Dash

for Brass Quintet

Written: 2020
Duration: 4'
Instrumentation: brass quintet (2 B-flat trumpets [Harmon and straight mutes required], horn [mute required], trombone, tuba or bass trombone)
Commissioned by the Atlantic Brass Quintet
World Premiere: Atlantic Brass Quintet, Mostly Modern Festival, Saratoga Springs, NY, June 20, 2022
Pre-World Premiere: Atlantic Brass Quintet, Hampshire College, Amherst MA, July 9, 2021
Publisher: Bill Holab Music

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PROGRAM NOTE

Dash is inspired by common meanings of the word ‘dash’: to travel or run somewhere in a great hurry, or to hurl an object with great force, often with destructive effect. I was also inspired by other meanings, such as adding a dash of something to something else, for example, adding a dash of salt or pepper. A dash is also a type of punctuation mark. There are em dashes—like these—as well as en dashes, used to indicate spans of time or ranges of numbers, like 20–21, or hyphens, which denote compound adjectives, like well-known brass quintet. An underscore, which emphasize words, phrases, or sentences, can also look like a dash. In music notation, a dash is called a tenuto, and is used to indicate emphasis when placed under or over notes. Of course, in this piece, I had to include plenty of tenutos. Dash was was commissioned by the Atlantic Brass Quintet.