国产探花

Near the beginning of 鈥淥din,鈥� Joshua Brennan鈥檚 piece for concert band, the musicians stomp their feet and holler. 鈥淚t sounds like there鈥檚 an army running,鈥� says Brennan, a Keene State senior double-majoring in music composition and music education. 鈥淭hey stomp their feet randomly, starting quietly and getting louder, and just yelling 鈥� a vicious 鈥榓aaaargh鈥� 鈥� and that simulates running into battle. It sounds pretty cool.鈥� Even cooler, 鈥淥din,鈥� named for the Norse god of war, was performed in concert at the College鈥檚 Redfern Arts Center in October, conducted by James Chesebrough, associate professor of music.

鈥淚t鈥檚 action music,鈥� says Brennan. 鈥淐razy, dissonant chords. I gave the woodwinds a lot of fast, chromatic runs鈥� 鈥� meaning scales that incorporate all the major keys plus sharps and flats 鈥� 鈥渂ecause chromaticism fits the style of action or craziness.鈥� Brennan, who watched the band perform from the side of the stage, where he could also catch a glimpse of the audience, wrote the piece for fun. 鈥淚 like doing large ensemble stuff,鈥漢e says. He even incorporates the audience into the ensemble. 鈥淭oward the end of the piece, there鈥檚 a section that gives you the feeling that Odin鈥檚 army is going to lose. There鈥檚 maybe one soldier left, and the pace is really slow. It鈥檚 pretty sad. And then the band starts stomping their feet in unison, like an army marching. It starts quietly, like it鈥檚 coming in the distance, over a mountain or something, and then it gets louder, and then eventually the audience is cued in to start doing the stomps with them. So they go through this whole stomping thing, and that symbolizes the army driving the reinforcements. They鈥檙e arriving at the battlefield, and then, in the next couple of seconds, the audience is cued in to yell. And this is for the army to start running into battle again. Then the last battle starts. And it finishes to the end, and it鈥檚 crazy.鈥� 鈥淥din鈥� begins with the smooth, even tones of a saxophone and is heavy on woodwinds and percussion. Brennan wants people who hear the 10-minute piece performed live to feel like they鈥檙e in a battle zone. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 why I added the audience participation,鈥� he says. 鈥淎t the Redfern performance, they were really into it. It was awesome.鈥