“Let Your Voice Be”

Created for a marching band client in collaboration with Chicago based composer and music educator, Ryan Adamsons. Features original music and arrangements of Michael Jackson’s “Man In the Mirror” and Marshall Gilkes’ “Puddle Jumping”.

The scope of my work for this project included percussion composition for battery and front ensemble sections, synthesizers programming, sound design, audio mockups for visual designers and rehearsal purposes. This show also looked to explore contemporary applications of audio technology in the marching band setting.

Software:

• Apple Mainstage

• Apple Logic Pro

• Avid Sibelius

• DropSpin

Goals:

• Bespoke music arrangements to support show concept and pedagogical requirements of the ensemble.

• Synthesizer programming for hardware keyboard workstations and sampler pads.

• Audio system programming for vocoder effects on live percussion instruments

• Mockup creation of realistic rehearsal tracks to support student learning and practice.

Challenges:

This is a client that I have taught with and designed for close to a decade. They are still experiencing the aftereffects of Covid-19 on enrollment numbers and student skill development. The music needed to not only be effective from a design standpoint, but also support the students’ development as musicians. The percussion parts would be designed to the exact equipment available as well as to the skill levels of the ~25 individual students that would be playing them.

This required accurate assessment of the student abilities and coordination with the various instructional staff during auditions.

The ensemble was also looking to do its biggest expansion in the integration of electronic sound elements and creative use of amplification processing in the show theme. This would almost double the amount of used audio channels during the show, including the use of a wireless snare drum soloist to trigger vocoder phrases on a synthesizer. That specific application required not only the detailed planning from a signal flow standpoint, but also a compositional standpoint.