Cat No. JM49147
Price £39.95
Composer: Paul Lovatt-Cooper
Category: TEST PIECES (Major Works)

Skylines was written for the National Youth Brass Band Championships of Great Britain 2009.

Duration approx. 7.00

Programme Notes
At the time of writing this piece, the majority of my compositions have featured, as their inspiration, various countries, places and images from around the world, animals, major events, disasters and matters of both fiction and reality.

This is the first musical opportunity I have had to visit my roots in Lancashire and thanks to Lancashire Contests, who have commissioned me to write this piece, I am able to paint my own personal portrait of this great county.
Lancashire boasts hundreds of fantastic places to go and visit and great celebrities and personalities. In particular the way the music scene has developed has made a real mark on me - from The Beatles to Take That, some amazing Lancashire bands have hit the music world. Great concert venues such as the Bridgewater Hall, the MEN arena, Preston’s Guild Hall and Winter Gardens Blackpool to name a few have hosted an amazing array of musical talent that have travelled to Lancashire to perform.

Famous places and events in Lancashire have made their mark in musical history, including concerts and live events at the Reebok Stadium, Old Trafford and the City of Manchester Stadium. Also, Manchester’s famous Hacienda Night Club and the world famous Wigan Jazz Festival have shaped
Lancashire’s musical input and output.

The vision I had when composing Skylines was of looking out, at dusk over the various skylines that Lancashire has to offer and imagining hearing music from the various events mentioned above. Of course if you heard every sound at the same time it would just be chaos, so for this particular piece I’ve opted for music heard at events like the Wigan Jazz Festival and at various jazz and blues clubs around Lancashire.

Skylines is composed in a funk style with a rigid bass line allowing various soloists to shine. It is composed in a style that many brass band traditionalists won’t find stereotypical. That doesn’t mean it won’t challenge the youth bands who attempt to perform it though!

Skylines will test all of the sections of the band and will provide a great opportunity for ensembles to develop their rhythmic playing, soloistic style and general ensemble skills. It is fresh and different and I hope that both bands and audiences enjoy each performance.

Performance Notes
The piece is in a funk style and shouldn’t be rushed. Bands should stay within the tempo markings ( = 106- 114) for their performances. There are obvious cues within the parts (small notes) where performers can play certain notes or group of notes either an octave higher or lower if desired. Also in some of the tutti sections where there are quite difficult running semi-quaver lines, some of the parts are marked optional for players (small notes) who may struggle with those lines and wish to omit them.

Solo Passages :
The middle of the piece has a great opportunity for bands to show off their talented soloists. This starts at rehearsal letter J and continues through to N. The section gives the opportunity for the conductors and bands to choose four different soloists to play the solos marked.
There are tour 8-bar solos at J, K, L and M respectively. The solos may be played by anyone apart from the BL? bass who along with the drum kit and other E bass players play the rhythmic pulse indicated. It is at the conductor’s discretion who they want to play each solo but it must be only one player each time, and they must stand at the front of the band (as they would when performing as a soloist) each in turn to play their solo and return to their seat at the end of their solo. Separate B, EL and C solo parts are provided for use at the solo stands.
Bands can have any combination of soloists (e.g. Euphonium then Trombone, Horn and finally Soprano Cornet, or B Bass then Repiano Cornet, Flugel Horn and Solo Cornet). However, each solo must be played by a different player each time and one player cannot play two solos during this section.
After the solos, the parts then return back to their normal scoring which takes us to a new section at rehearsal figure N. This section is lead by a solo cornet duet played with harmon mutes. The duettists (like the previous soloists) must stand out at the front during this section and return to their seats at the end of their duet where marked at P. The duet players at rehearsal figure N are allowed to play this section even if they played one of the previous solos between J and N.

Band Formation :
The bands can either perform this piece in their normal band formation or if they wish, may opt for a ‘big band’ set up to suit the style of the music.
Paul Lovatt-Cooper, December2008