Unspoken
General Info
Year: 2020
Duration: c. 5:30
Difficulty: II (see Ratings for explanation)
Publisher: Murphy Music Press
Cost: Score and Parts (print) - $200.00 | Score Only (print) - $25.00
Instrumentation
Full Score
Flute I-II
Oboe
Bassoon
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
Trombone I-II
Euphonium
Tuba
String Bass (optional)
Piano
Timpani
Percussion I-II-III-IV-V, including:
- Bass Drum
- Chimes
- Crash Cymbals
- Glockenspiel
- Marimba
- Snare Drum
- Tam-tam
- Tom-tom
- Triangle
Voice (Solo) (optional)
Voice I/II (optional)
Violin I/II (optional)
Viola (optional)
Violoncello (optional)
Errata
None discovered thus far.
Program Notes
On May 25, 2020, George Floyd was a killed when a police officer brutally placed his knee on his neck. This moment not only changed my life, but the world around us. For hundreds of years, the Black community has been hushed, pushed, and brutalized by systematic racism. We have had our voices taken away from us. This piece represents a voice for the voiceless. I wanted to show the five stages of grief, they are not in the order of the stages but better yet the stages of the Black community’s grief.
Denial: The piece seems to not want to start. It’s subtle and seems not wanting to start. Another death has come and it seems too unreal.
Depression: The theme begins to come in. The piece moves into a somber funeral march, a march for the fallen and unarmed.
Bargaining: The piece begins to sway back and forth between beauty and anger. Trying to find ways to get away from this pain.
Anger: The march reaches its crescendo with the voices of the voiceless finally fighting back. With anger and rage the piece goes into a violent scream.
Growth: As the rage strengthens the voices, instead of acceptance, we enter growth. The voices have become stronger than before and will continue to grow. The voices seek change and won’t stop until change has come.
- Program Note by composer
Unspoken was commissioned by a consortium of college and school ensembles including the Denison University Wind Ensemble.
- Program Note from Denison University Wind Ensemble concert program, 10 June 2021
Media
State Ratings
None discovered thus far.
Performances
To submit a performance please join The Wind Repertory Project
- Ontario (Can.) Provincial Honour Band (Gillian MacKay, conductor) – 3 November 2022
- Kings County (N.Y.) Concert Band (Jasmine Britt, conductor) - 12 December 2021
- Denison University (Granville, Ohio) Wind Ensemble (Chris David Westover-Muñoz, conductor) - 10 June 2021 *Premiere Performance*
Works for Winds by This Composer
Adaptable Music
- Nimbus (Flex instrumentation) (2021)
- Street Noise (Flex instrumentation) (2021)
All Wind Works
- Astra (2022/2023)
- At Peace (2023)
- AYO (2022)
- Backlash (2022)
- Beyond (2018)
- Bridges (2022)
- Canvases (2020)
- Celestia's Horizon (2020)
- Cerulea (2020)
- Cold (2018)
- Colors in the Sky (2018)
- DOPE (2022)
- Dragonfly (2019)
- Eureka (2020)
- Grosso Blue (2018)
- Halcyon Hearts (2021)
- Havens (2022)
- Haywire (2018)
- Heaven at Night
- Hurry (2018)
- Icarus (2019)
- In Living Color (2021)
- Infinity (2020)
- Invictus (2019)
- Iridessi (2023)
- Kaleidoscope Eyes (2022)
- Neon Nights (2022)
- Nimbus (Flex instrumentation) (2021)
- Nova (2019)
- Oblivion
- Pavane for 10 Winds (2021)
- Riptides (2020)
- Serenade (2019)
- Skyward (2022)
- Song for Ursa (2020)
- Spectra (2017)
- Starlight (2019)
- Street Noise (Flex instrumentation) (2021)
- Sunshine (2019)
- Unspoken (2020)
- Uptilt (2022)
- Victory (2020)
- Western Pines (2022)
- When Heaven Cries (2021)
- When the Dawn Is Still Dark (2023)
- Where the Sky Has No Stars (2020/2021)
- WildHeart (2019)
Resources
- Katahj Copley, personal correspondence, June 2021
- Katahj Copley website Accessed 10 June 2021
- Perusal score