John Meehan releases some of his famous Blue Devils Hornline chord progressions and a new chorale adapted for marching band. Starburst and Afterburner are two power chord progressions excellent for focusing on pitch in all dynamic ranges. These Empty Tears is a beautiful chorale designed to be played in a variety of different styles and dynamics to maximize your performer’s skill level. Take your ensemble warm-ups to the next level with these high-intensity exercises.
Directors Notes for These Empty Tears:
As we were preparing for the 2022 Blue Devils season, Caption Head Chip Crotts asked me if I would compose a chorale for the brass section. He wanted to make sure they had a short warm-up piece which could played everyday, and treated in a myriad of ways, such as singing, bopping, subdivided, full duration, and with different variations of dynamics. As a fundamental addition to daily technique exercises, chorales are extremely valuable for development in sound, breath control, phrasing, and overall musicality. Harmonically, “These Empty Tears” moves between major and minor tonalities, allowing the students to develop their ears through a variety of key centers and chordal changes. This chorale is arranged in a way so as it can be played solely by your brass, or your woodwinds, or the full wind section together. Within both the brass and woodwind choirs, each section has primary material at some point in the chorale, allowing for a stronger understanding of Melody vs Harmony balance across the ensemble.
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