Download File - Henry Mulligan

Title: Night Dances
Date: 1994
Composer: Bruce Yurko (1951-)
Grade: Level: 3
Length: between 7 and 7:30 minutes
Publisher: Ludwig Music, 557 E. 140th St. Cleveland OH 44110-1999
Night Dances
This character piece written for the middle school level is a unique piece in terms of
form, harmony, and stylistic demand. Composed with the intention to teach these
concepts, it also is quite entertaining to the average listener. This piece includes
several distinct ‘dances’ that offer new opportunities to the performers, and create
conflicting but satisfying listening experiences. The form is unpredictable and
intentionally uneven, and the technical challenges are limited, allowing students to
focus on compositional and stylistic aspects as well. According to Yurko, he wanted
to introduce 20th century sounds and minimalism to students. And, as this piece was
a commission, he had each instrument accounted for in the part, which resulted in a
multitude involved and crucial percussion parts.
The Heart of this piece is it’s mysterious and intriguing characters that showcase
atonal sonorities and creative forms.
Introduction ActivityComposer Bruce Yurko, in a phone interview, said he composed this piece
around the question “You are on a desert island at night, what do you hear?.”
I will as this question on the board and I will lead the class on a vision quest. I
ask them to close their eyes, breathe, and give them vague but guiding questions so
they form their own island.
 What season is it? What plants are around? Animals? How big is the island?
How far can you see? What do the stars look like?
Although not all of my suggestions will be leading questions. I will also focus on
more sensory experiences (other than vision).
 Feel the sand on your feet. Hear the wind, and the waves. Feel the plants and
animals. Describe the colors. Awake from sleep and sit up. Then stand up.
After the vision quest, students will write about what they had experienced, and
write down with as much detail as possible their experience.
Based on my guidance, well will fill in categories on the board as a class,
creating a more unified vision of our desert island, comparing it to our individual
island.
As a class, we will then listen to the piece. Students will be asked to
remember the aspects of the island, and find parallels in the music. They will write
down which musical aspects and moments reminded them of both their own vision,
and our class’s vision. I also will ask them to add to their vision, for as the piece
moves through different characters, a story should unfold.
Experiences like this help us make music. They give pieces personal
meaning, which helps give us something to communicate. It also helps us interpret
the music, both in giving meaning to the symbols on the page, and giving us a vision
for how the piece sounds overall. Experiences influence our performance. As an
educator I believe in giving music meaning any way I can.
Bruce YurkoWilkes College- Bachelors of Science in Music Education
Studied horn with Douglas Hill
Corresponded with Vincent Persichetti
Ithaca College- Masters in Performance
Studied Conducting with Thomas Michalik,
Horn with Jack Covert,
Composition with Karel Husa
Brief Career Histroy
1974-1981
Director of Bands at Madison Hish School, Madison NJ
1981-2005
Wind Ensemble, Orchestra, and Chamber Music conductor at Cherry High School
East, Cherry Hill NJ
The Wind Ensemble performed in Carnegie hall, Verizon Hall
1982-2003
Conducted Cherry Hill HS West Wind Ensemble, Cherry Hill NJ
1987
CHE Wind Ensemble tours Soviet Union, Performing in Leningrad Moscow, and
Tallinn Estonia
He has conducted 3 NJ regional honor wind ensembles, all state wind ensemble, and
all state symphony band
1990
received “Citation of Excellende” From NBA
2005
retired
2008 september
adjunct professor of music:
Messiah College
Rowan University
Current Commissions:
Messiah College Wind Ensemble, South Carolina All State Band, US Air Force Band,
Westfield Community Band, Roxbury HS Freshman Concert Band, Eastman Wind
Ensemble
He has guest conducted in Main, New York, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Virginia,
Maryland, North and South Carolina, Georgia, and Texas.
