Thoughts on the Reading

The reading of our band pieces by the MUN Wind Ensemble was something that I both worried and excited about for a while now. I was excited to hear something that I wrote performed by a larger ensemble, but I was worried about the actual sound of it. This being something I've never done before I didn't know how things like balance or instrumentation would actually sound in practice.

What they ended up reading was not quite a finished piece, but it was pretty close. Here are my thoughts on what they read:

• There were some concerns from both people in the class as well as myself that the texture throughout would be too thin (due to my conservative use of instrumentation). On the whole, I thought that it sounded quite full and rich sounding, while maintaining that cleanliness I was trying to achieve by not over orchestrating.
• Although it did sound full, there is a section that I scored for just bari sax and tenor sax in the lower register. I found that it just got almost completely buried under anything and everything else that was happening around them. The solution to this would be to double what they are playing in another instrument, but the problem is I only want that sound. What I will probably end up doing is just remove anything else around it and create a very exposed texture.
• The piccolo doubling the flute up the octave in the second section sounded great! I use a bit more of this, but its isolated occurrence makes it much more special.
• It's not exactly a result of hearing the piece, but some of the ensemble members gave me a bit of written feedback. The feedback was both on the sound of the piece as well as notation issues found in specific parts.