To Tame the Perilous Skies

David Holsinger

General Info

Year: 1991
Duration: c. 13:45
Difficulty: VI (see Ratings for explanation)
Publisher: TRN Music Publisher
Cost: Score and Parts - $135.00 | Score Only - $12.00

Instrumentation

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

Bar Chimes
Bass Drum
Crash Cymbals
Glockenspiel (or Bells)
Marimba
Snare Drum
Suspended Cymbal
Tam Tam (or Gong)
Tambourine
Temple Blocks
Tom-Toms
Triangles (3: small, medium, large)
Tubular Bells (or Chimes)
Vibraphone
Wood Block
Xylophone

Errata

None discovered thus far.

Program Notes

To Tame the Perilous Skies was conceived as a programmatic work literally depicting two opposing forces colliding in battle. The elongated canonic introduction presents a six-pitch intervallic display that is used throughout the composition, both as an intact melodic statement and a fragmented germative device, to depict every extra musical element from serenity to air war to triumphal deliverance. A second melodic element, an imitative fanfare-like motif, first heard in the solo trumpet 120 seconds into the composition, serves repeatedly as counterpoint to all music generated from the opening interval display.

To Tame the Perilous Skies, commissioned by the 564th Tactical Air Command Band, Langley AFB, Virginia, received its premiere performance under the baton of Lt. Col. Lowell Graham in the fall of 1990. At the time of its premiere, United Nations forces were assembling in the Persian Gulf, and only a few months later the world watched as modern technological air power "tamed the perilous skies" over Iraq and Kuwait. In retrospect, this work is dedicated not only to the exceptional men and women of the Tactical Air Command, but to the spirit of the modern military aviator, taming perilous skies that all men might live free of oppression.

-Program Note from score

Media

Audio CD: USAF Heritage of America Band (Lowell Graham, conductor)
Audio CD: United States Air Force Band (Alan Bonner, conductor)

State Ratings

Alabama: Class AA
Georgia: VI
Indiana: ISSMA SENIOR BAND GROUP I
Louisiana: V
Mississippi: VI-A
North Carolina: VI
South Carolina: VI
Virginia: VI

Performances

To submit a performance please join The Wind Repertory Project

Georgia Music Educators Association All-State (Athens) 11/12 Symphonic Band II (Don Schofield, conductor) - 4 March 2023
Washburn University (Topeka, Kan.) Wind Ensemble (J. Thomas Seddon IV, conductor) - 19 November 2022
North Carolina State University (Raleigh) Wind Ensemble (Paul Garcia, conductor) - 21 April 2022
Franklin & Marshall College (Lancaster, Penn.) Symphonic Wind Ensemble (Brian Norcross, conductor) – 8 November 2019
Lee University (Cleveland, Tenn.) Wind Ensemble (David Holsinger, conductor) – 17 April 2018
USAF Band of the Golden West (Travis AFB, Calif.) - 18 October 2014 (at Cupertino, Calif.)
Jubal Varsseveld (van Henk - Jan Heijnen, conductor) - 10 November 2012

