Prologue

Prologue

For orchestra

Prologue is not for sale.

As the opening piece to my senior composition recital at UCSB, Prologue features 16 trombones plug symphony orchestra.

The 16 trombones are arranged in quartets and surround the audience. That's one quartet for each corner of the auditorium. The parts are split amongst the trombone players to provide every combination of surround-sound experiences to the audience.

Instrumentation

Trombone choir:

  • 4 quartets of
    • Trombone 1-3
    • Bass trombone

Orchestra:

  • Piccolo
  • Flute 1-2
  • Oboe 1-2
  • Bb Clarinet 1-2
  • Bass clarinet
  • Bassoon 1-2
  • F Horn 1-4
  • C Trumpet 1-3
  • Trombone 1-2
  • Bass trombone
  • Tuba
  • Timpani
  • Percussion 1-3
  • Harp
  • Violin 1-2
  • Viola
  • Cello
  • String bass

Completion Date

April 2019

Fun facts

  • Prologue includes references to every other piece in the recital
  • I'm a huge John Williams fan, so there are over 20 references to famous John Williams scores in this piece. Can you find them all?
  • Unfortunately, the camera crew didn't show up to the final performance so there isn't a recording… and I didn't find out until afterward.
  • I wrote the entire piece in just 3 days during Spring Break. That's 15,785 notes in 3 days, or about 7 notes every second (for 12-hour workdays). Yep, I was on a time crunch.