Download Portrait of A Clown Frank Ticheli (born 1958)

Portrait of A Clown
Frank Ticheli (born 1958)
Composer
Frank Ticheli (b. 1958) is currently Composer-in-Residence of the Pacific
Symphony Orchestra, and Assistant Professor of Music at the University of
Southern California. A native of Louisiana, Ticheli received his doctoral and masters degrees in composition from the University of Michigan. His compositions for wind
ensemble and concert band have brought him numerous accolades, including the 1989
Walter Beeler Prize for Music for Winds and Percussion, and First Prize in the eleventh
annual "Symposium for New Band Music.”
Other Ticheli band works include Postcard, Gaian Visions, Fortress, and Cajun Folk Songs.
Composition
Portrait of a Clown, published in 1988, is a musical portrait of the comical and
gentle sides of a clown. It was composed for, and first performed by the
Murchison, Texas Middle School Matador Band, under Cheryl Floyd. The work,
in ABA form.
HistoricaL Perspective
Programmatic music has been an important part of music history for many years.
Composers as varied
, as Hector Berlioz (Symphonie Fantastique), Modest
Mussorgsky (Pictures at an Exhibition), and Claude Debussy (Pre1ude a l'apres-midi d'un faune)
sought to portray characters, moods, and events through musical means.
In addition, today's motion pictures often rely on the creative and imaginative
ideas of composers (John Williams, for example) to bring a complete and effective presentation to an audience.
Stylistic Considerations
Staccato, slurred legato, and legato-tongued articulations are required in this
work. The staccato passages should have a "lifted" with a clean "tah" front to
notes in this style, especially the A theme. The B theme is marked espressivo, with legato
articulation. The difference in style from the A section must be heard clearly, but at the
same tempo as the A theme. Throughout the piece, either the A or B themes are
always present. Balance of melody versus accompaniment should consistently be
monitored.
Miles, Richard B., and Larry Blocher. "Portrait of a Clown." Teaching
music through performance in band . Chicago: GIA Publications, 1997.
132-133. Print.