Conducting Workshops
-Fredrick Fennell, Donald Hunsberger, H. Robert Reynolds, Euguene Migliaro
Corporon
Other Works
 After Sunset
 Chand and Toccata
 Concerto for Flute and Wind Ensemble
 Concerto for Horn
 Concerto for Percussion and Wind Ensemble
 Danza no. 2 (2008)
 Danza no. 3
 Emc-x
 In Memoriam: Kristina
 Intrada
 Medieval Variations
 Night Dances
 Nigh Dances No. 2
 Pastoral Nocturne
 Red Tail Skirmish
 Sinfonietta
I gathered some information from a KSU Student who had a phone interview with
Bruce Yurko about the piece. Some valuable information was gathered and is
displayed below. The link is also displayed.
http://krex.k-state.edu/dspace/handle/2097/17576
There also was an article that gave me some other valuble qotes. Here is the link.
http://www.thewilkesbeacon.com/top-stories/2016/03/01/civic-band-set-toperform-at-state-conference/
The concert band will perform Yurko’s 1994 Night Dances Number II, which is the sequel of
his famous Night Dances composition.
“Night Dances is the piece that sells out over everything I wrote,” Yurko explained. “The
piece was tailor-made to the original high school band that performed it. It was centered
around the band playing together then having each chorus play separately.”
The piece is based around four night dances. In a phone interview with Yurko, he explained these night
dances by asking the question, “You are on a desert island at night, what do you hear?”23
Yurko relishes the challenge of composing a work that will have his voice for the limited instrumentation
and technical ability of middle school musicians. Night Dances will have the instrumentation of the Dover
Band: two flutes, oboe, three clarinets, bass clarinet, bassoon, four saxophones, three trumpets, two horns,
three trombone parts for six players, baritone horn, tuba, and ten percussionists! Yurko requested an
inventory of the school’s percussion instruments. He uses all of them in the work, including tunable
marching tom-toms.28
Yurko recalls that Muccilli wanted something extremely challenging for the Dover Middle School Concert
Band. The philosophy behind Night Dances was to introduce 20th century sounds and concepts to
Muccilli’s ensemble. Yurko explains, “The whole intro is based off of the question ‘Imagine you are on a
desert island, what do you hear?’ It could be impressionistic, whatever happens happens…The timpani part
has a gliss which is the first time it has been written for middle school groups…Page 16 is my attempt to
explain minimalism to middle school students. Everyone has something repetitive.”30 Yurko also wanted
to make sure that every section had something to do and composed numerous chamber music moments
within the piece for all of the sections to experience as seen in table 4.3.
This clearly demonstrates bitonality, or “twenthy century sounds” accourding to Yurko.41
Analysis
FormEach dance varies in length, making the overall structure of each section
rather unpredictable. Our intro dance is 16 measures, but when this material
appears again later it is only 7 measures. Dance A lasts 33 measures, Dance B lasts
21 measures, Dance C lasts 45 measures, and Dance D lasts 21 measures. Only
Dances B and C return, and when they do they are not in that order and they are
shorter. The varied tempi allow them to take up different amounts of time, but there
is an obvious attempt at creating a form that credits itself to harmonic and melodic
interest, as opposed to fitting into any traditional formula.
The actual phrase structures on the smaller level are rather predictable.
Yurko uses a lot of minimalistic compositional techniques in this piece, such as
repetition, fragmentation, rhythmic displacement, melodic transformation. I argue
that this is not a minimalist piece, for it has numerous contrasting sections, but
within each section there is repetition and recycling of material that cannot be
ignored.
The pieces intro is mysterious and directionless, as the chimes and bells play
outside of tonality. Then the first dance uses two bar melody/harmony to add
complexity and slight direction to the music. An exotic rhythm pushes forward
underneath in the toms, supported by other percussion. The intro returns, adding
winds to the atonal message to bring us into the next dance. The second dance
charges in, giving the impression of more typical band music, but fragments and
alters its melody with different phrase lengths, and displacement within each cell.
