THE GREAT RIVER RAPID CHASE
(2018/2020)
PUBLISHER: TUX People’s Music | ca. 3-4 minutes | GRADE 2.5/MEDIUM
© 2023 TUX People’s Music, LLC
INSTRUMENTATION
4-PART ADAPTABLE ENSEMBLE
ADDITIONAL PARTS (optional): Acoustic Guitar, Bass Guitar, Keyboard Synthesizer
PERCUSSION LIST
Xylophone, Glockenspiel, Marimba, Chimes, Snare Drum, Bass Drum, Crash Cymbals, Suspended Cymbal, Hi-Hat, 2 Bongos, 4 Tom-Toms
STATE LISTS (original version)
MICHIGAN: MSBOA Basic Music List, High School Class C
WORLD PREMIERE: March 5, 2021 | Senri and Osaka International Schools of Kwansei Gakuin Music Department, HS Concert Band
(Kelly Deklinski, director; Ayako Nishikawa, assistant director) | Osaka, Japan
ORIGINAL VERSION DETAILS
COMMISSIONED BY: a consortium of wind ensembles led by Caleb Hammer as part of a consortium for three new works for concert band,
featuring music by Caleb Hammer, Josh Trentadue, and Harrison J. Collins
WORLD PREMIERE: November 1, 2018 | United Township High School Concert Band (Michael Wawrzynski, director) | United Township High School, East Moline, Illinois
NOTABLE PERFORMANCES
April 12, 2019 | Elkhart Central High School Symphonic Band (David Elliott, conductor) | ISSMA Concert Band Festival (2019), Elkhart Memorial High School, Elkhart, Indiana
May 8, 2019 | Grand Ledge High School Wind Symphony (John Szczerowski, conductor) | Grand Ledge High School, Grand Ledge, Michigan
CONSORTIUM MEMBERS
Texas Woman's University Bands | Carter Biggers
Westwood High School Bands | Thomas Turpin
Hendersonville High School Bands | Jeffrey Phillips
Pennfield School Bands | Blake Driver
Elkhart Central High School Bands | David Elliott
Hartland Middle & High School Bands | Joe Guarr
Williamsburg High School | Dustin Goes
Fenton High School | Andrew David Perkins
Loveland High School | Kyle Freesen
Manteno Schools | Daniel Tripp
Peotone High School Bands | Adam Rusek
Cele Middle School | Cathy Humphrey
Palo Alto Middle School Wind Ensemble | Eric Skinner
United Township High School | Michael Wawrzynski
University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point | Michael S. Butler
Grand Ledge High School | John Szczerowski
Woodbridge Township School Bands | Jason Kohn
Stoneman Douglas High School | Alex Kaminsky
Angola High School | Andrew Keiser
Onsby C. Rose
O'Shae Best
ADDITIONAL VERSIONS AVAILABLE
SCORE FOLLOWER
The Great River Rapid Chase initially came about for two different reasons. After growing up and living in my home state of Michigan, I moved to New York City to pursue graduate-level academics. Although I can't deny the incredible experiences I was so grateful to have while living in the city (and I wouldn't change that for anything), I also can't deny that, every now and again, I felt a bit homesick for the incredible landscapes and sights that Michigan has to offer. Writing this piece was an opportunity for me to get back in touch with that part of nature that I've loved for so long now.
This piece was also an opportunity for me to exercise another goal: composing high-quality music for middle and/or high school bands that could equally be fun to listen to as well as perform. I sought to challenge the players, but not so much as to make the music difficult for all the wrong reasons. This led to further challenges of creating authentic contrasting shapes and new colors within a standardized form that, overall, I had a lot of fun exploring.
The Great River Rapid Chase is a short, fast-paced adventure relying on rhythmic grooves and a sense of determination to arrive towards a final destination. Think of fish swimming upstream in a raging river - sometimes with the currents, sometimes against them - facing all sorts of predators and other dangers during their journey.
This revised edition better reflects my compositional intent and re-distributes all percussion parts to one player per part (with the exception of snare and bass drum, which have remained consolidated to a single part). Thank you to all of the consortium members of the original concert band version of this piece for their generous support over the years, as well as Caleb Hammer’s Walking Through The Night and Harrison J. Collins’s O rose of May.