Wooden Dimes
James Stephenson (trans. by composer)
Subtitle: Ballet for Wind Ensemble
General Info
Year: 2021
Duration: c. 23:00
Difficulty: V (see Ratings for explanation)
Original Medium: Orchestra
Publisher: Stephenson Music
Cost: Score and Parts (print) - $400.00 | Score Only (print) - $75.00
Instrumentation
Full Score
Flute I-II (II doubling Alto Flute)
Oboe
Bassoon I-II
E-flat Soprano Clarinet
B-flat Soprano Clarinet I-II-III
B-flat Bass Clarinet
B-flat Soprano Saxophone
E-flat Alto Saxophone
B-flat Tenor Saxophone
E-flat Baritone Saxophone
B-flat Cornet I-II-III
C Trumpet I-II
Horn in F I-II
Trombone I-II
Bass Trombone
Euphonium
Tuba
String Bass
Harp
Timpani
Percussion I-II-III, including:
- Bass Drum
- China Cymbals
- Crash Cymbals
- Crotales
- Floor Tom
- Glockenspiel
- Marimba
- Snare Drum
- Splash Cymbal
- Suspended Cymbal
- Tambourine
- Triangle
- Vibraphone
- Xylophone
Errata
None discovered thus far.
Program Notes
Wooden Dimes is James Stephenson’s first ballet, composed for the San Francisco Ballet. Once the original score was completed, Colonel Jason Fettig and “The President’s Own” United States Marine Band commissioned the composer to create a concert suite for wind ensemble that would capture the most essential musical moments from the ballet, while still preserving the arc of the story.
The original ballet was choreographed by Danielle Rowe, based on a period tale of a stage performer and her beloved from the early part of the twentieth century: Wooden Dimes: The Story of Betty Fine and Robert Alder.
“Don’t take any wooden dimes” -- a saying used a lot in the 1920s, meaning: “Don’t be naïve, or don’t be fooled.
Betty and Robert have a love that they think they know and they think will last forever, but situations, circumstance, and their evolution as people inevitably change their relationship and therefore their love, and it ends up being nothing like they predicted.
- Program Note from United States Marine Band concert program, 4 March 2022
Media
State Ratings
None discovered thus far.
Performances
To submit a performance please join The Wind Repertory Project
- United States Marine Band (Washington, D.C.) (Jason K. Fettig, conductor) - 23 April 2023
- United States Marine Band (Washington, D.C.) (Jason K. Fettig, conductor) - 10 April 2022
- United States Marine Band (Washington, D.C.) (James Stephenson, conductor) - 4 March 2022 (87th Annual ABA National Convention) *Transcription Premiere Performance*
Works for Winds by This Composer
Adaptable Music
- Fanfare for an Angel (Adaptable Band) (2010/2018/2021)
- Fiesta! (Adaptable Band) (2020)
- Holiday Carol Medley (Adaptable Band) (2020)
- Loop-D-Loop (Adaptable Band) (2017/2020)
- May the Road Rise to Meet You (Adaptable Band) (2021)
- No Thing Can Die as Others Do (Adaptable Band) (2014/2020)
- Reflections (Adaptable Band) (2010/2020)
- 2/2 Tango (Adaptable Band) (2010/2020)
- Ubi Caritas (Adaptable Band) (2019/2021)
All Wind Works
- American Embers (2017)
- American Fanfare (2009)
- as the fireflies watched (2020)
- August in York (2008)
- BasSOON It will be Christmas (2007/2013)
- Celebration Overture (1999/2018)
- Chorale in Blue (2018)
- A Charleston Christmas (as arranger) (2012)
- Code of Conduct (2023)
- Concerto Braziliano
- Concerto for Bassoon and Wind Ensemble
- Concerto for Cell Phone
- Concerto for Hope (2016/2017)
- Concerto for Piccolo Trumpet (2016)
- Concerto for Winds (2023)
- Concerto Grosso (2016)
- Concerto No 1 for Trumpet (2007)
- Concerto No. 2 for Trumpet (2010)
- Concerto No. 3 for Trumpet. See: Concerto for Hope
- Deep Dish (2016)
- The Devil's Tale (2013)
- A Dialogue for Self and Soul (2013)
- Dodecafecta (2010)
- Duels and Dances (2011)
- Duo Fantastique (2007)
- Exhale! (2021)
- Eyes on the Bison (2021)
- Fanfare for an Angel (2010/2018)
- Fanfare for an Angel (Adaptable Band) (2010/2018/2021)
- Fanfare for Democracy (2021)
- Fiesta! (Adaptable Band) (2020)
- ...Forward (2021)
- Glissin' Up (2016)
- Hanging by a Thread (2014)
- Heritage of Freedom Fanfare
- Holiday Carol Medley (Adaptable Band) (2020)
- Holiday Fanfare Medley (2010)
- Homage and Farewell (2010)
- In the Moment (2018)
- In the Moment Too (2018)
- Intrepid Promise
- It's About Time (2014)
- Just B. See: Symphony for Brass
- Kentucky Run (2019)
- Kleiner Walzer (as transcriber) (1896/2022)
- The Legend of Sleepy Hollow (1996/2015)
- L'esprit de la trompette (2012/2014)
- Lonesome Valley Folk Suite (2022)
- Loop-D-Loop (Adaptable Band) (2017/2020)
- Luther: In Canon (2017)
- May the Road Rise to Meet You (Adaptable Band) (2021)
- Möbius Trip (2017)
- No Thing Can Die as Others Do (Adaptable Band) (2014/2020)
- Old Modern Musick (2018)
- Octet (2021)
- Overture to a Winter Celebration (2010)
- Perpetual Notion (2020)
- Reflections (Adaptable Band) (2010/2020)
- Requiem Dances (2018)
- Rhythms of the Spirit (2006)
- Saints Fantasy (2017)
- Scram! (2018)
- Second Thoughts (2014)
- Smitty's Aweigh Overture
- Sonata Rhapsody "The Arch" (2009/2014)
- Sounds Awakened (2013)
- Spinning Wheel (2024)
- Stars and Stripes Fanfare (2007/2018)
- The Storyteller (2013/2017)
- Sunburst Fanfare (2023)
- Symphony for Brass (2014)
- Just B (2020)
- Symphony No 1 for Concert Band (2008)
- Symphony No 2 (2016)
- Symphony No 4 (2023)
- Taps (2017)
- there are no words (2015)
- this is most certainly true (2017)
- Three Bones Concerto (2013)
- To the Sky (2011)
- 2/2 Tango (Adaptable Band) (2010/2020)
- Twisted Shout (2021)
- Ubi Caritas (Adaptable Band) (2019/2021)
- Unfettered (2020)
- Variations on Chinese Folk Songs (2006)
- Vast and Curious (2014/2017)
- Voyages (2020)
- Walk Slowly (arr. M. Stephenson) (1997/2009/2020)
- Wildcat Run (2019)
- Wooden Dimes (2021/2022)
- Zodiac Concerto II (2022)
Resources
- Stephenson Music Accessed 2 March 2022