After the Silence
Bill Thomas
Ensemble: Concert Band
Grade: 2.5
Duration: 04:45
Year of Composition: 2021
Commissioned by: Huron-Perth Catholic District School Board
Publisher: Eighth Note
Year of Publication: 2022
Publisher Catalog Number: CB221423
Available: Yes
How to Acquire: Publisher, Purchase
Links:
Flute 1/Piccolo
Flute 2
Oboe
Bassoon
B♭ Clarinets 1,2
B♭ Bass Clarinet
E♭ Alto Saxes 1,2
B♭ Tenor Sax
E♭ Baritone Sax
B♭ Trumpets 1,2
F Horn
Trombones 1,2
Euphonium
Tuba
Timpani
[Mallet Percussion:] Bells, Vibraphone
[Percussion 1:] Snare Drum, Bass Drum
[Percussion 2:] Suspended Cymbal, Tambourine, Large Gong, Crash Cymbals
Commissioned by the Huron-Perth Catholic District School Board and the St. Michael and St. Anne's C.S.S. Concert Bands (Josh Geddis and Jeff McIntyre, directors).
Program Notes:
This piece was composed to give the students of St. Michael and St. Anne's something further to look forward to when they were able to make music together following the interruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. Students from both schools contributed ideas for the piece.
The piece is in three connected sections and is meant to musically convey the hectic and perhaps unappreciated pace of life before the pandemic ("Before the Silence"), the abrupt interruption to our routines and the opportunities for introspection that followed ("The Silence"), and a gradual, thankful, and optimistic return to our "normal" lives ("After the Silence").
I am grateful to all of the students for sharing their thoughts. I was especially moved by a poem submitted by Grace Eddleston, a student at St. Michael's. Her poem, "Before", ends with the following stanza (presented here with permission and admittedly out of context):
they would have held hands a little tighter, hugged a
little longer, and taken the quiet moment to thank the sun.
(Bill Thomas, via Eighth Note Publications)
