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1. Palouse Soaring like a bird over the Palouse, the hills are depicted by ostinato figures rising and falling on chord structures that also rise and fall by various intervals. The landscape stretches on in a sea of grains, changing colors as they wave in the breeze. Now and again over the regular scenery can be heard the sounds of human presence, a distant train whistle, the rumble of combines at work, and hoe-down style dancing, before taking flight again and disappearing into the hills. 2. Columbia There's a perception of austerity surrounding the traveler floating down this great river, not only of humanity but of history. A certain sparseness to the landscape reflected in and echoed by the interjected quintuplet figures. The river is large, wide, even slow. Soon it approaches the Gorge. The music begins to rise as the mountain walls rise on either side, in scale segments piled on top of each other, displaying a similar mix of color found in the rocks and foliage that ascend all around until reaching their majestic heights. Finally the river slowly exits the gorge, once again becoming it's mighty but peaceful self, until it quietly empties into the sea, nothing but the sound of a steady northwest rain left to be heard. 3. Hoh Rainforest There are only a small number of places in the world where temperate rainforests exist. The coast of the Pacific Northwest is one of them. The rainforest rarely freezes, but also rarely gets overly warm. It is a cool, wet place, filled with the cycle of life, the noises of activity, the silence of nature, and the legacy of millenia of existence. This presentation is twofold... The Primordial Forest: the use of the xylophone in the opening and closing of the music is not just a description of the coolness of the forest, but of its prehistoric foundation. The Forest Full of Life: in the middle section the songs of birds predominate the soft, lush landscape. Here the cool shade displays its warm side, the color of wings and sounds everywhere the eye turns. This is a place of ages, a vision of that which has existed for thousands of years, to be preserved for thousands more... a record of natural history always in the making. 4. Cities of the Sound The cities that surround Puget Sound consist of a remarkable mixing of cultures. People from the eastern and southern states have migrated west bringing European influences, while the cultures of Asia have flowed across the Pacific to produce a stir-fry of flavors from all over. This movement is a theme and variations. After the full statement of the theme in traditional style there are five distict variations before the concluding epilogue section which restates the theme, with some brass band traditionality. The first variation is All That Jazz, representing the clubs scattered throughout the region. Variation two is East Meets West, an Asian style section making use of the pentatonic scale found in East Asian music. Variation three is The Grunge, or at least the best attempt that can be made using a brass band. (True grunge is heavily distorted guitars and depricating lyrics, neither of which can be easily replicated in the band, but if not fully grunge at least the rock elements of Puget Sound cities can be found here.) After the intensity of the rock section and in stark contrast, follows Master Classical... very calm and serene, in a modified Bachian style. The musical culture of the Northwest would not be fully represented without the final variation, Native Waves, where the drum and chant-style, non-verbal song melds with the original theme as do the cultures of the area. The Epilogue, which could be considered yet one more variation, but which diverges from the true "Cities" relationships, was intended as a restatement of the original theme in the context of competitive music that might be found in fundamental brass band music, hence something of a geographical departure from the local scene. Overall this piece is full of the varieties and colors of musical and cultural life found all along the shores of Puget Sound. |