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Technically
challenging but very rewarding to the performer and highly entertaining
for the audience, these works provide a unique performance opportunity.
They
are performed live with the ensemble accompanying a film or video that
is projected behind them on the stage. The scores are highly synchronized
and fit the image perfectly.
Due
to their synchronous nature, an intimate knowledge of the film is required
and my services are included for a two-day residency for rehearsal and
performance with the package fee, which also includes film or videotape
and music. Rehearsal preparation prior to the residency is essential.
Celluloid Tubas
Written
for Fritz Kaenzig, who has always enjoyed the same filmic humor as I,
Celluloid Tubas is an original score that, in the style of true
silent-comedy accompaniment, utilitizes popular, classical, and original
themes throughout. It accompanies the quintessential silent comedy,
Mack Sennett's Barney Oldfield's Race for a Life (1913). Rife
with the clichés we've all come to expect—a girl tied to
the railroad tracks, the mustachioed villain, the dumb boyfriend, and
even the Keystone Kops—it leaves audiences laughing, cheering,
and yes, booing, to the crazy antics of the film and humor in the score.
Click here to see it in
streaming video (RealMedia format. This should(!) work for 56k
connections and higher but I've been trying it at 56k and it's not.
Broadband connections should have no trouble. I will look into this
when I get back from Europe in July and make sure it's available to
slower connections as well.) This piece is also available for brass
quintet.
Instrumentation:
3 euphs, 3 tubas
Running time: 14"
A
Little Tuba Music for
Roadrunner and Coyote
Obviously,
this score has something to do with a cartoon! A literal transcription
of Carl Stalling and Milt Franklyn's incredible score for the Warner
Brothers cartoon Zoom and Bored (1957), one of the greatest of
Chuck Jones' Roadrunner entries. (Also available for wind
ensemble.)
Instrumentation:
4 euphs, 4 tubas, 2 percussion
Running time: 7"
Pachydermus Pinkus Lowus Blowus
Transcribed
from Oliver Wallace's Academy-Award®-winning score for Walt Disney's
Dumbo (1940), this piece portrays the "Pink Elephants on
Parade" musical number that occurs when Dumbo and Timofey Q. Mouse
unwittingly imbibe in the clowns' party beverage. Delirium tremens,
of course, ensue, and our heroes see all sorts of strange things. The
ensemble even gets to sing! Written for Fritz Kaenzig and premiered
by the University of Michigan Euphonium-Tuba Ensemble.
Instrumentation:
4 euphs, 4 tubas, 2 percussion
Running time: 7"
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