The next dance gives us a triumphant 4 bar trumpet solo that seems normal at first,
then is split up between various instruments, and repurposed for the woodwinds,
creating a repeating loop of voices handing off to each other. Then we slow things
down with new harmonies, using old notes, and reintroducing the triumphant
trumpet solo with a new treatment, and new location in the measure. For a few bars
after, the third dance’s voice trading returns, and the piece heads out with our
seconds official dance with fragmented melodies, ending with percussion solos over
the whole band’s held note.
Rhythm
For the winds, rhythms in this piece are rather repetitive. I anticipate
students claiming to play the same thing over and over again, and they would
consider it boring if it wasn’t for the harmonies and certain transformations. The
first featured melody contains dotted rhythms, but at slow tempos, which make
them more manageable.
There are two big challenges however. Thanks to the tempos, some of these
sections require some fast tonguing. For brass instruments, at full tempo, I would
recommend introducing double tonguing as a concept.
The other challenge involves the rhythmic displacements scattered in the
second and third dance. In the both dances, there are offbeat entrances in cut time,
and students will have to anticipate key points of the melody and harmony starting
at different location sin the measure, and in the phrases. The asymmetry will catch a
lot of students offguard. Occastionally there are also ties across the measure, which
can also prove difficult for students.
Compositionally, the more tonal an are is, the more square it’s rhythms are.
This doesn’t mean that it is easier to coordinate, or play, but it doesn mean that it
will be easier to find the pulse.
Melody
In terms of analyzing melody, there are either several categories. It can fall
under totally atonal, like the tritones and the chime parts. It can also be considered
part of the Ab natural minor scale, which makes up the first dance. Bb major is
another category of melodies that carries into dances 2,3, and some of 4.
Most melodies are considered “Chord Toppers”, where homophonic rhythms
allow harmony to move exactly with the melody, adding to their uniqueness. Other
melodies act without such necessary harmonies, but they eventually get fragmented
and spread out between several instruments, which can end up playing as little as
two notes of the melody before moving onto the next group.
Harmony
This was the most difficult analytical task for me. Since it was Bruce Yurko’s
goal to introduce 20th century sounds, there is a combination of atonality, bitonality,
and basic tonality.
The first melody, which I call the intro melody, contains a figure that could be
seen as a Db minor to Ab minor motion. However, without context it sounds like a
series of intervals that could allow for a variety of progressions.
Then there are a series of tritones, which further removes the opening from
context.
This melody in particular was complicated in terms of analysis. The chord
progression doesn’t lend itself to any system I am familiar with. I even asked a
composer friend, who is skilled in this sort of analysis. The only catch I could find
was that A, the melody is a melodic minor figure, and B, every note is used in this
two bar progression. Just like the sentence “the quick brown fox jumped over the
lazy dog” uses every letter, all 12 possible pitches appear here, and thanks to the
melody, it doesn’t sound completely void of a tonal center.
In this section, the figure from the intro is reintroduced. In this context it is
clearly heard as an ornamented Db minor moving to Ab minor. Combined with the
first dances melody, it has a looping effect that allows repetition to sound smooth
and continuous.
The Con Spirito section starts with a unison Bb, and as time goes by Yurko
adds notes to the complexity of the section. The trumpets and trombones add a
minor 3rd, making this leap the official melody. The 5ths is added, then the major
third, which gives us bitonality. Then we add an F major chord, giving us a minor 1
and major 5 at the same time, and the saxophones add a D major chord, which
completes the cycle of complexity for this dance.
The next dance, which I have labeled triumphant, contains a Bb major
arpeggiated figure with an added 2. I would call it a Bb9 harmony, but there is no Ab
featured.
During Andante, we get another vague progression just like in the Misterioso
dance. The melody now centers around Bb minor, while the harmony uses more Bb
major chords. The way the horizontal harmonies work out, the use of F minor, Ab,
and Db chords give this run a lowered fifth, and a third that darts between minor
and major. This harmony also provides a context that the triumphant trumpet solo
fits into yet again.
