Ford's Machine

From Wind Repertory Project
Jess Langston Turner

Jess Langston Turner


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General Info

Year: 2011
Duration: c. 10:00
Difficulty: IV (see Ratings for explanation)
Publisher: HaFaBra Music
Cost: Score and Parts (print) - €148.00   |   Score Only (print) - €30.00


Instrumentation

Full Score
Flute I-II
Oboe I-II
Bassoon I-II
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 I-II
Tuba
String Bass
Timpani
Percussion I-II-III-IV

(percussion detail desired)


Errata

None discovered thus far.


Program Notes

Ford’s Machine is a homage to one of America’s great innovators, Henry Ford. Ford’s assembly line method of manufacturing revolutionized American industry, helping the USA become an economic powerhouse. Throughout the piece, there are nods to American composers such as Aaron Copland, William Schuman, and John Adams.

- Program Note from publisher


Henry Ford represents all of the best qualities of the American spirit. His innovative and entrepreneurial approach to industry led him to develop the assembly line method of manufacturing, which in turn helped the U.S.A. to develop into the economic powerhouse that it is today. Of course, Henry Ford is most commonly associated with the automobile that bears his name, and while he didn't invent the automobile, he did help to make the automobile available to the average American, thereby mobilizing an entire nation.

Ford's Machine is a celebration of the best qualities of the American spirit as exemplified by Henry Ford. The piece begins with a fanfare which is based on Ford's name (F-dO-Re-D). The F-O-R-D motive is to appear many times throughout the piece in differing guises. After the opening fanfare, there begins a musical description of a large factory. The music here grinds, clangs and thuds along, driven by the relentless pounding of the percussion. The factory finally grinds to a halt, and a celebration of the golden age of the American automobile begins. Overt allusions to the 12-bar blues form, swing rhythms, and the sound of car horns combine into a joyous celebration of Ford's America. Eventually, the industrial factory sounds take over again, building into a climax before the F-O-R-D fanfare motive appears again as a chorale in the brass, bringing Ford's Machine full circle to a triumphant close.

- Program Note from score


Media


State Ratings

None discovered thus far.


Performances

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Works for Winds by This Composer


Resources