Description

Indirectly inspired by the painting Carnet de Voyage by Guy Weir, Tour de Force is the story of a bicycle race that begins as a rush to the finish, but ends as a race away from danger. The piece begins with a fanfare section, like something a spectator might hear at the beginning of a race. As the riders settle into their groove, the music follows them along the course, beginning with a ride through a forest dominated by the low reeds. The saxophones then take the audience onto a hot, sandy part of the course, and as the clarinets join in, an ominous presence begins to make itself known. The race takes a sudden, unexpected turn for the worse when a mountain lion emerges and begins chasing the main group of riders.

The riders begin to pedal more frantically in an effort to escape, all the while staying on the course. As Tour de Force began to take on a life of its own, I let it roam freely, only to find that the finish line was indeed where the race had begun. However, by the time the finish line is crossed, the piece has a very different, desperate vibe to it.

After I finished the piece, my band director gave the first edit to my high school’s wind ensemble, surprising us all when she announced that we would be playing the piece at our Winter Concert. But the journey that began with the writing of Tour de Force was far from over. I got to see firsthand how a piece progresses from notes on paper to music in the air, and I got valuable feedback from my peers. I began to understand how conductors and musicians might see things differently than composers. After several edits, Tour de Force became the piece it is today, and my classmates found they enjoyed playing the piece as much as I enjoyed writing it.

Tour is still available, but I owe the percussion parts a good reformatting. As such, it’s not available for instant delivery right now. Use the form below to get in touch for a copy! If you’d rather wait to see the preview copy, it should be available in early 2022.

Run time: approx. 4’30”.

Watch the Santa Teresa High School Wind Ensemble (featuring Very Baby Me over there on piano) give the world premiere of Tour back in 2012:

Past performances:

• 3/1/2013: The Playathon, Santa Teresa High School, San Jose, CA
• 12/11/2012: Santa Teresa High School, San Jose, CA (world premiere)

A word on my large ensemble policy: I am fully aware that the circumstances of your ensemble’s instrumentation and/or your judges’ requirements for festival score submissions may require you to print additional copies of the scores and/or parts you purchase from me. That’s totally fine! Every time you buy a PDF from me, you also buy the right to make as many copies as your ensemble needs—for this performance and in the future. If you need written permission to possess and use additional copies of a score, shoot me an email (either with your initial order or before your performance) or use my Contact form. I’ll happily write you one!

Unavailable Piece Request

Use this form to get in contact with me about a piece that's either temporarily or permanently unavailable. I do sometimes approve and send out works I've taken off my For Sale page, but be advised: it's a rare thing, partly because getting those pieces ready to go would involved a lot of time and labor that I might need to dedicate elsewhere. Still, if there's something specific you're looking for, tell me about you and your project! Even if I can't make that piece available, I might be able to recommend something else (either of my own or by someone I admire). DO NOT use this form for pieces whose descriptions say "I control where this one goes pretty tightly." Those web pages have their own form! Thank you!

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Piece names here, please. You can always reference my full works list if you're not sure.

Talk to me about your programming goals/needs with this piece. *

What I really want to know here: why THIS piece? Some questions that might help you structure your response: are you working with an ensemble at a specific skill level? Is there a particular subject matter you're programming for this project? Do you just really like how the piece sounds?

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