Textures
In his phone interview, Yurko admitted to using every instrument
experienced some sort of chamber experience with his or her own choir. Trios of
flutes and clarinets are often features, while saxophone/horn trios highlight
harmonic changes. Brass groupings tended to be more unison, and interacted more
in melody fragmentation rather than the harmonic complexity the woodwinds were
given.
These devices are often what cause each dance to realize their character.
Woodwinds in their mid to low range created more mysterious atmosphere, while
the brass caused more electric and exciting dances. Percussion truly set the tone for
these sections however. If the winds were to all drop out, the gist of the piece could
mostly be communicated anyway.
Learning Outcomes:
Skill Outcomes
 Students will become adept at performing melody fragmented between
sections without affecting tempo
Note Passing Game


o Students will take a familiar melody and plan to play it in band,
bringing it into class after researching it from home
o The students will divide the band into sections per instrument, and
establish some sort of playing order (the teacher will aid in this
order).
o Students will play only one note as a part of their section, and the
following section will take over one note, and so on.
Assessment
o Informal assessment with a metronome will be used as the game
progresses
o Recordings of the class will be used when near 100% perfection is
assumed by the students, and played for self assessment
Students will be able to improvise with tritones
o Students will listen to the vibraphone play measures 8 and 9
o The class will be given some time to play their instruments and guess
on their own what notes they were
o The class will learn about the difference between a 5th, 4th, and a
tritone
o Using a similar note passing format, students will be given a note at
random, and will be asked to find the triton from it. They will say it,
then play it.
Knowledge Outcomes
 Students will be able to identify, compose, perform a variety of minimalist
compositional techniques
o Students will be given a melody, as well as a list of compositional
techniques typically used my minimalist composers
o Students will, in class, divide up into groups of 4 or so, and manipulate
the melodies for a 2 minute performance
o Students will guess each others chosen compositional techniques
 Assessment
o Choose at least 3 approved techniques provided in a handout.
o Fill 2 minutes of performance time
o How well could the class guess your techniques
 Students will learn the Ab natural minor scale, and compare it to the various
other minor scales (harmonic and melodic)
o Students will practice, as an ensemble, the Ab natural minor scale
 First five notes, then second five notes, put those together, vary
the rhythms
o Students will be asked what the difference is between the major scale,
and the harmonic minor scale respectively
o Students will the make a diagram on staff paper of the intervals that
exist between each note of the major, harmonic minor, and natural
minor scales.

o Students will have a solo recording assignment in which they submit a
recording of themselves playing the Ab natural minor scale, 8th notes
at 80, at 100% accuracy
o Students will improvise over a drone in class as an activity
Assessment
o Students and teachers will self evaluate the recording, about 1
paragraph each
 They will write about challenges, and weather or not they
achieved their goals
o The in-class improvising will informally demonstrate another level of
comfort
Affective Outcomes:




Students will work together, as a class to create an agreed upon narrative for
Night Dances
o As part of their vision quest assignment, students were asked to add
events to their vision quest to make a story
o Students will submit their individual desert island vision quests
online on a Google document
o The class, on their own time, will vote for their favorite vision quest
stories. This will involve the stories most recently developed.
o After tallying the votes, the top 3 stories will be combined to create
our class narrative. This will involve further development and
storyboarding as a class.
Assessment
o The physical copies of the finished product will be judged per criteria
based on the depth of detail in relation to guiding questions.
o Participation in voting and in class time will be considered as well.
Students will listen to similar pieces, one other piece from Bruce Yurko, and
one from Vincent Persichetti
o As a class, and alone, students will listen to Night Dances 2
o As a class, and alone, students will listen to Vincent Persichetti’s
Masquerade
o For both pieces they will answer questions about the formal,
expressive and textural aspects of these pieces.
o For masquerade, they will be asked to answer certain questions about
Assessment
o Students will submit the answers to their questions and be graded
o Students will then be asked to compare one of the two pieces in essay
format to assess the depth of their analysis.