Enter The Olympians by Steve Rouse

ENTER THE OLYMPIANS for concert band

Enter The Olympians by Steve Rouse, winner of The Rome Prize. Hear streaming audio on this page. Suitable for middle school bands, 3 1/2 minutes duration, Grade 2.

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PROGRAM NOTES

Enter the Olympians honors the competitive spirit. Although intended primarily for concert use, it can be used to honor teams and individual competitors everywhere.
While Composer In Residence of the Meet The Composer Louisville Residency, I was commissioned to create a new score for the twenty-plus middle school bands of the Jefferson County Public School System. The work was to be appropriate for widely diverse bands: interesting to advanced students, yet accessible to less advanced students or bands with limited instrumentation. For interest, Enter the Olympians uses pedal tones with harmonies suspended above them, canonic fanfare motives, other harmonies not common at this grade level, and a mid-section that features the lower instruments playing the melody. The work's repetition of essential materials and its secure scoring style broaden its accessibility.

I've had the pleasure of working with many groups preparing to perform Enter the Olympians and have had numerous opportunities to conduct performances of the piece. I'm grateful to all of the directors and students who have been so enthusiastic about Enter the Olympians, especially Arthur Luker and Rich Levinson for their experienced advice and guidance. From 1995-1998, I served as Composer in Residence for the Louisville New Residency, a national program of Meet The Composer. Partners in the Louisville New Residency were the Jefferson County Public Schools' Family Resource and Youth Service Centers, the Family and Children's Agency, New Performing Arts, the City of Louisville's Youth Alliance, and the Kentucky Center for the Arts.


PERFORMANCE NOTES

Two moments of harmonic interest should be mentioned. The first, in measure 21 and its recurrence in measure 59, shifts the harmony outside the home key of Bb to a pedal on E natural, the lowered fifth degree of the key. The second moment occurs in the fanfare-like coda of the piece (measures 73 to the end), where major chords in the upper instruments move in and out of agreement with the pedal tone Bb.

In both cases, the notes are not unfamiliar to the students, but the resulting harmonies will likely be new to their ears. Rehearsal time should be taken with these passages to allow the harmonies to settle into the ears and minds of the students. Practice them slowly enough to allow each chord to reach equilibrium and sonic resonance, which will improve both intonation and performance security. Practicing the coda passage both with and without the pedal tone will also be rewarded.
STEVE ROUSE
Instrumentation

1 Full Score
8 Flute
2 Oboe
6 Bb Clarinet 1
6 Bb Clarinet 2
2 Bb Bass Clarinet
5 Eb Alto Saxophone
2 Bb Tenor Saxophone
1 Eb Baritone Saxophone
4 Bb Trumpet 1
4 Bb Trumpet 2
3 F Horn
3 Trombone 1
7 Trombone 2, Euphonium, and Bassoon
2 Euphonium T.C.
4 Tuba
2 Timpani
2 Percussion 1 (Glock.)
3 Percussion 2 (Sn. Drum, Bass Drum)
3 Percussion 3 (Crash Cymb., Susp. Cymb.)

Performance by Laurence Marks conducting the University of Louisville Concert Band

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