March of 10,000

Program Note

In 1963, well over 10,000 Americans (250,000 actually but 10,000 fits the name better) marched to Washington DC for the purpose of advocating civil and economic rights for African Americans. In this march, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. stood in front of the great emancipator, Abraham Lincoln’s memorial statue, and gave his historic, “I have a dream” speech. The words of his speech still ring today, and you will find that even in all the chaos and civil protest today, we still look back at Dr. MLK’s heroism. In this piece, you will find a grand opening, strong and “perfect”. As it plays further you will hear a solo trombone state a beautiful call that challenges the ensemble harmonies and echoes itself calling for more to join. At the end of the solo, the upper trombone parts echo the solo melody and it begins to catch on. As everything dies down we get a beautiful delicate melody, played by the bass parts accompanied by the upper parts, this is the start of the March to Washington. As the melody progresses, things begin to change and build into protest. We then hear the restatement of the horn call echoing with harmonies that resemble one call, together. As the horn call comes back, it is matched with the fire of the middle parts to combat the upper parts which causes the piece to shift harmonically until, again, it explodes back into the tonic chord. The march now reaches new heights and beings the march to Washington, as heard from the middle voices, accompanied by the lower voices with a rhythmic march feel. The upper voices come in with a horn call, providing more support, which now makes the melody longer. As the melody ends, we are now in Washington and the horn call grows loud and louder until the upper parts lead in with the melody and it can now play freely and have a fulfilling purpose. At the same time, the mid/lower parts act as fireworks and energy, as this is a successful March of 10,000 people.