Music

Grade: 5
Duration: 2'30"
Instrumentation
Listen (excerpt)

Chester Leaps In (1997)

Distributed by Hal Leonard
Available from most music retailers

Chester Leaps In is intended as a humorous, cartoonish piece, contructed from the juxtaposition of two divergent musical ideas: a chromatic, angular melodic motive, repeatedly interrupted by the harmonic simplicity of William Billings' well-known hymn tune, "Chester."

This is the second incarnation of the piece (the original, written in 1994, was scored for two marimbas and piano). While I was studying at Juilliard, my friend and fellow composer Eric Whitacre suggested transcribing it for band. In retrospect, this seems an obvious evolution of the piece, given the familiarity of the original tune in the band community. I've been somewhat amazed at its popularity, having been recorded on 8 or 9 CDs (as far as I know), and played all over the United States and several countries abroad, including a recent performance by the Tokyo Kosei Wind Orchestra! Many thanks to all who have performed it - I hope it was fun!

Chester Leaps In, along with ImPercynations, MetaMarch, and Suite Dreams, is a part of my larger Parody Suite.

Orchestra

Band

Mixed