When I was approached to write something for the Bear Creek S.S. Concert Band to celebrate their 20th anniversary, my first question, after asking about instrumentation and deadlines, was what kind of music do the students like to play? Lise Buelow, the Musical Director, told me they really like songs with interesting rhythms and meters, but that still have melodic phrases. It was from this that the opening clarinet motif was born.
Using short rhythmic fragments, a complex, layered texture is created that is interrupted by two-beat insertions which eventually take over and displace the rhythmic texture to introduce a slower, more homogenous, harmonic texture with solo opportunities for clarinet and flute. After the tutti Grandioso statement and echo-like release, the opening motif returns and launches directly into a restatement of the full rhythmic texture. A new counter-melody is added in the flutes and oboe, and the piece closes with a final rendition of the two-beat insertion theme.
Rhythmia challenges the students with overlapping rhythmic fragments juxtaposed with chordal statements that require quick changes in dynamics and timbre. The syncopations in the opening and closing sections contrast with the lyrical middle section pushing the performers to play a variety of articulations and styles.
Congratulations to Bear Creek Secondary School and the Concert Band on their anniversary, and I’m honoured to be part of your celebrations.
