bass trombone

"The social and psychological infringement on the black American has caused them to create a music which is both unique and personal. The minstrel period, an era of musical parody, found many black musicians performing with outward joy and inner sorrow. The composition MINSTREL MAN is a further projection of that feeling. It makes use of Ragtime, March Music, Jazz, Blues, and avant-garde styles." -T.J. Anderson

The piece is written for one instrumentalist only who plays the hi-hat cymbals by the left foot and the bass drum by the right foot.

 

• Originally for brass septet.  Versions for brass quintet or brass sextet (3 trp, 3 trb)  
• "The best [works on this CD] are two brass septets,  David Froom’s Kick Off! and Robert Patterson’s Fantasy and Stomping Music.  Froom, who teaches composition and theory at St. Mary’s [College of Maryland], gave these outstanding brass players lots to do in a work that says a great deal in four minutes.  The ending, with trumpeter Silberschlag on a stratospheric F-sharp, is spectacular."  (American Record Guide)

    

The Other Side of Time was written for the New England Conservatory Wind Ensemble at the request of its director, Charles Peltz. It is scored for 25 wind instruments, timpani, and 4 percussionists. After a brooding beginning, each of its contiguous sections develops at a different but related tempo, often moving within from lyrical lines to dramatic outbursts. The final section, at the original tempo, recalls the material of the opening and its anxious percussion activity. While the piece is meant to reflect some kind of spiritual journey, the title is actually taken from a book by paleontologist/geologist Robert Titus on the origins of the Catskill Mountains in New York State.