Program Notes:
An ensemble piece commissioned by Tatsuguchi Junior High School in 1998, arranged for full band in 2022.
More than a simple medley, this is a rhapsody utilizing Foster's melodic motives. They include "My Old Kentucky Home", "Massa's in De Cold Ground", "Camptown Races", "Oh Susannah" and "Jeannie with Light Brown Hair". As you can tell from the prelude, several melodies are ongoing simultaneously. As all but Foster's melody are central to this piece, don't create a balance by "making the main melody louder" and holding back the others. Dynamics are not about volume level, especially in the legato sections and in what appear to be piano passages. An undulating expression will be created if each voice part is actively expressed in an intertwined manner, as with Percy Grainger arrangements.
This is written as a "hybrid score" that can be performed by any number of players, even without optional instruments.
Performance Notes:
The options from [A] are not substitutes for Sax. meaning that you are free to choose any of them.
[B] becomes mf, wider by one step than [A], and Hn is close to f.
The entry into [C] is neither a complete pause nor a hurried, immediate entry. Be aware that the harmonic progression continues.
From [D], we will focus on the harmonic changes in detail.
The music advances as [E] is a longer 4-bar phrase, so let the music float above you with images that match the movement of the drumset and woodwinds.
The quarter note the bar before [I] should lead to the Grandioso without separation.
The Grandioso can be expressed in various ways, although the composer would prefer not to slow down, but to gradually relax towards [K].
As in [E], the phrase is played with the image of a lengthened phrase. The inner voice Bsn. T. Sax Euph. plays "My Old Kentucky Home" lively, and measure 73 should be sung differently from the upper voice with a bouncing image, which will make it more three-dimensional.
At [J], pay attention to the cantabile of Sax and do not make it only for Fl. Cl. The tempo should calm toward [K].
From [K] to the end, the music is an intertwining of several voices. The eighth-note and chromatic progressions of the inner voices are wonderful when expressed with more richness than the melody above. Especially in the 100th measure with ff, let Hn. etc. take the leading role. From meno mosso to the end, harmony changes every 8th note, so you will get plenty of color if you feel measure 102 in four-eight time.
(Eiji Suzuki)
