the Hardest Piece I've Ever Had to Play

[WilliamLang]

This definitely won't be everyone's cup of tea - but I think it is certainly the hardest piece I've had to play to date, and it's a very cool document of what color possibilities can occur in a new music setting!

Love me a piece with about 75 High F#s and Gs! I get if you don't like it, but it's my art to make, and with some of my life long friends, and I'm proud of it!

[VJOFan]

There was a point when I was younger that I wasn’t very respectful of new music. It just seemed stupid and self indulgent to me. I grew out of that eventually.

I’ve come to see “new music” as akin to “pure” scientific research. It’s a good in itself to see what possibilities exist. Some experiments are fun for audiences, others not so much but the point is to try stuff in a committed and honest manner. In the end at least new techniques are created and catalogued and sometimes, like with minimalist music, some new pieces make it into the cannon of regularly performed works.

What I’ve noticed listening to modern TV and movie sound tracks is how things that were Avant-garde in the 70’s and 80’s are now used regularly to create perfect atmospheric sound scapes. Thirty seconds of your piece would be fantastic for a scene where the hero has a drug induced nightmare of the biggest fears caused by and warped memories of the central conflict.

And your group is made up of fine musicians. That much is obvious.

[harrisonreed]

It's not my cup of tea, for sure. The group is obviously top notch, though. Your ability to stretch the trombone to its limits is incredible.

It's interesting that even the title of the thread you introduce the piece with is focused on the technical difficulty of the piece rather than the significance or beauty of the work. That's usually how this kind of new music feels to me. The composer just pushes the limits first and the music comes after, if at all.

Anyways, that's the first time I think I've heard Loadbang and the group really seems perfect for presenting this kind of experimental music. I would never even attempt it, but you are playing new works live. Very impressive

[tbdana]

Yeah, I could dance to that. Needs more cowbell, though.

I'm about 19 minutes into it as I post this, and it's not my mason jar of lemonade, either, but I'm digging the vocal and the trombone playing. I love your range and expressiveness. The piece is an interesting journey. I can appreciate it, even if it's not something I would normally listen to.

[NathanSobieralski]

Salt Shaker mute at 19:50! Its super neat to see it used in new music like this, a great implementation on a fine piece of new music. (Some great trumpet playing as well!) Top notch performance by all, congrats!

[AndrewMeronek]

It's kind of wild how effective that ensemble is in terms of orchestration.

[jacobgarchik]

Dope playing, Will.
I don't know why we need all the caveats about how supposedly "hard" to listen to this is...pretty much in the ballpark of late 20th c classical music that we all studied in school. At least, we were supposed to study it in school.
I hear quite a lot of lovely tonal harmony...don't you?

[EriKon]

What Jacob says. And great playing of course! Would love to get back into the new music scene a bit again. It's been a few years since I last played some of it. Always had fun in playing such music.

[tromboneVan]

Impressive playing, William. I particularly enjoyed the interplay between the trumpet and trombone lines. The hard work you put into preparing this piece definitely comes across.

[AtomicClock]

I wish the strings came through the mix better. That must be a constant problem with this instrumentation.

[robcat2075]

Was this piece all notated? Everything you performed was defined by the composer, with no ad lib. passages?

And, if so, may i presume the composer got what he asked for?

I'd be curious to hear of your interactions with the composer in preparing this piece.

[Kbiggs]

Nice playing (and singing) by all! I wish the strings were more present, perhaps slightly amplified, but that could have been the recording.

[dukesboneman]

Glorious piece ! Your Playing and the entire ensemble is Fantastic. This Music is not easy but you all nailed it!!