teaching HUMOR
| teaching RHYTHM | teaching LYRICISM | teaching HUMOR |
| teaching MODERN TECHNIQUES | teaching MODERN STYLES |
EASY
Interruption Overture (Bryant)
Small amounts of aleatory in the context of a catchy tune; requires the ensemble to change focus quickly between melodic playing and dissonant, "out-of-time" moments; humorous, surprising shifts of melody, key and time signatures.
MetaMarch (Bryant)
Humorous march with surprising twists and turns: extra measures and beats, "wrong notes," etc.; requires the players to pay attention and not assume they know what's coming next.
INTERMEDIATE
Godzilla Eats Las Vegas! (Whitacre)
The popular piece, the infamous monster. Godzilla stomps through the city (represented by a parodic horror movie tune) and encounters many diverse styles of popular music. Allows students to theatrically play with fun, campy humor.
Uncle Sid (Newman)
Aleatoric and improvisatory notation, extended techniques, and playing with humor.
ADVANCED
Chester Leaps In (Bryant)
Similar to ImPercynations: familiar tunes in a new context; rapid shifts of melodies and orchestration to achieve humorous juxtapositions.
ImPercynations (Bryant)
Familiar tunes in a new context; rapid shifts of melodies and orchestration to achieve humorous juxtapositions.
Stampede (Bryant)
Extensive use of dotted-eighth, dotted-eighth, quarter rhythm, or four dotted-eighths in a 3/4 bar (results in 4-against-3 feel); bitonal brass harmonies; humorous "western" sections with missing beats and mixed meters.