Tirana

Composer’s note
Tirana was commissioned by the Minnesota Chapter of the College Band Directors National Association as an addition to the grade 3 band literature. It was an interesting challenge to write within the guidelines of accessible keys and easily negotiable ranges. As a departure from the common slow-fast or fast-slow-fast band music forms, I chose to write a series of dances, introduced and interrupted by short fanfares, with the basic tempo steady throughout. The work is tonal, but to avoid boredom I modified the major scales with occasional lowered 2nds, 6ths and 7ths, and raised 4ths. I also included some complex meter patterns which, with the exotic scales, make the piece sound vaguely Southeast-European. Since I hadn’t done any specific research on dance types from that area, I picked a place name at random; hence Tirana.