Marching Orders...

No, it's not what you think. It's just that time of year again when my band directors are busy finalizing the music arrangements for our new marching show in the fall. This year has consisted of a battle between classical sixteenth-note craziness Henry V and amazingly cool theme songs in Video Game Suite. Hmm... not much of a choice says the high school students. There is a choice! shouts the band director. That much classical isn't very march-able says the second-tier band staff. Needless, to say, I'm very much in favor of the Video Game Suite.

You see, it isn't just Atari "beeps" and Pong "bloops". It's music. Good, solid music that is feasible for a marching field. (20 beat-long 16th and 32nd note runs are not!) First movement is the Halo Theme (from "Halo Suite") by Marty O'Donnell. Second movement is from Civilization IV: Coronation and Baba Yetu by Christopher Tin. And all of this is wrapped up by the epically awesome Kingdom Hearts by Yoko Shimanura. The whole she-bang is arranged by Ralph Ford. And it sends chills up and down my spine whenever I hear it. I just know this is the piece for my band. Problem is, the piece is almost 3 minutes too long for the limited time we have on the field.

So, today we were trying to figure out which measures (units of music) to cut from the music without comprimising the integrity of the arrangement itself. You can listen to a professional recording of the whole arrangement here. Tell me what you think. What you like, what you don't. It's pretty much a shoe-in for the show, but I'd like to know your opinion, since the whole point is to entertain the audience. (Please remember, we high-schoolers are far from being pros, will be marching on a field, and have only 7-7.5 minutes. So give a lil' grace.)

And tomorrow, don't forget to look out for Alan's Triple W interview!