Randall Standridge is a popular composer who writes incredible pieces for music groups of all ages - but especially young band. Our students have loved playing his compositions which have ranged from Beginner's Rock to Santa the Barbarian. Last year we learned of "The Unbroken Project," a group of pieces that "spark conversations and reflections on mental health, as well as tearing down the social taboo of discussing the reality of living with mental health conditions."
In the 2023 Winter Concert our Symphony Band played Blue Sky Horizon, a piece from the Unbroken Project that represents joy and good days. In the 2024 Spring Concert we played Fragile, a beautiful and haunting piece that reflects on the darker aspect of mental health challenges. This year we played two new compositions that Ashford School helped to sponser. Scream represents rage, while Stay is "an anthem of hope, love and understanding... for those who sometimes feel the weight of the world is too much to bear."
If you would like more details on each specific piece, please see below.
Randall Standridge
Scream is a bombastic work for concert band that utilizes three main components to create its soundscape: a 12-tone row, an octatonic scale, and the sounds of screaming (both from our human performers and from a nifty little instrument with the best name ever: The Aztec Death Whistle, available on Amazon!). The three elements combine to make a highly dissonant, energetic piece of music whose main purpose is to channel the negative emotions of the performers into something exciting for themselves and the audience.
Why should I scream?
We all experience negative emotions. The question is, what do we do with them? Do we bottle them up? Do we pretend they aren’t there? Do we allow them to consume us and color how we interact with others?
We can. We can do all of those things.
Or…
We can rechannel that negative energy into action!
We can pour it into an intense workout. We can let it fuel our creative output.
And we can scream.
Scream it out until it is used up like a tank of gas or a dead battery.
So, do this with me. Breathe in and put all of that negative energy into your lungs. Picture them inhabiting that space like phantoms.
Now scream.
Scream, scream, SCREAM them out to the night sky.
Fragile starts very softly, with both beauty and dissonance. The individual is aware that something is wrong but is trying to bravely persist. The clarinets introduce the main theme of the work, a bittersweet melody that is lovely and vulnerable (Shirley’s Theme after Mr. Standridge’s mother who lives with severe depression). As the first segment continues, dissonant elements and a three note descending theme signals the onset of a mental health crisis.
The second segment is manic and violent. The individual struggles with their condition as everything seems to be in darkness. The piece builds to a thunderous moment before dying away to a single dissonant sound, signaled by two clarinet notes. The individual is broken.
The original theme sounds out again, unaccompanied (flutes). Slowly the individual resumes their life, still hopeful, but afraid the cycle will repeat. The piece ends on an ambiguous note - uncertain, but also unfinished.
A playlist of songs for good days - compiled by our 6-8 Grade Symphony Band students.
Ashford School had a unique experience to be a part of a consortium of schools that sponsered two new works in the UnBroken Project.
•STAY
This will be lyrical work that will serve as a message of hope for those who struggle with mental health issues. The work will include both major and minor sections, creating a shifting palette of light and shadow. Material will be pulled from the climax of unBroken, as well as new material. The piece will combine elements of symphonic tradition and pop sensibilities. The inspriation was Mr. Standrige walking down the street and seeing a person wearing a shirt tht said "Hey you, the person reading this, the world is better with you in it."
•SCREAM:
This will be an aggressive work for young band that serves as a tool to channel negative emotion and energy into cathartic action. The work will be primarily in minor mode and very rhythmic but will also incorporate brief elements of the 12-tone row used in "(not) Alone" as well as unBroken. The work will also use aleatoric effects, vocal effects, body percussion, extreme dissonance, bombastic percussion, and an instrument called an "Aztec Death Whistle."
Timeline
•Digital copies of the music will be delivered to paid consortium members beginning March 11, 2024. Copies will be sent to other groups as payment or purchase orders are received.
•The premiere rights to the work through June 1, 2024. The work will be made available to the general public June 1, 2024.
With your support and purchase, you will receive the following:
-A Digital Copy (score and parts in PDF format) of the works you choose to sponsor ("Stay" and/or "Scream")
-Your name(s) and school will appear in the official program notes as sponsors and members of the consortium for the Digital Versions AND the print versions when they are produced.
-A video introduction for the works recorded by Randall Standridge (this will be for the piece in general and will not be specific to each school)
-Access to a video journal/vblog detailing the creation of the works and their inspirations.
We are thankful to Mr. Standridge for the opportunity to be a part of these incredible new works and look forward to playing them on our 2024-2025 programs.
Stay.