Illuminations
It’s finally done! I just finished work on another marching show! The show, titled Illuminations, was written for Impact Marching. Its original concept was based on an indoor percussion show I wrote for them for this winter season. What? I never blogged that show either? Boy, have I been slacking on the blogging! More to come on that one in a future post then…
Yet I digress.
Illuminations is divided into 3 parts:
Tree Shadows
Aurora Borealis
Urban Dawn
I suppose being a part time photographer and having a wife with a successful photography business, it’s not really a surprise that I would be inspired by light.
Tree Shadows – Much of this music was written before the actual theme was conceived. The image of light dancing through the moving arms of a tree is such a strong image however, full of sound and motion, that it just felt right. Then we had our ice storm in December and Betsy shot an image that seemed to capture the essence of my piece perfectly.
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Aurora Borealis – For anyone not familiar with an indoor percussion show, each performance takes place in a gym, is typically 4 minutes long and played entirely by percussion, from the snare line in the battery to the glockenspiel in the front ensemble. A marching band show takes all the percussion of an indoor show, adds a woodwind and brass section, doubles the length and sticks them on a football field. From a composition stand point, taking 4 minutes of music, doubling it in length and adding an entire wind section turned out to be extremely difficult! It’s almost as if writing music is like solving 1000 tiny problems over the course of the piece. As I was going back to re-orchestrate the show, I had already solved all those problems. I had already written it the way I wanted it, so changing it was much more difficult that I ever anticipated.
As Betsy would say, long story short, too late, I wrote a ballad for Aurora Borealis based on my indoor show, and it didn’t fly. (Although I like it… It’ll show up in another show, I’m sure.) So, I scrapped it all together, and wrote this next one from scratch. I love how it comes and goes from nothing. Like all my favorite music, it’s simple and direct. I swear if you close you eyes while you’re listening, you’ll see them. 
And like all marching band music, when it hits, it HITS.
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Can I say, I love how this turned out. Seriously. It makes me want to jump.
Urban Dawn – Again a strong image informs this show. I actually have a commute across the northern leg of I85 in Atlanta in mind for this. It also ended up quite different from the Indoor piece, particularly the ending, which I struggled with for a while. I have to give props where props are due that Betsy suggested I repeat my theme from the opener, which I think turned out to be an awesome idea.
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So there it is. Illuminations. By John King. Thanks for listening!
Much Metta,
John
John,
I ran across your website through Betsy. I am an old high school friend of hers and she had posted it on Facebook. I think your music is fantastic! I cannot imagine hearing all of the different parts and being able to weave them into a piece of music. Some of the music has the a quality as some Narada music I’ve heard, others have the sound of a musical score in a film. I am very impressed and thought you should know how talented you are! Keep up the great work!
Oh, John, I’m sitting here like an idiot, glad that I can hear this as often as I want. Each time I listen to this I can just imagine the band in their cool uniforms playing their hearts out and SMILING the whole time. This music makes me smile! No wonder you are such an upbeat person. If this is what you carry around in your head, it truly explains the cheerfulness in your heart and the perpetual smile on your face. Go John!
Awesome! I love that each of the pieces has a clearly defined personality, but that they still fit so well together as a set.
You are absolutely right about being able to see the Aurora… I can very clearly see a girl (flute) and a guy (horns) standing out in the cold watching the lights and commenting to each other about how beautiful it is “Oh my god!… Look at that!”. I can really feel the cold and the snow and a bit of a breeze in the glockenspiel / marimba / tubular bells. I also really like this use of cymbal rolls… I don’t usually like that effect, it seems to get used to say “Hey! Look! Something dramatic!” But the way you have them placed they really do seem to represent a beautiful natural phenomenon that we are privileged to witness, not some cheap trick for our momentary entertainment.
Um… I loved them all, but can you tell which one was my favourite?
Good stuff man!
Excellent!
I was a little lost during the digeridoo and Gregorian Chanting bit, but hey, whatever sparks the creativity, right? Joking.
Great work!
BAND! HORNS! UP!
I did get a chance to listen to this last Saturday. Sounds beautiful, John! And I love the creative dynamic between you and Betsy–what an awesome partnership in so many ways.
wonderful John! I am truly amazed by your talent – I just can’t get my arms around how you can hear it all and pull it all together so beautifully!
your talent blows me away. HOW DO YOU DO IT?! It’s all SO beautiful… and so… colorful!!!! Is that a weird compliment?! In the midst of listening I started choreographing color guard routines. Gahhh… I’m a dork!
You’re amazing.
John. I smiled all the way through it. I visioned you standing in front of a full band directing it. AWESOME!