (2006)
Remember Me (2013)
Requiem (2013)
Rollo Takes a Walk (1980)
Saint Francis (2015)
Sea Dreams (1998)
The Seeker (2016)
Song at the End of Time
Songs for the Coming Day (2012)
Song Book (2001)
Symphony No. 2 (1987)
Symphony No. 3 (1991/2007)
Symphony No. 4 (1993)
Symphony No. 5 (2000)
Symphony No. 6 (2004)
Symphony No 7 (2004)
Symphony No 8 (2008)
Symphony No. 9 (2011)
Symphony No. 10 (2018)
Tears (1994)
Testament (2001)
Traveler (2003)
A Tuning Piece: Songs of Fall and Winter (1995)
ufo dreams (1999)
Unending Stream of Life (2007)
Variants on a Hymn Tune (1995)

Resources

David Maslanka website
Maslanka, D. (1994). Tears: For Symphonic Band or Wind Ensemble [score]. Carl Fischer: New York, N.Y.