Illumination

Illumination2020-08-11T01:32:05+00:00

Project Description

Wind Ensemble
2013
5 min.
Grade 3.5

Buy Score and Parts

 

Listen Now

Franklin High School Band, Nicole Wright, cond.
premiere performance, live recording

Lakeland College Concert Band (Sheboygan, Wisconsin), Christopher Werner, cond.
live recording, 19 November, 2014

Preview Score

Instrumentation

Picc Fl-2 Ob-2 BbCl-3 BCl Bsn ASx-2 TSx BSx | Hn-2 Tpt-3 Tbn-2 Tuba | Pno Timp Perc-5

  • Piccolo
  • Flute (2)
  • Oboe (2)
  • Clarinet in B♭ (3)
  • Bass Clarinet in B♭
  • Bassoon
  • Alto Saxophone (2)
  • Tenor Saxophone
  • Baritone Saxophone
  • Horn in F (2)
  • Trumpet in B♭ (3)
  • Trombone (2)
  • Tuba
  • Piano
  • Timpani
  • Required Percussion (5 players)
    • Vibraphone
    • Marimba
    • Suspended Cymbal (lg) 
    • Xylophone
    • Chimes
    • Bass Drum
    • Snare Drum
    • Tenor Drum
    • Orchestra Bells
    • Wood Block (lg)
For wind ensembles and concertos, please use one player per part. For symphonies and concert pieces, more players may be used as desired. David’s full statement.

Difficulty Level

Appropriate for most high school ensembles (Grade 3½) 

The introduction (mm. 1–10), marked ♩= 80, establishes a powerful mood for the main body of the work. The introduction employs the full resources of the ensemble with most marked with a fully-articulated fortissimo.

Section 1 (mm. 11-62), marked ♩= 160, is highly energized. It has relentlessly-driving eighth notes providing forward momentum, contrasted by more sustained lines. All ensemble members will have responsibility for both the pulsing eighth note and the sustained lines.

Section 2 (mm. 63–107) offers a mood change, though at the same tempo. This section begins in a soft, reflective state. It is characterized by a slow melody in half and whole notes in the woodwinds layered over rhythmic eighth notes in the piano. The quarter notes in the mallets support the motor in the piano. The second half of this section (starting at m. 86) follows a gradual crescendo, adds the full ensemble, and presents a full-bodied restatement of the earlier woodwind presentation, descending in tessitura and dynamically away from the apex (m. 96), returning to the reflective mood.

Section 3 (mm. 108–162) returns to the earlier energized music after reestablishing the pulsating eighth notes. Material from the second section comes back at measure 146, this time full with firm articulation.

A short coda (mm. 163–181) finishes the piece in full voice with full instrumentation.

 

Commission

Illumination: Overture for Band was composed for the Franklin, Massachusetts public schools. The commission was started by Nicole Wright, band director at the Horace Mann Middle School in Franklin, when she discovered that my grandnephew was in her band. The piece was initially to have been for her young players, but the idea grew to make it the center of the dedication concert at the opening of Franklin’s new high school building. Rehearsals of Illumination were actually the first musical sounds made in their fine new auditorium.

Errata

103: Cl 3 Eb, not E (transposed)

Description

Illumination is an energetic and joyous piece, written at a roughly 3+ grade level. Instrumentation is complete, but certain parts, such as oboe, bassoon, and horn are not exposed. I have graded the parts so that first are more demanding, and seconds and thirds successively easier. Illumination – light rising – coming to consciousness: performing music offers the possibility of immediate awakening, and this piece has both high good nature and a sharp wake-up quality.

Program Note

“Illumination” – lighting up, bringing light. I am especially interested in composing music for young people that allows them a vibrant experience of their own creative energy. A powerful experience of this sort stays in the heart and mind as a channel for creative energy, no matter what the life path. Music shared in community brings this vital force to everyone. Illumination is an open and cheerful piece in a quick tempo, with a very direct A-B-A song form. 

Program note by David Maslanka

Further Reading

From the Maslanka Archive – No. 35, Damon Talley’s Interview of David

27 August 2020|0 Comments

From the Maslanka Archive features media and stories of David's life and work. This week, we are excited to feature one of David's very last interviews. In April of 2017, Damon Talley - Director of Bands at LSU - had the opportunity to sit down with David and discuss Symphony No. 4 during a residency with the LSU Wind Ensemble.

From the Maslanka Archive – No. 28, David in Rehearsal with Mike Fansler and the WIU Wind Ensemble

9 July 2020|0 Comments

From the Maslanka Archive features media and stories of David's life and work. This week, we are excited to feature a video of David in rehearsal with Mike Fansler and the Western Illinois University Wind Ensemble from December 2011. The rehearsal footage captures an amazing realization of the "Doxology" from Symphony No. 4.

Maslanka Weekly: Best of the Web – No. 106, Dances

30 June 2020|0 Comments

Maslanka Weekly highlights excellent performances of David Maslanka’s music from around the web. This week, we feature three compositions in which David experiments with dance forms: Montana Music: Three Dances for Percussion, Concerto for Clarinet and Wind Ensemble, and Concerto No. 2 for Piano and Wind Ensemble.

From the Maslanka Archive – No. 26, Joseph Lulloff Performs Saxophone Concerto in Lucerne

25 June 2020|0 Comments

From the Maslanka Archive features media and stories of David's life and work. This week, we are excited to feature a classic performance of the Concerto for Alto Saxophone and Wind Ensemble with Gregg Hanson leading Joseph Lulloff, Alto Saxophone and the University of Arizona Wind Ensemble from the 2001 World Association of Symphonic Bands and Ensembles (WASBE) Conference.