BandEasy5:00

Brooklyn Air

“…A LYRICAL SONG FLAVORED WITH EXTENDED JAZZ HARMONIES, GRIMY DISSONANCES, AND SWEET MELODIES…”

Listen to Brooklyn Air

Performed by the Pacific Symphony Youth Wind Ensemble
Conductor Dr. Gregory X. Whitmore
Audio Engineer Paul Sobosky

View Sample Score

BROOKLYN AIR

Program Note

By Michael Markowski

In Brooklyn (and pretty much everywhere else in New York City), the air is always an exotic melting pot of smells. Freshly baked donuts, sweet springtime flowers, and salty ocean breezes combine with car exhaust, dust, and sun-baked garbage to form an aromatic paradox. Every breath you take is complex and bittersweet.

In Italian, the word for “air” is aria, a word most of us probably recognize from its origins in opera. Although we typically know it as being a song for solo voice, an aria could also be more simply described as any expressive melody. The word also literally translates to “expression” and “tune.”

Brooklyn Air is a musical play on these words: a lyrical song flavored with extended jazz harmonies, grimy dissonances, and sweet melodies. The piece opens with buzzing trombone glissandi complemented by a lulling ocean drum and the slow scraping of a brake drum that introduce our ears to a musty, somewhat industrial atmosphere. The woodwinds soon enter singing sweet and salty chords: major, minor, major, minor. By measure 17, the ensemble has landed on a succulent B-flat major chord, our most pleasant taste yet, but by measure 18, the saltiness returns to our palette—a concert E-natural, the raised fourth scale degree, sings sharply in the melody.

At its heart, the piece is dedicated to Dawn Parker in celebration of her 30-year career teaching music and, in particular, as a ‘thank you’ for the two of those years that she taught the scrappy middle school saxophone player who would eventually write this piece. Farewells aren’t always sad and they certainly aren’t usually happy, and as Dawn prepares for the next chapter of her career as an instrument repair specialist, I can’t help but imagine that the transition must have her feeling a little bit of both. Perhaps these bittersweet moments are the ones that linger with us the longest— moments that surprise us, pinch us, and remind us that they are worth remembering.

Helpful Videos

Brooklyn Wind Symphony ‘Virtual’ Performance

Video Score

Commissioned By

Combs High School
Julie Trent

Poston Butte High School
J.J. Mixdorf

Poston Junior High School
Jenn Bock

Red Mountain High School
Vincent Wedge

Fremont Junior High School
Jeffrey Atchison

Mesa Community College
Rob Hunter

Dobson High School
Jon Gomez, Rob Lubbers, Joseph Goglia

Taylor Junior High School
Christopher Coughlin

Nathan Hale High School
Kristi Wicihowski

Shaker Junior High School
Omar Williams

White Plains High School
William Tonissen

Grand Street Campus High Schools
Jeff W. Ball, Jasmine Britt, Sondra Braeutigam, Laurel Stinson

Publisher

Markowski Creative (ASCAP)

Instrumentation

Flute 1 & 2
Oboe
Bassoon
B-flat Clarinet 1 & 2
B-flat Bass Clarinet
Alto Saxophone 1 & 2
Tenor Saxophone
Baritone Saxophone
B-flat Trumpet 1 & 2
Horn
Trombone 1 & 2
Euphonium
Tuba

Percussion 1: Timpani, Ocean Drum, Mark Tree
Percussion 2: Brake Drum (scraped with coin), Glockenspiel, Chimes, Triangle
Percussion 3: Vibraphone, Suspended Cymbal
Percussion 4: Finger Cymbals, Bass Drum

Errata

No known errata.

Year Completed

2016

Weight N/A
Dimensions N/A
Duration

Genre

Wind Ensemble