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SOUTHWEST MEMORIES
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ABOUT THE COMPOSITION Southwest Memories is a work for wind ensemble composed by Carl Schroeder and commissioned by the Southwest Foundation of Minneapolis, Minnesota, for the Southwest Wind Ensemble, Reid Wixson, conductor, in celebration of the 75th anniversary of Southwest High School. It was adapted for wind ensemble in 2016 from the composer's original version for solo piano composed in 2001. Southwest Memories has an approximate performance time of 8 minutes. The difficulty level is grade 3.5, appropriate for advanced high school, advanced amateur and college bands. |
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Carl Schroeder (b. 1982) of Minneapolis, Minnesota, composes music for concert band, orchestra, choir, chamber ensembles and solo piano that often draws inspiration from American history, current events, natural surroundings and memories. His large ensemble music has been performed by nearly 50 concert bands, orchestras and choirs, including the Air Force Band of Mid-America, Minnesota Youth Symphonies and Ukraine’s Chamber Choir Kyiv. He has written commissioned works for the City of Lakes Community Band, Cornell University Symphonic Band, Minnesota State Band, Minnesota Symphonic Winds, Southwest Wind Ensemble, Three Rivers Conference Honor Band, Valley Winds, Wells Fargo Chorus and other ensembles and individuals. His published compositions include the concert band work Spin, the choral work Two December Carols and the piano solo 88 Keys, and six CDs of his music have been released. He is also the author of two books in the Fenn and Zorro series of novels told through correspondence. Schroeder is a 2001 graduate of Southwest High School and a 2005 graduate of St. Olaf College, where he studied composition primarily with Timothy Mahr and Peter Hamlin. He composed Southwest Memories in the summer of 2016, based on a piano score composed in 2001. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - MORE ON SOUTHWEST MEMORIES
A NOTE FROM THE COMPOSER Fifteen years later, my good friend Reid Wixson, a former classmate at St. Olaf College who is now the band director at Southwest High School, commissioned me to write a new piece in honor of the 75th anniversary of Southwest. Rather than starting from scratch, I decided to adapt my Southwest Memories piano piece into a concert band instrumentation—which became a fun compositional challenge, since the capabilities of a solo piano are pretty different from those of a band. There are instrumental ranges and breath marks to factor in, a much greater range of colors and dynamics, and the need to create entirely new percussion parts that didn't have any corollary in the piano version, to name few considerations. The piece is based on a recurring rhythmic motto of short-short-short-long-long—which translates in Morse code to "SM" for Southwest Memories. The form is essentially a series of brief, interconnected musical episodes that represent fleeting thoughts as one looks back on favorite high school memories. Toward the end of the piece I used a few snippets from three band pieces that I wrote in high school, Scandium, Magnificent Desolation and Now the Trumpet Summons, along with the school song, Southwest Victory, slightly modified in a Lydian scale to give it a more dreamlike quality. Southwest Memories was premiered by the Southwest Wind Ensemble on December 12, 2016, at the Basilica of St. Mary, with Reid Wixson conducting. Three years later I made that performance the title track of my newest CD, Southwest Memories and other music by Carl Schroeder. – Carl Schroeder, March 2020
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PURCHASE A SCORE OR SCORE/PARTS SET Listen to Recording | Performed by the Southwest Wind Ensemble (Reid Wixson, conductor) |
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