This summer, I was commissioned by the Grand Rapids musicians’ union to compose a fanfare for our 120th anniversary. The parameters were: a 2-minute (120 seconds–see what they did there?) fanfare scored for a mixed ensemble of brass, winds, and percussion not to exceed the instrumentation of Aaron Copland’s “Inaugural Fanfare,” which would also be on the program. I only had a month to go from blank page to completed score and parts, so I knew I had to get busy.
But first: what is a fanfare?
Intuitively, I understood a fanfare to be a festive, trumpety thing, but I started to second-guess myself. Was there a secret recipe that everyone knew but me? (I’ve been composing for forty years, and I am still susceptible to impostor syndrome.) After a good deal of research, I confirmed that a fanfare is, indeed, a festive, trumpety thing. It has no precise definition, but there are plenty of examples: Copland’s “Fanfare for the Common Man” is something of a gold standard, as is John Williams’ “Olympic Fanfare and Theme.” One of my personal favorites is Leoš Janáček’s “Sinfonietta.”
The challenge was to compose something regal and courageous, immediately accessible to listeners, playable by performers with a half hour rehearsal, and that says everything it needs to say in a very short time.
I gravitated toward a more-or-less tonal palette, but kept it from being obvious or saccharine by using lots of stacked fifths/fourths (for openness) and non-harmonic tones (for bite). Of course, I relied heavily on the trumpets, but every section is featured at some point. I also had a ton of fun with the percussion, including Glockenspiel, Xylophone, Tubular Bells, Brake Drum, Crotales, China Cymbal, Cabasa, Vibraphone, Tam-tam, Suspended Cymbal, Crash Cymbal, and Drum Set. Finally, I played with style. The GR music union is made up of musicians of all genres: classical, blues, jazz, rock, etc. So, I used drum set to establish a pop groove in the middle of the fanfare, with jazz style voicings on top of it.
I was really pleased with how it turned out–a tasty little slice of musical cake.