I can't begin to tell you how honored I was when asked by Mark Goff, the CEO and Owner of Paige's Music, to compose a piece celebrating the 150th anniversary of the company. Having started my tenure at Carmel High School (IN) in 1982, I was fortunate to have Paige's Music covering the instrument and repair needs of our bands and orchestras. To this day, the amazing folks at Paige's are still working alongside my director colleagues throughout Central Indiana. So as you can see, this commission is very special to me, and will forever be near and dear to my heart.
The four versions of Legacy include; Advanced Concert Band Intermediate Concert Band, Advanced Orchestra and Intermediate Orchestra. Each version can stand alone, but can be combined with the other versions. If desired, a school's band and orchestra can perform the piece together. The same would work for combined middle school and high school bands. As in most cases with advanced and intermediate versions, the difference between the two shows up in the challenge of technique and range. I am indebted to my colleague at Carmel High School, Maggie Hite, who took the time to mark the string bowings in the orchestral versions. Maggie is one of my favorite music educators ever, and I could not have done this without her help and guidance.
Although all versions of the piece are published on a normal score, there is some flexibility in instrumentation. You will find that numerous parts are doubled in woodwinds, brass and percussion, giving the conductor the opportunity to use the players available in his or her setting. There are a few instruments marked as optional and although you'll see that you can get by without piano, I hope you'll look for a student who might enjoy performing with the group. I'm a big believer that MUSIC IS FOR EVERYONE! The more students we can get involved, the more students we can get to fall in love with music! I am proud to say that I taught in Indiana and I am the biggest fan of the very fine Indiana band and orchestra directors on the podiums today. They are and will always be my heroes.
Legacy basically stays around the key of F Major. The piece is a standard A-B-A form with the woodwinds and percussion providing the rhythmic background for the opening fanfare-like figures in the brass. The lyrical B section features the horns and alto saxes as they soar through a series of dissonances and resolutions. The minor seconds should be heard just enough to create a few harmonic goosebump effects along the way. Scattered throughout the B section are remnants of the A section melodies, which should come across as quasi echo effects.
I always suggest that bands rehearse with drones to help establish appropriate tuning and listening skills. F Concert, which I'm sure many of you band folks use in your ensemble development sessions, is the perfect drone to use in most of the piece. Orchestra directors may not take this same approach, but I hope you'll all take a few moments to tune some of the key arrival chords, especially in the B section, where you want beautiful intonation, blend and balance to produce consistent resonance and overtones. Take a few chances with "just'' (pure} tuning if comfortable, but getting students to check melodies with equal distant tuning is always a great place to start.
The recap of the piece brings back all the melodic material from the A section juxtaposed over the more lyrical B motive, followed by a rush of rhythmic energy at the finale. As always, I am grateful that you are considering Legacy for one of your performances. Best wishes to you and your students as you work together to guide performers and audience members to fall in love with music!
~ Richard L Saucedo