Butterfly Chaser, The

BJ Brooks

General Info

Year: 2016
Duration: c. 6:10
Difficulty: (see Ratings for explanation)
Publisher: Octatone
Cost: Score and Parts (print) - Free

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 Contra Alto Clarinet
B-flat Soprano Saxophone
E-flat Alto Saxophone
B-flat Tenor Saxophone
E-flat Baritone Saxophone
Horn in F I-II-III-IV
B-flat Trumpet I-II-III
Trombone I-II
Bass Trombone
Euphonium
Tuba
String Bass
Piano
Timpani
Percussion I-II-III, including:

• Antique Cymbal
• Bass Drum
• Cabasa
• Chimes
• China Cymbal
• Crotales
• Guiro
• Marc Tree
• Marimba
• Orchestral Bells
• Sand Paper Blocks
• Suspended Cymbal
• Tam Tam
• Tambourine
• Triangle
• Vibraphone
• Wax Paper
• Wood Blocks

Triggered prerecorded sounds

Errata

None discovered thus far.

Program Notes

Butterflies are remarkably light and quiet insects. During my research for this piece, whose title was suggested by the work’s commissioners, Don and Lee Ann Lefevre, I made contact with Mirian M. Hay-Roe, Ph.D., a volunteer with the USDA in insect behavior and biocontrol research. She led me to her research recordings of butterflies that was cited in her paper “Wing-Click Sounds of Heliconius cydno alithea (Nymphalidae: Heliconiinae) Butterflies” co-authored by Richard W. Mankin. The sounds on those recordings have been incorporated in The Butterfly Chaser along with a recording of the Lefevre’s son, Braden.

Don Lefevre had approached me first in 2010 to write a work called The Butterfly Chaser for his young son, who, when playing catch with his father, would be drawn to the flitter of butterflies rather than the task at hand. The sounds and design of the piece all evoke the lightness of butterflies as well as their symmetrical design while incorporating the acoustic nature of Braden’s saxophone recording.

The piece was commissioned to be premiered by the West Texas A&M University Symphonic Band at the 2017 CBDNA convention in Kansas City, Missouri.

- Program Note by composer

Media

(Needed - please join the WRP if you can help.)

State Ratings

None discovered thus far.

Performances

To submit a performance please join The Wind Repertory Project

West Texas A&M University (Canyon) Symphonic Band (Don LeFevre, conductor) – 15 March 2017 (CBDNA 2017 National Conference, Kansas City, Mo.) *Premiere Performance*

Works for Winds by This Composer

Resources

BJ Brooks, personal correspondence, March 2017