Jaguar Dance

Grade 3

4 minutes

Composed for the Leonardtown (MD) Middle School Advanced Band.  Premiered Spring 1999.

Excellent mockup by NotePerformer

Jaguar Dance begins with hammered dissonant chords which quickly give way to an ostinato in the saxophones.  Students will be challenged by the key of D minor (clarinetists will need to find the alternate low F# key), and low winds and tubas have unusually busy bass lines.  There are only two trombone parts, but there’s an optional bass trombone part that adds some significant D’s below the staff.  Though challenging for this grade level, Jaguar Dance is written carefully to sound tougher than it is.