Key Poulan’s Concert Band works have graced the stages of Carnegie Hall (New York City) and other prominent festivals including Bands of America’s National Concert Band Festival (Indianapolis, IN), Texas Music Educators Association Convention (San Antonio, TX) and the Western Band Association Concert Band Festival (Fresno, CA). Free shipping to continental U.S.
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The Rise Of The Honor March celebrates American ideals of patriotism, individuality, and the pursuit of happiness. The piece opens with a military-style drum cadence and maintains a classic American march form in traditional march key signatures of B-flat and E-flat in the trio section. The B section features a rare flute solo in counterpoint to the lyrical clarinet melody. Low reeds should be the focal point of the trio section. Rich and varied orchestration gives the piece a wide range of textures throughout—each family of instruments gets its own moment to shine—and, a few instances of strategic silence allow the music itself to breathe within the concert hall setting. The Rise Of The Honor March was commissioned by Director Robert Madrid for the Washington Union High School Band in Easton, California, for their 2021 performance season. Though written for concert band, this piece also perfectly adapts to street marching and parade settings. |
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Triumphant Fanfare commemorates the tenure and legacy of 2008 outgoing President of Texas A&M, Commerce, Dr. Keith McFarland, and evokes a feeling of momentary arrival and hard-fought accomplishment, with a reminder of the journey ahead into an uncertain but exciting future. The piece opens with a dramatic trumpet call that is answered by each brass instrument, successively stacking into richer harmonies until their resolution in a lush, dark chord. The trombone and brass sections of the band are featured heavily throughout, with woodwinds and percussion providing flourishes of color and texture that balance under the brass features and never overtake the ensemble. |
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Luminosity is a dynamic modern work for concert band inspired by Thomas Alva Edison’s process and persistence when developing one of human history’s most important inventions—the incandescent light bulb. Constructed of three large sections, Luminosity becomes an emotive interpretation of the inner workings of Edison’s own mind as he struggled for years before finally making technological history. Upper woodwinds open Luminosity with a winding flourish, reminiscent of the electric path and speed at which thoughts travel among billions of neurons within the human brain. Its arrival at the jubilant brass fanfare represents Edison’s metaphorical point of arrival at his brilliant concept for the incandescent light bulb, the initial strike of inspiration. The next transition recreates the sounds of a late 19th Century workshop. Mirroring the churning of Edison’s own innovative mind like that of a machine, the music takes on a distinctly mechanical character. Tight, detached woodwind articulations with stiff, metronomic rhythms in the percussion mimic the workshop sounds of steam engines and machine gears. Edison’s creative fury comes through as the workshop sounds become layered with contrasting interjections from the brass and woodwinds, representing concepts and fragments within Edison’s mind swirling around each other without ever connecting. The frequency and urgency of the interjections build over the steady pulse of the workshop, representing Edison’s growing frustration with thousands of failed experiments and prototypes as he remains on the cusp of discovery. Transitioning back into Edison’s mind along the electric currents of his thoughts, the music introduces a flowing melody under the electric pulses of the upper woodwinds and mallets. Thoughts stack upon themselves like unresolved chords, overwhelming his manic mind before all thought goes completely silent. The next major section of Luminosity reflects on Thomas Edison’s personal growth through the painfully slow and nonlinear process of scientific invention. Tender woodwind melodies begin to flow in counterpoint over lush, stirring chords. The music feels vulnerable and becomes warm with humanity and passion, aching and always reaching for some resolution that feels just beyond reach. The initial spark of inspiration returns to close the piece in the final major section. Edison’s incandescent light bulb finally switches on—the dark themes from earlier in the piece are now bright, brilliant, and warm; Edison’s unsettled and disjointed thoughts are now free-flowing like electricity through a completed circuit. The woodwind flourishes overlay the jubilant brass fanfare in perfect synchrony like a well-oiled machine. Luminosity was commissioned by Director Keith Hodgson for the South Jersey Area Wind Ensemble. |
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