Brainard Lake - (Level IV) was written about one of my favorite hiking areas in Colorado. The Brainard Lake Recreation area has hikes of varying difficulty levels with scenic alpine lakes and peaks over 13,000 feet. I've hiked most of these trails in the area with my wife and my dog, and we often take visiting family members and friends up the Mitchell Lake trail to Blue Lake. Compositionally, this piece was heavily inspired by Dave Grusin's score for the film "On Golden Pond". I have been studying this score in classes and lessons with my digital media composition professor Ludek Drizhal. In the opening sequence of the film, the score reacts to the pacing of medium shots of loons swimming on the lake, extreme long shots, and bird's eye view angles. I attempted to write this piece as if someone edited a film sequence of hiking throughout the Brainard Lake Recreation Area. The climaxes and modulations in this piece are an attempt to imitate how one might score shots of alpine lakes, glades, grazing moose, mischevious marmots, and bird's eye view shots ascending past the tree line into the alpine tundra. Solos are for flugelhorn or alto and trombone or tenor. Alternative parts for piano and bass with sharp enharmonics are available.
9 Brass
View all charts by Greg Weis
Greg Weis is a doctoral student at the University of Northern Colorado. His big band music is regularly performed by the DownBeat Award-winning University of Northern Colorado Jazz Lab Band I. His arrangements and compositions have also been performed by Randy Brecker, Dave Pietro, Antonio Hart, Paul McKee, Greg Gisbert, Bob Sheppard, Jim White, Clay Jenkins, Tanya Darby, the Missouri State University Jazz Studies Ensemble, the Airmen of Note, the Colorado Jazz Orchestra, and numerous high school jazz bands. The Jazz Education Network, the International Society of Jazz Arrangers and Composers, the American Society of Music Arrangers and Composers, and the New York Youth Symphony have recognized Greg's music with honors and awards. His compositions are featured on the debut album for The All Angles Orchestra, a jazz chamber ensemble with strings, woodwinds, and brass.
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