American Elegy

[trumpet2k3]

Has anyone played or become familliar with the trumpet solo in the Ticheli piece "American Elegy"? It is an unmetered, offstage, distant, ethereal sounding solo. I was wondering if anyone had any ideas in terms of placement outside of an auditorium that allows for the best effect.

[SHS_Trumpet]

I played the solo in all region a month or so ago. I stayed on stage and just played in a stand. It's a great piece! Memorize it and when it comes your turn to play. Just make music, close your eyes and make your heart sing. GOOD LUCK!!!!
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Andrew Fowler
MYNWA
"90% of trumpet music is below high C"

[vivace]

I played that my symphonic band. I didn't get the solo though. I like the piece, Ticheli is a great composer. The trumpeter who geot the solo was stoo stuffy, really sharp, and he sounded bad (too many screw ups.) He went off stage before the song started, and played from there. Cool effect.
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"All music is folk music. I ain't never heard no horse sing no song." - Louis Armstrong

[NelleTrumpet]

trumpet2k3,

We played that piece in my wind ensemble last semester (on a concert that was not too long after 9-11, though the program was planned long before that). I didn’t get to play the solo, though. We give our concerts in the university chapel, and the guy who played the solo just stood in the backstage area and played. It was an awesome effect. Like vivace’s example, our player just stayed off stage for the whole song. I think it would work playing into a stand if an offstage area isn’t available. If you like that piece, you should see about playing Mark Camphouse’s Whatsoever Things. It’s a song based on Northwestern University’s alma mater and was written to remember their director John Paynter, when he died. We played it because our director was a classmate of Camphouse’s and a student of John Paynter. It is similar in character to American Elegy. Anyway, Good luck and have fun!
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Danelle Wilbraham

[trickg]

I once played a tune called "Elegy For(of?) A Young American" Is this the same tune? I was at Nebraska All State band in November of 1988 when I played it and I haven't played it since. I don't remeber if it had a trumpet solo or not, but since I was 5th chair out of about 25, I wouldn't have been the one to play it anyway.

At the time, I remember someone saying that it was written as a tribute to John F. Kennedy, but I could be mistaken. If this is a different tune than "American Elegy", does anyone remeber the one that I'm talking about?
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Patrick Gleason
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[tcutrpt]

Patrick, I am from Nebraska and played in the all state band in 98 and made the orchestra in 99. It's funny what a small world we live in! The director of the orchestra my senior year was Kevin Noe. He now conducts University of Texas at Austin's orchestra. I really enjoyed working with him. We played Billy the Kid and Roman Carnival. It really fueled my desire to become an orchestral player. I just thought I would share my little story.

Matt

[JonKratzer]

Hi there,
I played this piece just last year. The solo was magnificent, even the musicians on stage were crying.. If this is done is a large auditorium, I'd have the soloist stand off behind the audience, its a very nice effect if the Acoustics are just right.
Best of Luck!
Jon

[NelleTrumpet]

Patrick,

Pulled out my program from our concert… An American Elegy was commissioned for the Columbine High School band to honor those who died in the shootings there in April 1999. So the piece you are referring to must be a different piece if you played it back in 1988 (which is two years before I started playing trumpet back in third grade ). Given this information, I was still curious about your question so I typed the title of the piece into Google and got a page saying the following:

Elegy for a Young American was written in 1964 and dedicated to the memory of President John F. Kennedy, it was first premiered that year by the Indiana University of Pennsylvania Wind Ensemble. The work opens with a simple but striking motive in the clarinets which is repeated and expanded. The simple scalar motive develops melodically and harmonically throughout the Elegy, giving the listener a full musical experience of pain, grief, and loss. Solo instruments alternating with small sectional groupings and the tutti wind ensemble provide contrast and balance. The final knells of the funeral chimes leave the listener not with despair and emptiness, but rather a sense of growth and inner peace.
--The Heritage Encyclopedia of Band Music, Teaching Music Through Performance in Band, Vol. 2

Does this sound like the piece you’re thinking of?

I hope this answers your question!
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Danelle Wilbraham

[trumpet2k3]

Thanks guys for all your help and suggestions! I'll let you know how it turns out.

[KB]

Hey i know i'm not really welcome at this site because i play double bass (concert and jazz), but i was at an honour band where we played this and we were in a realitively small room so everywhere we put the soloist was too live. She ended up standing in behind the closed doors to the entrance of the auditoruim. Tchelli wanted a removed sound for this effect in the music and when it was first premiered the trumpeter was on a balcony playing into a stand and that was considered to be too live. For this effect you want to have the vibes quite quiet and have the trumpeter as clear as can be but almost at a pp so you can just make out that someone is playing and it sounds good but you don't know where it is comming from. Everytime i hear this piece i almost cry, and i swear i know the whole score off by heart. Add a little vibrato at will, it makes it so much better.

P.S i screw around on trumpet alot so that is why i'm here

Thanks KB