Flight of the Piasa

Robert Sheldon

General Info

Year: 2008
Duration: c. 5:10
Difficulty: IV (see Ratings for explanation)
Publisher: Alfred Music Publishing
Cost: Score and Parts - $75.00 | Score Only - $10.00

Instrumentation

Full Score
C Piccolo
Flute I-II
Oboe
Bassoon
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
Trombone I-II-III
Euphonium
Tuba
Timpani
Percussion I-II, including:

Bass Drum
Snare Drum
Crash Cymbals
Suspended Cymbal
Tambourine
Triangle
Wind Chimes

Errata

None discovered thus far.

Program Notes

Commissioned by the Alton High School Band, Alton, Illinois, David W. Drillinger, director.

- Program Note from score

Flight of the Piasa was written to depict the majesty of the legendary Piasa, an enormous winged creature, and the bravery of the Illini tribe who triumphed over its reign of terror. The discovery of the Piasa dates to 1673, when the cliff drawing painted high on the bluffs was first seen by Marquette during his famous journey down the Mississippi River.

- Program Note from publisher

The Piasa or Piasa Bird is a Native American dragon depicted in one of two murals painted by Native Americans on bluffs (cliffsides) above the Mississippi River. The name Piasa may also have been derived from the Native American Miami Illinois word páyiihsa (cf. Anishinaabe: apa'iins(ag), "little people(s)"). This was their name for small, supernatural dwarves said to attack travelers. Local claims that the word "Piasa" meant "the bird that devours men" or "bird of the evil spirit" are not accurate nor based in the Illinois language.

- Program Note from Wikipedia

Media

Audio: Reference recording. Ensemble and conductor unknown
Audio CD: Osaka Municipal Symphonic Band (Gyochi Yoshida, conductor) – 2009
Audio CD: Penn High School Symphonic Band (William Leather, conductor) - 2008

State Ratings

None discovered thus far.

Performances

To submit a performance please join The Wind Repertory Project

Brecksville-Broadview Heights High School Concert Winds (Brecksville, Ohio) (Tricia Asley, conductor) – 25 January 2020 (Severance Hall, Cleveland)
Casco Bay Wind Symphony (Portland, Me.) (Peter Martin, conductor) – 8 June 2019
College of the Sequoias (Visalia, Calif.) Concert Band (Michael Tackett, conductor) -15 March 2019 (2019 Sutherland Wind Festival (Fresno, Calif.)
Cheshire (Conn.) High School Symphonic Band (John L. Kuhner, conductor) – 18 December 2018
University of California, Santa Barbara, Wind Ensemble (Cynthia Vong, conductor) – 30 November 2017
Coastal Communities Concert Band (San Diego, Calif.) (Tom Cole, conductor) – 30 April 2017
Williamsburg (Va.) Concert Band (Brian Worsdale, conductor) – 26 September 2013
Penn High School (Mishawaka, Ind.) Symphonic Band (William Leather, conductor) – 17 December 2008 (2008 Midwest Clinic)

Works for Winds by This Composer

Adaptable Music

Pevensey Castle (Flex instrumentation) (1993/2012)
West Highlands Sojourn (Flex instrumentation) (1993/2014)

