NEON NIGHTS for concert band, SATB choir, and electronic track (2023)

Описание: NEON NIGHTS for concert band, SATB choir, and electronic track (2023)
Commissioned by the Bedford (NH) High School Band and Choir

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When I was first asked to write a piece for the Bedford High School Band and Choir, the first thing I knew was that the piece had to be unique and different. The band director at Bedford, Matt Bruneau, had been one of my closest friends for the better part of a decade, and it was my sacred duty to deliver him a piece that was fun for both him and his students to put together.

To this end, when I sat down to have my first brainstorming session regarding this piece, the first thing I touched wasn't a notation software or a piece of manuscript paper - it was GarageBand. The free DAW (Digital Audio Workstation) is something that I've made tracks on for fun, but I had never thought of including it in a "serious" piece for band. Nonetheless, once I had come up with a chord progression I liked with synthesized sounds I found cool, there was no looking back.

This piece is also inspired by the modern "synthwave" and "vaporwave" aesthetics, where, to boil it down, 80s nostalgia and sounds are glorified and romanticized for the modern age. The image on the previous page is an example of this aesthetic in the form of art, the electronic sounds I chose were selected with that aesthetic in mind, and the overall structure of the piece isn't dissimilar from the structure of 80s pop music.

Synthesizers, winds, percussion, and voices come together in an array of sound seldom seen in the school band world!

Premiered May 2023. Audio is MIDI realization due to unfortunate issues with the electronics at the performance date.

swilesmusic.com/neon-nights