Circular Marches

Dan Welcher

This work is the second movement of the composer's Symphony No. 3, 'Shaker Life'."

General Info

Year: 1997 / 2006
Duration: c. 8:30
Difficulty: (see Ratings for explanation)
Publisher: Theodore Presser
Cost: Score and Parts - Rental | Score Only - $45.00

Instrumentation

Full Score
C Piccolo
Flute I-II-III-IV-V
Oboe I-II-III
English Horn
Bassoon I-II-III
Contrabassoon
E-flat Soprano Clarinet
B-flat Soprano Clarinet I-II-III-IV-V
B-flat Bass Clarinet
B-flat Soprano Saxophone
E-flat Alto Saxophone
B-flat Tenor Saxophone
E-flat Baritone Saxophone
B-flat Trumpet I-II-III-IV
Horn in F I-II-III-IV
Trombone I-II-III-IV
Euphonium
Tuba
String Bass
Piano
Timpani
Percussion I-II-III-IV-V, including:

Bass Drum
Bass Drum with Attached Cymbal
Bongos
Castanets
Chimes
Crash Cymbals
Marimba
Orchestra Bells
Roto-Tom (optional)
Sizzle Cymbal
Snare Drum (2)
Suspended Cymbal (4)
Tam-Tam (with bow)
Tambourine
Temple Blocks
Tenor Drum
Tom Toms (4)
Triangle
Vibraphone
Wood Blocks (3)
Xylophone

Errata

Timpani. m.83: Add bass clef to cancel the treble clef used for the cued notes.
Timpani. m.83: Change the treble clef on the following four staves to a bass clef.
Percussion II. m.75: Add treble clef sign for the marimba part at m. 81.

Program Notes

For his 1997 composition Circular Marches, composer Dan Welcher has drawn on the lore of the Shakers, an extinct religious sect that flourished in America from the 18th to the early 20th century. Formally called the United Society of Believers in Christ’s Second Appearing, the Shakers stemmed from a radical branch of English Quakers, who performed ritual practices of shaking, shouting, dancing, whirling, and singing in tongues. The Shaker doctrine espoused a lifestyle devoted to productive labor and perfection, and its influence is still felt today in American folk art, music and architecture.

About Circular Marches, Dan Welcher writes, Circular Marches is a companion piece to my Laboring Songs, written earlier in the same year. Like Laboring Songs, Circular Marches is named for a certain kind of worship that was practiced by the Shakers. A circular march was a kind of elaborately choreographed patterned march, almost like a square dance, or even a halftime show in contemporary secular usage. The vocal band would stay in place, singing a certain kind of marching song, while other worshipers executed wheels-within-wheels, counter-marches, and other elaborate patterns, often so detailed and difficult that outsiders were amazed at the memory required. (The “marching” was more often akin to dancing, but since the Shakers did not allow the latter kind of activity, they referred to it as marching.)

The first music that is heard is the “Shaker Shout,” a kind of call to worship. Some of the music is the quoted Shaker melody, The Sealed Promise, Come Contentment, Lovely Guest. The work concludes with antiphonal Shaker Shouts with a spirit of unbounded joy.

- Program Note from Heritage Encyclopedia of Band Music

Media

Audio CD: United States Air Force Band (Lowell E. Graham, conductor) - 2008

State Ratings

None discovered thus far.

Performances

To submit a performance please join The Wind Repertory Project

University of Texas (Austin) Wind Symphony (Scott Hanna, conductor) – 6 April 2016
University of Calgary (Alb., Can.) Wind Ensemble (Glenn Price, conductor) – 23 February 2001 (CBDNA 2001 National Conference, Denton, Tx.)

Works for Winds by This Composer

Arches (1985)
Castle Creek (1989/2009)
Circular Marches. See: Symphony No. 3, "Shaker Life"
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

Dan Welcher website
Heritage Encyclopedia of Band Music. "Dan Welcher." Accessed 20 August 2022.
Welcher, D. (2006). Circular Marches : For Large Wind Ensemble : Movement II from Symphony No. 3 "Shaker life" [score]. Elkan-Vogel: King of Prussia, Penn.