All Wind Works

African Adventure (2011)
An American Hymntune (as arranger) (2004)
Appalachian Legacy (1995)
Appalachian Morning (2008)
Armenian Anthem (2003)
Art in the Park (2008)
As Twilight Falls (2011)
As a Wind from the North (2006)
An Australian Sea Ballad (2007)
An Austrian Carol (2012)
Awakened Like the Morn (2005)
Barrier Reef (2002)
A Bayside Portrait (1984)
Bellefonte Overture (2006)
Bermuda Triangle, The (2006)
Beyond the Higher Skies (1999)
Beyond the Riverbend (2013)
Big Brass on Patrol (2004)
Big Sky Round-Up (2011)
Black Is the Color... (2009)
Blaze of Glory (2003)
Blessed Legacy (as arranger) (2019)
The Blue Ridge (as arranger) (2017)
Bounty Hunter from "Advent Rising" (2005/2006)
Bright Auroral Skies
Bright Lights! (2015)
Bristol Bay Legend (1988)
Brule River Celebration (2002)
By the River's Edge (2020)
Canadian Ballad (as arranger) (2010)
Cape Fear Chronicles (1997)
A Carol Francais (as arranger) (2016)
A Carol of Two Mangers (as arranger) (2005)
Cataclysm (2018)
Celebration and Song (2009)
Cellular Symphony (2005)
The Celts of County Clare (2021)
Century Point (1998)
Chanteys (2000)
Charleston Harbor Celebration (2007)
Chiaroscuro (2002)
A Child's Lullaby (2017)
Children of Gaia (2015)
Chimney Rock Celebration (2017)
Choreography (2009)
A Christmas Couplet (as arranger) (2004)
Christmastimes Three (as arranger) (2002)
Cimarron Fanfare (2016)
Coldwater Creek (1996)
Commemoration Overture (2013)
The Common Denominator (2013)
Commonwealth (2021)
Construction Zone (2010)
Continental Divide (2010)
Conundrum (2008)
The Corsair's Landing (1991)
Crazy for Cartoons (2011)
Crest of Nobility (1989)
Crossing the Rubicon (2020)
The Crossings (1999)
Dances of a Shimmering Spirit (2020)
Dances of Serenity (2017)
Danse Celestiale (1989)
Danzas Cubanas (2010)
Daydreams (2013)
Der Lehrmeister (2017)
Divertimento (1976)
Dorian Dreamscape (2004)
Eagle Mountain Overture (1990)
Edifice (2014)
El Rey de Fransia (as arranger) (2003)
El Taco Picante (2017)
Falcon Lake Overture (2004)
Fall River Overture (1981)
Fanfare and Festival (2020)
Fanfare and Intermezzo (1998)
Fantasy on an Early American Marching Tune (2008)
The Final Voyage (2003)
The Fires of Bandai (2014)
Flight of the Piasa (2008)
Flowing Stream (2018)
Four Winds (1993)
From Glen to Glen (2022)
Garden of the Black Rose (2001)
Gently Touch the Sky (2001)
Gently, I Wander (2017)
Ghost Fleet (2001)
Glorious Insurrection (2020)
Golden Panther March (2005/2021)
Halo Theme (as arranger) (2001/2006)
Harbinger (2015)
Hawkeye Overture (2017/2019)
Hill Country Holiday (2001)
Holiday Bobsled Run (2013)
Holiday Sleigh Ride (2003)
Holiday Snippets (as arranger) (2009)
Holidays on Parade (as arranger) (2008)
Hues of Blue (2015)
Iberian Escapades (2009)
Images (1994)
In the Center Ring (2003)
In the Shining of the Stars (1996)
In This Quiet Place (2003)
Incandescent Sky (2019)
Infinite Horizons (2001)
Integrity (2007)
Intrada for Winds (1983)
Intrepid Journey (2015)
An Irish Air (2006)
Irish Ballade, An (2003)
Jolly Rockin' Nicholas (as arranger) (2015)
A Joyful Journey (2002)
Korobochka (2003)
Lake County Landscapes (2015)
A Lantern in the Window (1998)
Legend of Starved Rock (1996)
Let Evening Come (2000)
Lindbergh Variations (1991)
Lion's Gate (2019)
Lone Eagle (2020)
A Longford Legend (1999)
The Lords of Greenwich (2010)
Lost Colony (1994)
Lost in Mammoth Cave (2006)
Lydian Lullaby (2006)
Manatee Lyric Overture (1986)
Maqamat (1974/2005/2021)
March Ceremonial (2005)
March Mixolydian (2005)
March of the Hyperion Guards (2014)
March of the Majestics (2004)
Mark of Triumph (1985)
Melody Park (2014)
The Message on the Rock (2004)
Metrix (2011)
Metroplex (2006)
Mills on the Merrimack (2015)
The Monster Under the Bed (2005)
Moon Rocks (2016)
