SOUTHWEST MEMORIES
FOR WIND ENSEMBLE

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

 

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.


ABOUT THE COMPOSER

Carl Schroeder 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 more than 40 concert bands, orchestras and choirs, including the Air Force Band of Mid-America, Minnesota Youth Symphonies and Chamber Choir Kyiv. He has written works on commissions from the Minnesota Symphonic Winds, Minnesota State Band, Cornell University Symphonic Band, Southwest Wind Ensemble, Calhoun-Isles Community Band, Wells Fargo Chorus and other ensembles and individuals. His music is featured on five CD recordings, his choral work Two December Carols is published by Boosey & Hawkes, and his concert band work Spin is published by C. Alan Publications.

Schroeder is a 2001 graduate of Southwest High School and a 2005 graduate of St. Olaf College in Northfield, Minnesota, where he studied composition primarily with Timothy Mahr and Peter Hamlin. In 2001, he was named "Composer with Most Potential" by the Minnesota Music Educators Association, and in 2004 he was one of three under-25 American composers chosen to participate in the National Band Association’s Young Composer Mentor Project, where he took lessons with composers Mark Camphouse, Donald Grantham and Dana Wilson. He composed Southwest Memories in the summer of 2016, based on a piano score composed in 2001.

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MORE ON SOUTHWEST MEMORIES

A NOTE FROM THE COMPOSER
For my final Southwest High School band concert in June 2001, I composed and performed an 8-minute solo piano piece called Southwest Memories that was a background accompaniment for a slideshow of favorite high school band event photos that my friends and I had taken during the previous four years.

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 instrumentationwhich 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-longwhich 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

CONCERT PERFORMANCES
Dec. 12, 2016: Southwest Wind Ensemble; Reid Wixson, conductor - Minneapolis, MN premiere
VIDEO LINK Watch on YouTube

RECORDINGS
Southwest Memories and other music by Carl Schroeder - Southwest Wind Ensemble; Reid Wixson, conductor


DETAILS AND ORDERING INFORMATION

Instrumentation: pic, 2 fl, ob, bsn, 3 cl, b cl, 2 a sax, t sax, b sax, 3 tpt, 4 hn, 3 tbn, euph, tuba, timp, 4 perc, pno (opt.)
Difficulty Level: Grade 3.5 (Ideal for advanced high school, college and community bands)

PURCHASE A SCORE OR SCORE/PARTS SET

Listen to Recording | Performed by the Southwest Wind Ensemble (Reid Wixson, conductor)