The Suite of Old American Dances

Based on the title of this blog post you can probably figure out what it is about. The Suite of Old American Dances is a piece of music by Robert Russell Bennett. This year the Kennedy Wind Symphony is playing it. This is a very difficult piece that is composed of 5 different movements. There is different stories behind each of the movements.

Movement one is the Cake Walk, this specific movement is pretty difficult. It is very much up beat and fast. There is many sixteenth note runs and trebelos. Trebelos are basically like trills but not as quick, you quickly move back and forth between the two notes.

Movement two is the Schottische, this movement is not as difficult as the first one but there are parts where it is just as difficult if not even more so. At the beginning of the piece where the flutes come in, we have to try to get 11 notes into one beat. That part is one of the worst part of this movement. There is also a lot of syncopation, for many musicians it is not all that hard, but you have to count in order to play it correctly. Triplets are also a big part of this movement, they aren’t hard and are actually quite fun to play, as long as they don’t jump octaves. This movement is the only piece that is taken in four instead of two, which means there are four beats to a measure instead of only two.

Movement three is the Western One-Step, by the title of the movement you can kind of figure out what it is. A western type piece. There are also a couple trebelos throughout the piece. Although this movement is not very hard at all, and the rhythms are pretty simple, the tempo is very upbeat and quick. This movement is the second fastest movement of the piece.

Movement four is the Wallflower Waltz, this is one of the slowest movements in the entire piece. The title tries to hint at the meaning behind the piece. For example when you think of a Wallflower you normally think of someone who stays away from the crowd and usually sticks to themselves. Bennett throughout this movement tries very hard to display that and to make the music sound like that. He makes the music sound sloppy almost but the way he writes it, still makes it sound good, while attempting to make it sound bad. It also involves an English horn, it is like a bigger oboe so to speak, normally played by the first chair oboe player, who happens to be Allison Kegel. Because of the style of the movement there are a couple musicians who sit out, for example the second flutes.

Movement five is the Rag, this is another quick song. This is the fastest song throughout the whole piece. But there is something that sets this piece apart. This movement looks like it is written in four, but is played in cut time. Cut time is when you make all the notes half their length. All in all this movement is not all that difficult if you start out playing it in four and then move into playing it in cut time. Because starting out with playing it in cut time right off the bat is going to make it way harder than it actually is.

All in all this is a very great piece of music written by a great composer. Although this piece of music is very difficult in a lot of places, it is a fun piece to play and is worth the time put in. Because of how difficult many of the movements are it takes a lot of practice time outside of rehearsal. The piece is a very fun piece to play in front of an audience because of how upbeat and fun it is.