Road Less Traveled, The

The Road Less Traveled is a cinematically-inspired work that depicts hiking to a mountain summit while also calling for musicians and audiences to pursue their own individual summits in their own lives.

Program Notes

The Road Less Traveled is an allegorical work that depicts hiking to a mountain summit while also calling for musicians and audiences to pursue their own individual summits in life. Descriptive words found in earlier sections include ‘meditative’ and ‘empowering’. The intensity of the piece grows as brass melodies rise higher and stronger. Descriptive phrases such as ‘expansive, breaking free’ and ‘surmounting, panoramic’ bring the musical material to its apex as one could imagine looking from the summit to see miles of landscape. On the trek back, the listener hears familiar melodies as the music includes descriptive words like ‘reminiscing’, ‘transformed’, and ‘with finality’. This journey comes to a close with a held note in the clarinets to signify the unending call to surmount the next mountain in our life.

Grade Level: 2.5
Copyright: 2022
Number of Players: Standard
Series: Sapphire Band Series

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Instrumentation

Flute 1
Flute 2
Oboe
Bassoon
B-flat Clarinet 1
B-flat Clarinet 2
Bass Clarinet
Alto Saxophone 1
Alto Saxophone 2
Tenor Saxophone
Baritone Saxophone

B-flat Trumpet 1
B-flat Trumpet 2
F Horn
Trombone 1
Trombone 2
Euphonium
Baritone T.C.
Tuba

Timpani [4 drums]
Bells
Vibraphone, Suspended Cymbal
Chimes
Bass Drum