#39 Suggested Repertoire from Around the World for Developing Bands

This 39th installment of suggested repertoire is proposed by Dr. Jodie Blackshaw is a distinguished composer, educator, and researcher with over 30 years of experience in wind symphony and music education. Holding a PhD from the Australian National University, she serves as a WASBE Board Member and is Lecturer in Composition at her alma mater. As the founder of Teaching Performance through Composition and ColourFULL Music, she champions inclusive programming and student agency. An award-winning composer and sought-after keynote speaker, she proudly bridges artistic creation with educational innovation.

About this set of works:

In this collection of Australian works, I wanted to demonstrate the impact that the vast, open landscape of our country has on our compositional approach. In each of the works featured here, you may notice the use of space, open textures and ringing timbres. Space is a feature of Australian music and I often talk about it within the context of my own works. Australia is the sixth largest country in the world, yet our population is only approximately 25.5 million people. Much of our territory is uninhabitable, yet it is profoundly beautiful and for many, deeply spiritual.

Whether the works are inspired by the landscape, imagery, fauna or the essence of one they hold dear, each composer utilities space in a way that is not often found in wind band composition. Indeed it was the rolling Adelaide hills of South Australia that inspired Grainger's only original melody, first presented in 'Up country tune' and later developed in 'Colonial Song'.

It is this exploration of space within the thick textures of the tonal resonance of the wind symphony that makes Australian wind repertoire such an invaluable addition to the repertoire.

Please use these pieces as place to start, and be sure to also check out works by Australian Composers featured on the Wind Repertory Project website: https://www.windrep.org/Category:Australian_Composers

To learn more about the impact of landscape and space on Australian music, consider the text "The Soundscapes of Australia" edited by Fiona Richards (Richards, F. (Ed.). (2007). The Soundscapes of Australia: Music, Place and Spirituality (1st ed.). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781351218184).

Grade 2

Migaloo (2023) – 4'10" – Purchase at Brolga Music Publishing Company

Claire Petherick (Australia)

Migaloo (White Whale) is an adult, albino humpback whale who journeys each year from the cold waters of the Antarctic, up the eastern coast of Australia, north to the warm waters of Queensland. The name, Migaloo, in some Indigenous languages means "white fella". Evoking a sense of the large and graceful creature swimming, Migaloo (White Whale) represents elements of the playful dispositions and enchanting whale songs of humpback whales.

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Grade 3

Indah Pagi (2015) – 4'35" – Purchase at Brolga Music Publishing Company

Brian Hogg (Australia, 1953)

While much of the indigenous music of Bali is played on percussion instruments, not woodwind & brass as in a concert band, there are certain aspects of the style captured within Indah Pagi. The use of percussion is obviously important but the layered rhythmic patterns and the modal construction of the melodies help give a distinct Balinese flavour.

The narrative of the music is quite simple and straightforward. A quiet morning, sunrise, life and warmth beginning the day. Then a stroll through the villages and rice terraces taking in the sounds of the people at work and children at play, along with the local gamelan.

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Grade 2

Salon Morisot (2019) – 9' – Purchase at Jodie Blackshaw Music

Jodie Blackshaw (Australia, 1971)

Salon Morisot is a suite of three miniatures entitled "Majesty", "Devotion" and "Enchantment" that are inspired by the remarkable artistry of little known female French impressionist artist, Berthe Morisot (1841-1895). Morisot was highly admired by her fellow Impressionist colleagues and her works were exhibited in the very first (and many consequential) Impressionist ‘Salon’ of 1874 (a Salon being an exhibition). Many famous artists held an original Morisot artwork in their private collections including Manet, Monet, Degas and Pissarro. Morisot married Édouard Manet’s younger brother Eugene Manet and her painting styles are regarded as a driving force behind the Impressionist style. The three miniatures in this program are inspired by three Morisot artworks that depict a particular period in her life.

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Grade 3

Nurture (2017) – 4'52" – Purchase at Windependence/Hal Leonard

Edward Fairlie (Australia, 1982)

There are some people for whom the act of nurturing is innate.The work they do is often unheralded, acknowledgement of their effort the last thing on their mind. But nurturers carry pain, too. Their own burdens, anxieties and hardships often take a back seat to that nurturing impulse. This piece is a meditation on that idea; that some people, not without their own deep personal obstacles, can't help but live out the powerful instinct to hold those around them in a warm embrace of care.” ~Edward Fairlie

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Grade 3.5

Aurora Musis Amica (2014) – 3' – Purchase at Matt Klohs

Sally Greenaway (Australia, 1984)

Opening with a soundscape reminiscent of the dawn bursting into colour over a still lake, the piece unfolds into an uplifting and hopeful fanfare before fading back into a wash of colours for the final bars.

Not a traditional fanfare, the piece evokes images of Canberra, Australia located between Sydney to the North and Melbourne to the South. The opening bowed metallic percussion give a sense of that first ray of light coming from the horizon over Lake Burley Griffin and the towering National Carillon. With an ascending fifth, from G to D, the French Horn summons the sun to rise further, stirring the Australian wildlife. In its entirety, the opening is a vivid crescendo leading to a remarkably clear and rich blue sky as Solo Trumpet gives the first statement of the fanfare, with a dance-like harmonic underpinning from the woodwinds.

(program notes written by Eric Posner)

Here I am, contemplating the dawn again.

This early morning time has become irresistible,

a moment with my thoughts and with awesome splendor.

Often there are no words that can express the awareness

of the universe as I watch light wash over the horizon.

Dawn is friend of the muses.

Aurora musis amica.

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