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Turkey in the Straw
General Info
Year: 2008
Duration: c. 4:15
Difficulty: IV (see Ratings for explanation)
Publisher: No longer available
This composition has been withdrawn by the publisher due to the tune's potentially offensive origin and associations with racism, slavery, and black-face minstrelsy.
Instrumentation
Full Score
C Piccolo
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-III
Euphonium
Tuba
Timpani
Percussion I-II-III-IV, including:
- Bass Drum
- Snare Drum
- Crash Cymbals
- Chimes
- Cowbell
- Glockenspiel
- Slapstick
- Slide Whistle
- Splash Cymbal
- Suspended Cymbal
- Tam-Tam
- Tambourine
- Triangle
- Vibraphone
- Wood Block
- Xylophone
Errata
None discovered thus far.
Program Notes
We all know the melody, even if not by name. But for me, Turkey in the Straw is nostalgic, beckoning back to a childhood where grandma and grandpa would sit me in front of their TV with a bowl of orange Jell-O (in a small room papered wall-to-wall with decorative clowns), to watch old-time cartoons on VHS. From its early days in vaudeville to its silver-screen premiere in Disney's cartoon Steamboat Willie (1928), the tune has become a staple of Americana (and my favorite cartoons).
Most arrangements stay true to the song's Southern roots. But for a contemporary ensemble such as the concert band, I wanted my arrangement to be somewhat Ivesian, and, as colleagues have described it, closer to Quirky in the Straw. Above all, I wanted this piece to resemble classic cartoon scoring. Rather than simply arranging the brief melody in a handful of contrasting styles (as is typical of theme-and-variations), the form instead takes on an almost storytelling narrative or three-act structure.
Each successive treatment of the melody increases in orchestration and contrapuntal complexity, starting with the simplest orchestration within the first 35 measures. The melody quickly modulates, twists and turns, loses itself and finds itself in musical vignettes (already in development by measure 36). Each new scene seems to bring its own musical plot, orchestrational characterization, and many a custard pie in the face.
- Program Note by composer
In 2020, this work was withdrawn from the publisher's catalog because of its historically racist lyrics and its association with minstrel shows in the 19th century.
Media
- Audio: Douglas Anderson School of the Arts Wind Symphony (Shawn L. Barat, conductor)
- Audio CD: Douglas Anderson School of the Arts Wind Symphony (Shawn L. Barat, conductor) - 2011
State Ratings
None discovered thus far.
Performances
To submit a performance please join The Wind Repertory Project
- Washington University at St. Louis (Mo.) Wind Ensemble (Chris Becker, conductor) - 20 April 2023
- Sacramento (Calif.) Symphonic Winds (Tim Smith, conductor) – 5 May 2019
- Gold Coast Wind Ensemble (Thousand Oaks, Calif.) (Michael Doty, conductor) – 22 October 2017
- Penn Central Wind Band (Bucknell University) (William Kenny, conductor) – 25 July 2015
- Great Street Community Band (Brooklyn) (Jeff W. Ball, conductor) - 8 December 2013
- Williamsburg Concert Band (Brian Worsdale, conductor) - 26 September 2013
- Sacramento Symphonic Winds (Lester E. Lehr, conductor) - 6 April 2013 (ACB’s 35th Annual Convention (San Ramon, Calif.))
- SKH Lam Woo Memorial Secondary School Symphonic Band (CHIU Kai Keung, conductor) - 2012
- Douglas Anderson School of the Arts (Jacksonville, Fla.) Wind Symphony (Shawn L. Barat, conductor) – 14 December 2011 (2011 Midwest Clinic)
- California State University, Long Beach, Symphonic Band (Joan deAlbuquerque, conductor) – 13 March 2010 (CBDNA 2010 Western/Northwestern Division Conference (Reno, Nev.)
Works for Winds by This Composer
Adaptable Music
- Drawing Mars (Flex instrumentation) (2019/2021)
- Finding the Words: ii. Undefined (Flex instrumentation) (2019/2020)
All Wind Works
- As Midnight on a Moonless Night (2011)
- Blue Ambience (2003)
- Brooklyn Air (2016)
- Camerado (2013)
- The Cave You Fear (2014)
- City Trees (2012)
- Desert Sage (2022)
- Drawing Mars (2019)
- Drawing Mars (Flex instrumentation) (2019/2021)
- Dreamland (2011)
- Elixir (2012)
- Embers (2015)
- Famishius Fantasticus (2012)
- Finding the Words
- Finding the Words: ii. Undefined (Flex instrumentation) (2019/2020)
- Forever Summer (2016)
- Instinctive Travels (2009)
- JoyRiDE (2005/2014)
- Machiavelli's Conscience (2017)
- Monk by the Sea (2015)
- Reckoning (2017)
- Remember the Molecules (2013)
- Saturn Returns (2014)
- Shadow Rituals (2006)
- Shine (2010)
- Street Flair (2022)
- Summoning Graces (2019)
- Sunny-Side Up (2018)
- Tidal Forces (2010)
- The Tonic of Wildness (2017)
- Turkey in the Straw (2008)
- Unfamiliar Territory (2013)
- Walden (2011)
- You Are Cordially Invited (2016)
Resources
- Michael Markowski, personal correspondence, August 2020
- Michael Markowski website
- Perusal score