Freewill Fanfare- Score and Parts- Digital Download

Difficulty: Intermediate-Advanced (perfect for advanced high school or College level ensembles)

Instrumentation: 8 Part Trombone Choir

Click Here for a Perusal Score

About the piece:

Jim [ten Bensel] graciously invited me to write a piece for the 2018 Minneapolis Trombone choir and I willingly accepted. In the span of a night before our next rehearsal (inspired by inadvertent procrastination and an explosion of ideas, not to mention an overabundance of coffee), I came up with this fanfare. The name comes from the Rush song Freewill, in which I quoted a line from Geddy Lee’s melodic bass playing. It is hidden in plain sight. If you know the song, see if you can find it! The form of the song is a metaphor for life, the greatest test of free will. An ostinato that carries throughout the piece starts with only the first trombones. Eventually, you meet other people and influences that begin shape who you are, which is why the remaining trombones add more musical ideas as the piece continues. The middle section fluctuates between time signatures and tone colors (confusion, emotions) and the ensemble and conductor choose how the tempo ebbs and flows. It is never played the same way twice. Eventually, everything comes together at the end, which is why the ensemble ends, with the original ostinato, together.