|
Please DONATE to help with maintenance and upkeep of the Wind Repertory Project!
|
Techno Blade
Subtitle: For concert band and electronic audio track
General Info
Year: 2018
Duration: c. 3:00
Difficulty: II (see Ratings for explanation)
Publisher: Benjamin Taylor Music
Cost: Score and Parts (print) - $85.00; (digital) - $65.00 | Score Only (print) - $20.00
Instrumentation
Full Score
Flute I-II
Oboe (optional)
Bassoon (optional)
B-flat Soprano Clarinet I-II
B-flat Bass Clarinet
E-flat Alto Saxophone I-II
B-flat Tenor Saxophone
E-flat Baritone Saxophone
B-flat Trumpet I-II
Horn in F (optional)
Trombone
Euphonium
Tuba
Timpani
Percussion (4 players), including:
- Bass Drum
- China Cymbals
- Crash Cymbals
- Glockenspiel (optional)
- Marimba (optional)
- Snare Drum
- Splash Cymbal
- Tambourine
- Tom-Tom, low
- Triangle
- Wind Chimes
- Xylophone
Electronic audio track
Players hit metal stands with pencils
Errata
None discovered thus far.
Program Notes
A recent hobby I have taken up is knife throwing. I was pleasantly surprised to find that throwing knives make some really intriguing sounds as they spin through the air and thud into the target, or glance off the target in the case of a miss! The sounds are percussive, yet unusual, almost otherworldly, as if they might be borrowed from an alien drum machine. When you combine this with the fact that Jim Mobley, the head commissioner, is a percussionist, located right outside Detroit, which is the birthplace of techno music, it was clear to me that this piece should be inspired by electronic dance music (EDM) while incorporating sounds from my recordings of throwing knives.
At several moments in this work, all the band members are asked to be percussionists by playing on the metal around them, namely their music stand. (Sorry, I couldn’t get permission to have the performers play throwing knives on stage!) Sounds in the electronic track come from me both making and throwing my own set of knives. I recorded and processed the sounds of cutting, grinding, and sanding the steel and then, of course, the sounds of “playing” with the finished knives. The melodies and harmonies found throughout the piece are all derived from words and numbers associated with knife throwing.
I would like to thank the students from Brownstown Middle School Band who came up with the perfect title for this piece, Techno Blade.
- Program Note by composer
Commissioned by James Mobley and the Brownstown Middle School Band, and N-BEAM consortium members.
- Program Note from score
Media
State Ratings
None discovered thus far.
Performances
To submit a performance please join The Wind Repertory Project
- Prairie Ridge High School (Crystal Lake, Ill.) Symphonic Band (Marykate Kuhne, conductor) - 10 May 2022
- Mukwonago (Wisc.) High School Concert Band (Emma Angoli, conductor) – 19 May 2021
- Saugus High School (Santa Clarita, Calif.) Concert Band (Corey Whitt, conductor)– 10 May 2019
- Crosby (Tex.) High School Symphonic Band (Michael Lehew, conductor) - 20 December 2018 (2018 Midwest Clinic)
- SAES Wildcat Bands – 15 May 2018 *Premiere Performance*
Works for Winds by This Composer
Adaptable Music
- Earth Resonance (Flex instrumentation) (2019)
- Electric Breakdance (Flex instrumentation) (2020)
- Intermountain Underground (Flex instrumentation) (2020)
- Legos Emit Gnarly Overtones (Flex instrumentation) (2020)
- Pandemic Pandemonium (Flex instrumentation) (2020)
- Snitchin' in the Kitchen (Flex instrumentation) (2020)
- Techno Blade (Flex instrumentation) (2018/2020)
All Wind Works
- And May We Always Cherish (2020)
- Cold Lights (2015)
- Earth Resonance (Flex instrumentation) (2019)
- Electric Breakdance (Flex instrumentation) (2020)
- Epic Bacon Funk (2015)
- Flicker in Time, A (2014)
- Hope Within, The (2016)
- Intermountain Underground (Flex instrumentation) (2020)
- Into the Mist (2013)
- Leaving White (2012)
- Legos Emit Gnarly Overtones (Flex instrumentation) (2020)
- Motorcycle Time (2015)
- Scooter Time (2015)
- Seeds of Glass (2016)
- Shattering Infinity (2014)
- Snitchin' in the Kitchen (Flex instrumentation) (2020)
- Techno Blade (2018)
- Techno Blade (Flex instrumentation) (2018/2020)
- Trailing Clouds of Glory (2013)
- Whiz-Bang (2011)
Resources
- Benjamin Dean Taylor website Accessed 11 December 2020
- Perusal score