Inspired by the ever-popular snack, Pop! is a grade 3 band piece by composer Tawnie Olson that imitates the sounds popping popcorn beginning with that first, single kernel to the exploding sounds of an overflowing pot. Through the use of imitation, additive processes, playful articulation, and the development of tune fragments, Olson crafted a piece that is relatable and great fun to play. Pop! also has an aleatoric passage that gives young performers the opportunity to co-compose by improvising sounds that suggest of pop of popcorn in the making.
Instrumentation
1 – Conductor
1 – Piccolo
4 – Flute 1 (divisi)
4 – Flute 2 (divisi)
2 – Oboe
4 – Bb Clarinet 1 (divisi)
4 – Bb Clarinet 2 (divisi)
2 – Bb Bass Clarinet
2 – Bassoon
4 – Eb Alto Saxophone (divisi)
2 – Bb Tenor Saxophone (divisi)
2 – Eb Baritone Saxophone
3 – Bb Trumpet 1
3 – Bb Trumpet 2
4 – French Horn (divisi)
3 – Trombone
3 – Baritone (T.C.)
3 – Baritone (B.C.)
3 – Tuba
1 – Xylophone
1 – Marimba
1 – Vibraphone
1 – Percussion 1
1 – Percussion 2
1 – Percussion 3
1 – Percussion 4
Meet The Composer
The music of Canadian composer Tawnie Olson draws inspiration from politics, spirituality, the natural world and the musicians for whom she composes. Olson has received commissions from the Canadian Art Song Project, New Music USA, Third Practice, the Canada Council for the Arts, the Women’s Philharmonic/Mount Holyoke College, Blue Water Chamber Orchestra and the Robert Baker Commissioning Fund of the Yale Institute of Sacred Music, among others. In 2017, she received an OPERA America Discovery Grant to develop a new work with re:Naissance Opera, and a Canada Council for the Arts Professional Development Grant to study field recording at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. In 2018 she is the Composer-In-Residence of the Hartford Women Composers Festival. Olson’s music is performed on five continents, and can also be heard on recordings by the Canadian Chamber Choir, soprano Magali Simard-Galdes, percussionist Ian David Rosenbaum, Parthenia Viol Consort (with bass-baritone Dashon Burton), bassoonist Rachael Elliott, oboist Catherine Lee, and Shawn Mativetsky, professor of tabla and percussion at McGill University. Her scores are available from the Canadian Music Centre, Galaxy Music, Hal Leonard and E.C. Schirmer.
About The Premiere
This piece was premiered by the E.C. Adams Middle School Band on June 12, 2018 under the direction of Susan Oakley.