Music

Grade: 3
Duration: 6'00"
Instrumentation
Listen (excerpt)

Interruption Overture (1998)

aka Overturus Interruptus

Distributed by Hal Leonard
Available from most music retailers

Premiered May 21st, 1998, by the Bartle School Sixth-grade band, William Kellerman, director

Commissioned by William Kellerman and the Highland Park Public Schools, through a generous grant from the Highland Park Educational Foundation for the Bartle School sixth-grade band

This piece was a lot of fun to write, and quite a challenge. Creating music which is both playable by beginning musicians, and satisfying to listen to, is not an easy task.

The music can loosely be described as the musical inverse of Chester Leaps In: the piece begins with a rather straight-ahead theme in Bb major, which is interrupted abruptly by dissonant chords. The theme resumes, but is repeatedly interrupted at various surprising moments by both dissonance and some simple aleatory. These techniques are intended to serve as educational tools in addition to their musical function, exposing younger musicians to a broader musical palette.

I'd like to thank William Kellerman and the Highland Park Educational Foundation for raising the funds to make this commission possible. I believe such active community involvement is one of the most powerful tools in furthering education, and consequently strengthening the health and vigor of our society.

Orchestra

Band

Mixed