The Music of J. Scott McKenzie

Composer, Arranger, Conductor

Symphonic Band Pieces

Click on the titles below or scroll down for descriptions, recordings, and sample score pages (for most pieces).

Grade 5

 

Grade 6

 

Grade 5

 

Black Tie Blu-bop (2006)--4.5 minutes

Commissioned for the Virginia Tech Golden Hokie Honor Band, Dr. Patrick Casey, conductor, at the tenth annual Virginia Tech Honor Band Weekend on January 20, 2007.

When asked to write a piece for a high school honor band my first inclination was to write something challenging, but most of all fun to play.  My first sketches for the piece were comprised mainly of blues scales and dance rhythms.  After a while, I began to realize that the music sounded very much like something Bela Fleck and the Flecktones would play.  Generally speaking, there’s two kinds of people in this world; those that have never heard of the Flecktones and those that think they’re amazing.

Their music is impossible to classify—how do you describe music combining elements of bluegrass, jazz, funk, blues, and just about everything else in between?  The band itself coined a phrase to name their own unique genre of music—blu-bop!

So, dress it up for the concert hall, and you have a truly unique piece that your band (especially the saxophones) will love!

 

Fantasy Sketches for Alto Saxophone and Band (1992)--10 minutes

Premiered by the Virginia Tech Wind Ensemble, David Widder, conductor, and soloist Dr. David Jacobsen, at the Virginia Music Educators Inservice Conference, November 1994.

My instrument was saxophone.  I thought it would be fun to try writing a really tough feature--tough enough that I would have to practice it myself to get it right.  As it turned out, it was out of my league.  I had no one in mind when I wrote the piece; I just thought it would be another experiment.  But the conductor of my university's Wind Ensemble thought highly enough of the score that he programmed it at the very next concert, the state music educators' conference.  And he even got my saxophone teacher to play the darn thing!

I admit, it was a funny situation to watch my saxophone teacher struggle with the piece I had written.  He did a fantastic job though, and even added some unwritten notes up in the altissimo stratosphere!

 

Of Song and Dance (1993)--14 minutes

        I. Waltz

        II. Villain's Theme

        III. Love Song

        IV. Jubilee

 

Composed for the Virginia Tech Symphony Band.  Premiered in April 1993 with the composer conducting.

This is my tribute to that great American institution, the Broadway musical.  Although comprised of original tunes, the work attempts to recreate the spirit and style of the American musical theater from the middle of the last century.  The audience will walk away thinking 'that music seems so familiar...'.  The waltz is tuneful and elegant.  The villain of the villain's theme is of the sneering, curly mustache variety.  The love song is of course hopelessly romantic and lyrical, and the jubilee is an over-the-top country hoedown.

 

Passacaglia for Band (2003)--8.5 minutes

Composed for and premiered by the Blacksburg High School Symphonic Band conducted by Dr. Diana Love at the Virginia Music Educators Association In-Service Conference on November 20, 2003 in Norfolk, Virginia.

Passacaglia for Band is a set of continuous variations surrounding an eight-bar ostinato theme.  After a unison statement of the theme (which employs eleven of the twelve chromatic pitches), it is repeated 23 times by various sections and soloists throughout the ensemble.  Although a wide variety of scoring and compositional techniques are utilized to include transparent textures, muted brass, polyrhythms, and polychords, the work is intended to be accessible to most high school bands.

 

The Quiet Professionals (2000)--3.5 minutes

Composed for the 82d Airborne Division Band.

This march was composed in honor of the United States' special operations forces, "The Quiet Professionals."  Unlike my other marches, which are quite traditional, this one plays more like "movie music."  Like special operations soldiers themselves, the music is determined and intense, but subdued.  There are also moments of explosive violence, and maybe a healthy dose of arrogance.  Appropriate music, I think, for a group of people who are the best at what they do, yet are not often recognized for it.

 

This We'll Defend (2000)--3.5 minutes

Premiered in Spring 2000 by a tri-service (Army, Navy, and Marine) student band at the Armed Forces School of Music, Norfolk, VA.

Long, detailed program notes accompany this piece, but here's the short version:  This march was written while I was in Army basic training because I was truly impressed and inspired by the professionalism and dedication of my Drill Sergeants.  The first and second strains in G minor represent the hard-nosed aspect of the Drill's personality, and the trio's C major melody calls to mind the bigger picture of transforming long-haired civilians into soldiers.  The trio also has a subtle quote from the little-known verse of the Army Song, "The Army Goes Rolling Along."

 

A Winter Flurry (2005)--3 minutes

Composed for the United States Army Europe Band.  Premiered during the December holiday concert series of 2005 with the composer conducting.

A Winter Flurry is a dazzling three-minute concert opener defined by rapid ascending scalar passages offset by single beats.  The opening gives way to a lyrical oboe solo based on the opening trumpet figure.  Both themes are combined in the climax of the piece.  Finally, there's one brief moment of repose before a final flurry closes out the piece.

 

 

Grade 6

 

Festive Overture for Band (1998)--11 minutes

Premiered by The George Washington University Wind Ensemble, February 10, 2000.

Festive Overture for Band is a showpiece that will challenge all sections and soloists in your band.  Most of the melodic material comes from the four-note tetrachord stated at the beginning by unison French horns.  It is repeated with a variety of tone colors at breakneck speed with unexpected meter changes and syncopations.  The slow section utilizes the tetrachord and weaves a new motive into it to create a lovely English horn melody.  The return of the original tempo brings a fugue section that utilizes the complete woodwinds and a huge building section that explodes into the recapitulation.