Moravian Folk Rhapsody (2004/2008)
Morning Mist (2012)
A Most Wonderful Christmas (as arranger) (1934/2006)
The Mystery of Duffy's Cut (2007)
Mystic Journey (2004)
Noel Francais (2003)
Northwest Rising (1999)
Ocean Ridge Rhapsody (1989)
Ode to Joy (as arranger) (2013)
Of Distant Peaks (2012)
Of Kindred Spirit (1997)
On Placid Seas (2015)
Once the Man (2005)
One Thousand Cranes (2010)
Open Road (2013)
Oracles of the Sirocco (2018)
Overdrive (2015)
Overture to a New Horizon (2014)
Palimpsest (2003)
Paragon (2005)
Patriotic Salute (2003)
Patriotic Snippets (2008)
Pevensey Castle (1993)
Pevensey Castle (Flex instrumentation) (1993/2012)
The Phantom of Dark Hollow (2006)
Phrygian Phantasy (2003)
Piedmont Festival Overture (2016)
The Pilgrimage (2011)
The Pioneer's Passage (2000)
The Pioneers (2010)
Pop Culture (as arranger) (2007)
Power the Earth (2019)
Praeludium and Dance (2008)
A Prairie Portrait (2006)
Prairiescape (1996)
Prelude on an Old English Hymn (2000)
Presto! (2014)
Prevail! (2018)
Pride of the Grenadiers (2005)
Pursuit of the Centaur (2016)
Quest of the Knights Templar (2011)
Quixotic Episode (2002)
The Red Covered Bridge (2014)
Red Rock Canyon (1994)
Reflections on a New Tomorrow (2012)
Renaissance Fair (2017)
Requiem to a Land Forgotten (2007)
Resurgences (2013)
Rhapsodic Celebration (2011)
Ritmico! (2001)
River Trail Expedition (2011)
River of Grass (2020)
Riverside Overture (2019)
Rock Island Trail (2002)
Rock That Bach! (as arranger) (2012)
Rock This Band! (2019)
Royal March (2012)
Sag Harbor Sunset (2011)
Sandcastle Sketches (1987)
Savannah River Rhapsody (2012)
A Scandinavian Folk Tale (2003)
A Scottish Ballade (2004)
Serenade (2015)
Shadows of the Equinox (2012)
Shenandoah (as arranger) (2003)
Shenanigans (2009)
Sugar Creek Overture (2007)
The Siege of Harlech Castle 2012)
Silver Spring Soliloquy (1992)
A Simple Celebration (2001)
Sixty-Six (2023)
Skydance (2018)
Snow Globe (2010)
Sonatina (2016)
A Song of Hanukkah (as arranger) (2017)
Sound Innovations Fanfare (2010)
South Shore Soliloquy (2019)
Southampton March (2017)
Southwest Saga (1987)
Spirit Lake Overture (1991)
The Spirit of Killian Hill (2007)
The Spirit of Thanksgiving (as arranger) (2014)
Spontaneous Combustion (2011)
Spoon River (as arranger) (1991)
Star Bright (2018)
Stately Dances (2015)
Storm Warning! (2014)
The Stormchasers (2012)
Storybrook Mountain (1998)
Sugar Creek Overture (2007)
The Swords of Stavanger (2009)
A Symphonic Celebration (2019)
A Symphonic Narrative (1992)
Symphonic Suite from "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire" (as arranger) (2005)
Synergies (2008)
Tales of Dundee (2005)
Tango Argentina (2016)
There Will Come Soft Rains (2007)
Three Carols for a Celebration (as arranger) (2007)
Three Georgian Vignettes (2008)
Three Miniatures for Winds and Percussion (2005)
Tidings! (as arranger) (Traditional/2022)
Timberline Overture (2003)
Tirade
To Conquer the Skies (2004)
To a Wild Rose (as arranger) (2014)
Travelin' Music (as arranger) (2016)
Triumph of the Argonauts (2014)
A Ukrainian Christmas (as arranger) (2017)
Uptown Strut (2013)
Variants on a Sea Shanty (as arranger) (2014)
Variants on a Union Hymn (2005)
Velocity (2009)
Visions of Flight (1990)
Voices from the Battlefield (1995)
Walking Tune (as arranger) (2020)
Wallaby Walkabout (2003)
Welsh Ayres and Dances (as arranger) (2003)
West Highlands Sojourn (1993)
West Highlands Sojourn (Flex instrumentation) (1993/2014)
Willow Grove (1992)
Winds of Morocco (2001)
Windward Overture (2016)
With Every Sunrise (2016)
A Woodland Celebration (2021)
A Yiddish Lullaby (as arranger) (2012)

Resources

Robert Sheldon website Accessed 3 September 2021
Sheldon, R. (2008). Flight of the Piasa [score]. [s.l.]: Alfred Publishing.
Piasa, Wikipedia