Works for Winds by This Composer

Abram’s Pursuit (1998)
Adagio (2000)
The Adventures of Kid Cam, the Rocketman! (2014)
American Faces (1996)
Ancient Dances (2020)
The Armies of the Omnipresent Otserf (1981)
Army Ants March and Boogie (2005)
At the Strongholds of En Gedi (1996)
Ballet Exaltare (1999)
Ballet Sacra (1990)
Battle Music (1990)
A Call to Celebration (2012)
Canticles! (2001)
The Case of the Mysterious Stranger (1990)
The Chase (2003)
A Childhood Hymn (as arranger) (1862/1991)
City Symphony
- Cityscape I (Festive Hours Neon Night) (2001)
- Cityscape II (Lonely Hours Anguished Night) (2004)
- Cityscape III (Morning Hours Salvation Light) (2008)
The Cluster Bluster Fluster March (1991)
Connacht Rhapsody (2017)
Consider the Uncommon Man (1992)
Deborah's Triumph/Jael's Revenge (2016)
Deerpath Dances (1996)
Divertimented Dances (2006)
The Easter Symphony (1986-1997)
Elegy on an American Folk Tune (2006)
Elegy on an Evening Hymn (2013)
Every Morning New (2002)
Falcon Attack! (2002)
Fanfare for Brass and Timpani (2003)
Fanfare for Such a Time as This (2007)
Fanfare for the Glorious Naycart (2001)
Fantasy on a Gaelic Hymnsong (1999)
Fantasy on Old Hundred (2019)
Festiva Jubiloso (2000)
Festival Music for a Silver Celebration
Fort Canterbury March (1989)
The Gathering of the Ranks at Hebron (1988)
Gears Pulleys Chains (2006)
Gmyway’s Revenge! (1994)
Graysondance (1993)
Gypsydance (1994)
Havendance (1985)
The Helm Toccata (1991)
Hero Music (2005)
Homage: Three Tapestries (1999)
Hopak Raskolniki (1980)
If You Must Doodle, Doodle Somewhere Else (1990)
In Praise of Gentle Pioneers (1996)
In the Spring at the Time When Kings Go Off to War (1991)
A Jolly Walk in Hibbertland (1991)
Kaylen Dreaming (2006)
Kansas City Dances (1978)
L'Arco della Vita (2021)
Lake Canterbury Regatta (1993)
Last Run (2020)
A Little Adventure Music (2002)
Little Fantasy on an American Hymn (2009)
A Little Mystery Music (1996)
Liturgical Dances (1984)
The Maelstrom (2009)
The March of the Combat Patrol (1991)
March of the Grand High Poobah (2006)
March on a Russian Hymnsong (2003)
Mobbusters! (1994)
Nilesdance (1987)
On a Childhood Sunday Song (2004)
On a Hymnsong of Lowell Mason (1990)
On a Hymnsong of Philip Bliss (1989)
On a Hymnsong of Robert Lowry (1993)
On a Southern Hymnsong (1993)
On an American Spiritual (1991)
On Ancient Hymns and Festal Dances (1988)
On the Cul-de-sac, Three O’clock, Friday Afternoon (1999)
On the Grand Prairie Texas (1989)
On the Overland Stage to El Paso (2006)
One Day in a Small Town (2004)
Otserf II : Revenge of the Warrior Prince (2009)
Partita Allegro (1997)
The Peasant Village Dance (1990)
Praises! (2001)
Prairie Dances (1998)
Prelude and Presto (2018)
Prelude and Rondo (1976)
The Pride of Buxmont (2000)
Providence Unfinished (2002)
Quiet River (2011)
Reagan of Illinois (2011)
Reagan of Illinois Part II (2013)
Riding With the Frontier Battalion (2000)
Scaling the North Wall (1990)
Scootin’ on Hardrock (1999)
Scrappy Bumptoe’s Picture Cards and Ragtag Diary (1981)
Sinfonia Voci (1993)
Solemn Hymn & Rowdy Dance (2010)
Soliloquy (2020)
Some Give All (2016)
A Song of Moses (1999)
Summer to Fall: A Love Song (2006)
Symphonia Glorioso (2006)
Symphonic Movement (2000)
Texas Promenade (1999
Til His Hand Grew Tired and Froze to the Sword (2004)
To Live a Life Triumphant (2007)
To Tame the Perilous Skies (1990)
Von Grrrhart’s 613th Regimental March (1994)
The War Trilogy: 1971 (1999)
The White Rose (as arranger) (1917/)
Zinphonia (2017)

Resources

David Holsinger website Accessed 29 August 2021
Holsinger, D. (1991). To Tame the Perilous Skies [score]. TRN Music: Ruidoso, N.M.
Smith, Norman E. (2002). Program Notes for Band. Chicago: GIA Publications, pp. 294.